The Graduate Employees’ Organization (GEO), AFT-MI Local 3550, AFL-CIO, at the University of Michigan firmly opposes the heinous actions taken against Grant Miner, president of Student Workers of Columbia (UAW Local 2710), whose employment was illegally terminated yesterday for alleged involvement in protests against the genocide in Gaza, and Mahmoud Khalil, activist, graduate student and worker at Columbia University, who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on March 8th. Both of these actions are in clear violation of First Amendment protections of free speech. They are making it clear to us that Columbia University will not protect its own students and workers against authoritarianism, and will even deign to cooperate with it.
We condemn in the strongest terms possible Columbia University’s cooperation with ICE, a racist and xenophobic institution meant to target the most vulnerable in our community. By allowing ICE and other law enforcement officials, such as NYPD, on campus, Columbia puts international students and the wider Harlem community in danger.
These attacks on free speech are not isolated to Columbia’s campus. At the University of Michigan, “institutional neutrality” policies are being imposed by the Board of Regents to justify the repression of pro-Palestine speech on campus, placing a chilling effect on graduate students’ teaching and research. This is while top figures such as President Santa Ono participate in conferences led by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), an organization with a proven history of espousing anti-Arab, Islamophobic, and anti-Black sentiment. Dana Nessel, Attorney General of Michigan, has charged numerous protestors with bogus felony charges, including graduate workers who participated in the Gaza Solidarity Encampment on the Michigan Diag, which was brutally raided and destroyed after 30 days by U-M campus police, with the aid of city and state law enforcement.
All workers and students deserve spaces without fear and retaliation. We are in solidarity with Grant, Mahmoud, and workers everywhere who have been affected by the administration’s blatant disregard for the fundamental rights of their workers. We demand the immediate release of Mahmoud and the reversal of Grant’s termination. These actions cannot go unchallenged. Workers everywhere must come together to protect and defend our communities.
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