Student activists and faculty members at the University of Chicago say college leaders have gone back on a commitment they made months ago to establish a special initiative to host scholars impacted by violence in Gaza.
University officials say they have made efforts to accommodate scholars from the region through an existing program, and one scholar from the West Bank is on campus now.
Administrators signed off on the agreement on May 4 as a precondition for student protesters to enter into negotiations to resolve the pro-Palestinian encampment on campus, according to emails reviewed by WBEZ. In those emails, UChicago’s provost, Katherine Baicker, committed to publicly announce a “Gaza Scholars at Risk” initiative and hire up to eight visiting professors for one-year appointments.
According to the emails exchanged between the provost and a faculty member, the new initiative would be established irrespective of the outcome of negotiations and would benefit academics impacted by the war in Gaza “facing direct risk in the form of threat of arrest/imprisonment and/or general risk from an active conflict.” To get the effort off the ground, the provost pledged to appoint a Gaza Scholars at Risk faculty committee made up of experts on the region who could help identify and assist eligible applicants.
Six months later, none of those commitments have been fulfilled, said Christopher Iacovetti, a graduate student at the school who took part in negotiations with administrators in May.
“I think it’s clear that they fear the political blowback from trustees and others that would come from first announcing any initiative related to Gaza or Palestine and second from admitting, even implicitly, to the fact that they yielded to pressure from student organizers,” Iacovetti said.
Baicker, UChicago’s provost, as well as UChicago President Paul Alivisatos declined multiple requests for an interview.
A statement provided to WBEZ by a spokesperson referred to an existing program at the university through which a scholar from the West Bank was recently brought to campus: “This scholar’s participation is made possible in part by a University commitment to ensure that the Scholars at Risk program can accommodate up to eight scholars affected by the conflict in Gaza and Israel.”
But Cathy Cohen, a UChicago faculty member who supported student protesters during negotiations, said the university’s actions have not matched the commitments the provost made in May.
“I’m disappointed, but maybe not surprised, that we haven’t seen more progress on what was agreed to,” said Cohen, who has worked at the university for two decades.
By comparison, Northwestern University officials made a similar agreement to end the encampment there and have already started hosting scholars from Gaza on the Evanston campus.
“It’s a combination of silence and gaslighting,” Hassan, a UChicago fourth year student and student protester, said of his university’s actions since May. Hassan asked that his last name be withheld because he and his family have received threats in response to his pro-Palestinian activism.
In an August response to multiple attempts by Iacovetti and Hassan to follow up on the agreement, Baicker wrote, “I appreciate your sharing your perspective below, though my own is different. I look forward to working with both students and faculty to support a broad set of activities and initiatives and to develop additional mechanisms for dialogue.”
Hassan said the administration’s refusal to follow through on the agreement is a missed opportunity.
“What’s lost is the perspectives of scholars who are among the leading scholars in the world who have the perspective of educating and producing research and collaborating under very extreme, difficult, repressive circumstances over years and years and years,” Hassan said.