Description:

Please join MENA for this talk by Rima Kapitan, part of our ongoing Palestine in Context programming.

As Israel continues to pummel Gaza with funding and diplomatic cover from the United States, a different kind of struggle rages on U.S. campuses, one that threatens the integrity of some of our most cherished freedoms and democratic processes. Recognizing that campus speech about Israel/Palestine is central to American political discourse, both the U.S. and Israeli governments have joined the fray in attempt to act as arbiters of what may and may not be said on campus. Students and faculty around the country are rejecting those efforts. 

This talk will explore legal frameworks for grappling with the suppression of speech about Israel/Palestine on U.S. campuses, with a focus on civil rights statutes and student/faculty handbooks. It argues for an objective approach to discipline cases and provides specific suggestions for reform of campus policies and processes that facilitate suppression of academic speech. 

Rima Kapitan runs a small employment law practice in Chicago with one other partner, and focuses largely on academic cases. She has spoken on the topic of academic freedom at the New York University School of Law, Rice University, California State University-Fresno, the Fordham University School of Law, and the Illinois Conference of the American Association of University Professors, among other venues. She has published on the topics of academic freedom and the right to boycott.

Rima is a graduate of Indiana University and DePaul University, both of which she has sued on behalf of faculty. Rima is a member of the Board of Directors of the Illinois affiliate of the National Employment Lawyers Association. She is also Secretary of the U.S. Board of Directors of the Seraj Library Project, which builds libraries in West Bank villages and coordinates cultural and community programming.