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Daniel
Pipes has been invited to speak on "Radical Islam and the War on
Terror" at the University of Toronto by a newly formed local chapter of
his Middle East Forum - an organization that "promotes American
interests in the Middle East" and monitors criticism of US and Israeli
policies in the media and academia. We feel obliged to inform the
university community and the residents of this city that Pipes is
someone who has used freedom of speech in order to restrict the
academic freedom of those whom he attacks from his position outside the
academic world.
The Middle East Forum once singled out
"unpatriotic professors" on its Campus Watch website, creating a list
which challenged the basic principles of academic freedom and
university autonomy. In the United States, Pipes has supported a bill
introduced to the Congress recently (H.R. 3077) that calls for
establishing an International Higher Education Advisory Board with
broad investigative powers "to study, monitor, apprise, and evaluate"
activities of Middle East and other area studies centers. This means
academic funding will no longer be offered on the basis of merit but on
the basis of party political expediency. This severe violation of the
autonomy of our colleagues in the US should be denounced by academics
the world over.
Pipes has a long record of xenophobic,
racist and sexist speech that goes back to 1990. After the end of the
cold war, Pipes warned that "Western European societies are unprepared
for the massive immigration of brown- skinned peoples cooking strange
foods and maintaining different standards of hygiene.... All immigrants
bring exotic customs and attitudes, but Muslim customs are more
troublesome than most" (National Review, 11/19/90). In 2000 Pipes wrote
of African-American Muslims, "black converts tend to hold vehemently
anti-American, anti-Christian, and anti-Semitic attitudes" (Commentary,
6/1/2000). After the universally condemned rapes and tortures in Abu
Ghraib prison came to light, Pipes felt it appropriate instead to
explain that "Fear of Western erotic ways ends up constraining Muslim
peoples in the political, economic, and cultural arenas. Sexual
apprehensions constitute a key reason for Islam's trauma in the modern
era" (New York Sun, 5/25/2004).
Genuine academic debate
requires an open and free exchange of ideas in an atmosphere of mutual
respect and tolerance. We, the undersigned - professors, librarians and
students - are committed to academic freedom and we affirm Pipes' right
to speak at our university. However, we strongly believe that hate,
prejudice and fear-mongering have no place on this campus.
(note: names are at the University of Toronto unless otherwise stated)
