[The below open letter is currently being circulated by a group of Ohio University faculty. If you are a faculty member at OU and would like to add your name to the letter, please send your full name and department (for identification purposes only) to and department (for identification purposes only) to
[email protected]]
September 10, 2014
As faculty at Ohio University, we declare our support for Megan Marzec’s right to hold the views she expressed as well as the manner in which she expressed them in her ‘Gaza blood-bucket video.’ We are appalled by the death threats and other forms of intimidation that she has faced in response. We are also disappointed in OU administrators and community members who have criticized her act but have not publicly defended her against this violent response.
The invocation of “civility” in the responses of OU authorities and some members of the community to Marzec also concerns us. Too often, as is recently the case at the University of Illinois and University of California, the invocation of “civility” functions to silence dissent and debate on issues of current concern.
Without advocating a particular position on the Israel-Palestine issue — we hold diverse opinions on this question — we nevertheless staunchly affirm Marzec’s right to express her views. We also affirm that her method of expression is a legitimate form of protest and strategy to call on others to take up the issue for debate. Marzec’s challenge does not undermine “civility,” but rather raises awareness of a topic of great current and historical importance to the United States, the Middle East, and the world as a whole. Dramatic nonviolent actions — draft-card burnings, lunch-counter sit-ins, and even self-immolations — capture public attention and spark reactions in an effort to create public debate and social change. There is a long and honorable tradition of such protests in the United States and in Ohio public education. Marzec’s action is no different. It is consistent with what makes us most proud to be educators. We support Marzec and we call on the Ohio University community to have a genuine and open debate on the questions she has raised.
Signatories
[Names listed alphabetically. Department/School listed for identification purposes only]
- Gene Ammarell, Department of Sociology and Anthropology
- Neil Bernstein, Department of Classics and World Religions
- Thomas Carpenter, Department of Classics and World Religions
- Devika Chawla, School of Communication Studies
- James Coady (Emeritus), Department of Linguistics
- Brian Collins, Department of Classics and World Religions
- Elizabeth Collins, Department of Classics and World Religions
- Anne Cooper (Emerita), Scripps School of Journalism
- Catherine Cutcher, Center for International Studies
- Mariana Dantas, Department of History
- Marsha L. Dutton, Department of English
- Ofer Eliaz, School of Dance, Film, and Theater
- Beverly Olson Flanigan (Emerita), Department of Linguistics
- Gabriel Hartley, Department of English
- Melissa Haviland, School of Art and Design
- Steve Hays, Department of Classics and World Religions
- Tom Hayes, School of Dance, Film, and Theater
- Gary Holcomb, Department of African American Studies
- Mara Holt, Department of English
- Akil Houston, Department of African American Studies
- Steve Howard, School of Media Arts and Studies
- Jaylynne N. Hutchinson, Critical Cultural Studies in Education, Department of Educational Studies
- Savas Kaya, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
- Nicholas J. Kiersey, Department of Political Science
- Jennie Klein, School of Art and Design
- Ray Klimek, School of Art and Design
- Laura Larson, School of Art and Design
- Loren D. Lybarger, Department of Classics and World Religions
- Ghirmai Negash, Department of English
- Vladimir Marchenkov, Interdisciplinary Arts
- Kevin Mattson, Department of History
- Jaclyn Maxwell, Department of History
- Duane McDiarmid, School of Art and Design
- Richard McGinn (Emeritus), Department of Linguistics
- Joseph McLaughlin, Department of English
- Scott M. Moody (Emeritus), Department of Biological Sciences
- Norma Pecora (Emerita), School of Media Arts and Studies
- Harold Perkins, Department of Geography
- Marina Peterson, School of Interdisciplinary Arts
- Herta Rodina, Department of Modern Languages
- Stephen J. Scanlan, Department of Sociology and Anthropology
- Louis-Georges Schwartz, School of Dance, Film, and Theater
- Miriam Shadis, Department of History
- David Sharpe, Department of English
- Amritjit Singh, Department of English
- Kevin Uhalde, Department of History
- Melissa Wales, Department of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
- Julie White, Department of Political Science
To Add Your Name to the List of Signatories
The above open letter is currently being circulated by a group of Ohio University faculty. If you are a faculty member at OU and would like to add your name to the letter, please send your full name and department (for identification purposes only) to [email protected]