Dear UofL Community,

Many of us are concerned by the university's recent responses to student protest and speech, including the suspension of our Students for Justice in Palestine chapter and the disciplinary citations issued to students.

As educators and mentors, we have a responsibility to advocate for an environment where students can engage in nonviolent protest and ethical debate. We have drafted the letter below to President Bradley and Dean Mardis, urging the reinstatement of student groups, the dropping of charges, and a commitment to dialogue.

Please consider adding your name to show your support.

To protect signers, the letter will not be sent with signatory names to the administration with fewer than 100 signatures. Email addresses, job categories, and zip codes will not be shared.

Dear President Bradley and Dean Mardis:

We, the undersigned faculty, staff, and UofL community, are writing to express our concern that the UofL chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (LSJP) has received an interim suspension and urge you to reinstate its official student organization status. We are also concerned that a student was cited and physically detained by ULPD during a peaceful protest Monday, October 13th. We would have hoped that, as an institution of higher education that deeply values diversity of perspectives, the administration and police officers would model dispute resolution and de-escalation skills, rather than physically detaining students. Students, after all, are justly morally abhorred by the grave situation in Palestine. We urge you to drop this citation and take no further disciplinary action against this student.

We are also concerned that six students have been charged with disrupting the inauguration. Students are apparently engaged in righteous civil disobedience (“good trouble” in the words of the late John Lewis), for which we believe discipline is not the appropriate response. UofL and campuses like it have a track record of tolerating student nonviolent protest as a legitimate and indeed welcome part of campus life. That students object to injustice is a good thing; that they hold leaders to account is a good thing. Indeed, our campus has been deeply shaped by the important career contributions of individuals who made their start engaging in campus protest. Normally, students are not and ought not to be disciplined for such behavior. The behavior of these students is not out of line with student actions of the past on our own campus, which did not result in discipline. We urge you to stop disciplinary proceedings against these students, as well.

As role models, it would be a bold positive example for administrators to meet with students and start investigating possible divestments from companies that benefit from and contribute to oppression and violence against Palestinians. The university divested from companies doing business with apartheid South Africa 40 years ago this month, after significant student led protests. Our students today are raising a similar concern about the entanglement of UofL’s endowments in oppressive practices and equally deserve to be heard. We respectfully ask that you give these matters the weight and ethical consideration which they deserve. We also ask that you compassionately and respectfully consider the impact on our students, their friends, and their families who are deeply affected by your decisions.

President Bradley, we urge you to live up to the spirit of your words during your inaugural address, that the university "openly embrace conversations of differing viewpoints without offense and learn from these viewpoints" by meeting with your students and listening to their concerns.