1. Prof. Jens Hanssen, Dpts of History and Near and Middle East Civilizations
2. Prof. Carol Chin, Dpt. of History and International Relations Programme
3. Prof. Rick Halpern, Dpt. of History and American Studies
4. Prof. Paul Kingston, Dpt. of Political Science and Near and Middle East Civilizations
5. Prof. Melanie Newton, Dpt. of History and Caribbean Studies
6. Prof. Amir Hassanpour, Dpt. of Near and Middle East Civilizations
7. Prof. emeritus Chandler Davis, Dpt. of Mathematics
8. Prof. emerita Natalie Zemon Davis, Dpt. of History
9. Blair Kuntz, Librarian, Robarts Library
10. Prof. Kenneth Mills, Dpt. of History and Latin American Studies
11. Prof. Michael Gervers, Dpt. of History and Medieval Studies
12. Dr. Amal Ghazal, Dpt. of History
13. Prof. Lynne Viola, Dpt. of History and Russian Studies
14. Prof. Derek Williams, Dpt. of History and Latin American Studies
15. Prof. Michael Wayne, Dpt. of History and American Studies
16. Prof. Daniel Bender, Dpt. of History, and American Studies
17. Prof. Alissa Trotz, Dpts. of Sociology and Equity Studies, Institute for Women's Studies and Gender Studies
18. Prof. Michael Lambek, Dpt. of Anthropology and Social Sciences
19. Prof. Roger Simon, Dpt. of Sociology and Equity Studies
20. Prof. Stephen Rockel, Dpt. of History and African Studies
21. Prof. Joseph Carens, Dpt. of Political Science
22. Prof. Sara Salih, Dpt. of English
23. Prof. Wambui Mwangi Dpt of Political Science and African Studies
24. Prof. Megan Boler, Theory and Policies Studies, OISE
25. Prof. Sara Abraham, Dpt. of Sociology, UTM
26. Prof. Peter Fitting, French and Cinema Studies
27. Prof. Maureen Ford, OISE
28. Prof. Denise Reaume, Faculty of Law
29. Prof. Emeritus Mel Watkins, Dpts. of Economics and Political Science
30. Prof. Andreas Motsch, Dpt. of French Studies and Literary Studies Program
31. Prof. Audrey Macklin, Faculty of Law
32. Dr. Livia Varga, Dpt. of Humanities, UTSC
33. Prof. Thomas Lahusen, Dept. of History & Centre for Comparative Literature
34. Prof. Kanishka Goonewardena, Department of Geography and South Asian Studies
35. Prof. Nancy S. Jackson, Adult Education and Community Development, OISE
36. Prof. Jennifer Mori, Dpt. of History
37. Prof. Vassos Hadzilacos, Department of Computer Science
38. Prof. Gopal Sreenivasan, Dpt. of Philosophy
39. Prof. Frank Cunningham, Philosophy and Political Science
40. Prof. Peter Rosenthal, Department of Mathematics
41. Prof. Shahrzad Mojab, Institute for Women's Studies and Gender
Studies, Department of Adult Education and Counselling Psychology, OISE
42. University Professor Richard B. Lee, Dpt of Anthropology.
43. Prof. emeritus Jonathan Barker Dpt of Political Science
44. Prof. Lisa Jeffrey, Mathematics Dpt.
45. Prof. Jennifer Jenkins, Dpt. of History
46. Prof. Andrew Watson, Dpt. of Economics
47. Prof. Matthew Price, Dpt. of History
48. Prof. Nhung Tuyet Tran, Dept. of History
49. Prof. Michelle Murphy, Dept of History, Institute for Women's Studies and Gender Studies
50. Prof. Paul A. Hamel, Faculty of Medicine
51. Prof. Eric Hehner, Bell Chair in Software Engineering, Dpt. of Computer Science
52. Prof. Geoffrey Hinton, Dpt. of Computer Science
53. Prof. Rinaldo Walcott, Canada Research Chair of Social Justice and Cultural Studies
54. Prof. Gavin Smith, Dpt. of Anthropology
55. Prof. Cynthia Wright, Institute for Women's Studies, UofT and YorkU
56. Amina Mire, Ph.D. cand, Dpt. Sociology and Equity Studies, Institute for Women's Studies and Gender Studies
57. Prof. Emeritus James A. Graff, Dpt. of Philosophy
58. George Dei, Dpt. of Sociology and Equity Studies, OISE
59. Prof. William Walker, Dpt. of History and International Relations
Programme
60. Prof. Harriet Friedmann, Dpt. of Sociology
61. Prof. Linda Northrup, Dpt. of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations
62. Prof. Malavika Kasturi, Dpt. of History
63. Prof. Mary Nyquist, Dpt. of English and Women's/Gender Studies
64. Prof. Emeritus, Martin Klein, Dpt. of History
65. Prof. Arti Dhand, Dpt. and Centre for the Study of Religion
66. Ola M. Szczecinska, Dpt. of History
67. Sophie Afriat, Dpt. of History
68. Jiri Smrz, Ph.D. cand., Dpt. of History and Russian and Eastern European Studies
69. Deb Neill, Ph.D. cand, Dpt. of History
70. Mostafa Minawi, Dpt. of History
71. Matthew Shogilev, Dpt of History
72. Whitney Kemble, Dpt. of History
73. Chris Ernst, Dpt. of History
74. Aleksandra Luczak, Dpt. of History
75. Marsha Reid, Dpt. of History
76. Auri Berg, Dpt. of History
77. Cara Spittal, Dpt. of History
78. Hazem Jamjoum, Faculty of Law and Dpt. of Political Science
79. Asya El-meehy, PhD cand., Dpt. of Political Science
80. Katie Edwards, PhD cand., Dpt. of History
81. Gokce Yurdakul, PhD cand. Dpt. of Sociology
82. Prof. Allan Greer, Dept. of History
83. Prof. Glenn Adams, Dept. of Psychology, UTSC
84. Scott Trevithick, PhD. cand., Dept. of History
85. Andre Schmid, University of Toronto
86. Jamie Magnusson, Dept. Theory and Policy Studies, OISE/UT
87. David Galbraith, Department of English
88. Dr. Roxana Ng, Dept. of Adul Education & counselling Psychology, OISE/UT
89. Dr. Jasmin Zine, Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education, OISE
90. Jeff Bowersox, PhD cand., Dept. of History
91. Dr. Rachel Gorman, Dept. of Humanities, UTSC
92. Daniel Schugurensky, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto (OISE/UT)
93. Prof. Sam Gindin, Packer Chair in Social Justice, York University
94. Julia Sudbury, Canada Research Chair in Social Justice, Equity and Diversity, Faculty of Social Work.
95. John S. Saul, Professor Emeritus, Political Science, York University
96. Sherene Razack, Ph.d, Professor, Sociology and Equity Studies in Education, OISE
97. Katharine N. Rankin, Associate Professor, Department of Geography, Program in Planning
98. Greg Albo, Political Science, York University
99. Prof. Richard Roman (retired), Sociology Dept.
100. John Valleau, Professor Emeritus, Department of Chemistry
101. David Clandfield, French and Cinema Studies
102. Professor Derek Paul, Vice-President, Science for Peace
103. Reg Whitaker, Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus, York University
104. Prof. Andrew Payne, Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design
105. Prof. Daniel Heath Justice, Dept. of English and Aboriginal Studies
106. Prof. Zoe Newman, Women's Studies and Gender Studies
107. Bernd Baldus, Professor, Department of Sociology
108. Amir Hassanpour, Associate Professor, Dept. of Near & Middle Eastern Civilizations
109. Ursula M. Franklin , University Professor Emerita
110. Kiran Mirchandani, Dept of Adult Education and Counselling Psychology
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