Nicholas Ruiz III, Ph.D Editor, Kritikos http://intertheory.org
JUSTICE FOR PROFESSOR LORETTA CAPEHEART!
A TEST CASE FOR ACADEMIC FREEDOM AND WORKERS' RIGHTS
Dear Friend,
I am in the midst of a battle for free speech at the university where I teach, Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU). Unfortunately, part of this battle has resulted in my being targeted with serious reprisals. Some examples follow.
At a meeting called by Illinois State Senate Latino Caucus on my campus I was invited to speak and was attacked by the university Provost when I disagreed with his assessment of the university's "success" in hiring Latino faculty (of which I am one of a very few). I was threatened (along with three students) with arrest while handing out anti-recruitment fliers in front of an army recruiter even though the campus is well aware of my work with Gold Star Families for Peace after losing a nephew in the Iraq war. When I attempted to defend the rights of students to protest the CIA, a campus Vice President openly stated that I was being investigated for "stalking" a student. This is a serious criminal offense with particularly harsh connotations when aimed at a professor by a student. The statement by this university official was later proved to be false. Requests for retraction of the statement and apology have been repeatedly rejected.
A colleague, Dana Cloud, Associate Professor of Communication Studies at the University of Texas, who has an established record of defending academic freedom and free speech, has written the attached petition. We would like to circulate the petition as widely as possible and especially to those in the academic and activist/labor communities with strong commitments to free speech.
Please sign the petition (http://www.petitiononline.com/j4lc/petition.html) and circulate this appeal widely.
In struggle,
Loretta Capeheart, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Northeastern Illinois University
BACKGROUND TO THE CASE:
Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU) Justice Studies professor Loretta Capeheart has been targeted by her administration for her outspokenness for workers' rights, against the Iraq war, and for increased representation of minority scholars at NEIU. In 2007 she was elected to chair her department by a 2/3 majority of her colleagues, yet the University refused to appoint her to that post and even went so far as to put the department into receivership and install a representative of the administration as chair. Capeheart was also denied merited awards during this time.
What were Capeheart's "crimes"? An activist in her union (University Professionals of Illinois-AFT/IFT), Capeheart was a leader in the 2004 faculty strike. In 2006, she testified in the state legislature on the need to recruit greater numbers of Latino/a faculty, contradicting and infuriating Provost Lawrence Frank, who was in attendance. In February 2007, she defended students in the anti-war movement who were arrested during a protest of a CIA recruitment event on campus. This controversy led NEIU President Sharon Hahs to propose a campus events policy (subsequently withdrawn) imposing draconian and unconstitutional restrictions on freedom of speech and assembly on the campus.
When Capeheart spoke up at a faculty council meeting to question the treatment of the students, NEIU Vice President Melvin Terrell lashed out at her, stating that Capeheart was a "person of interest" to the police and that a student had filed charges of stalking against Capeheart. These defamatory statements were absolutely unfounded. But the threat against Capeheart-that if she continued to speak out, she and her career would be targets for retribution-remains very real. "Stalking is a criminal offense," she said. "I lived in continual fear that someone would come to arrest me in my class and that I would lose my job. The message was that if I continued to speak they would come after me." To date, Terrell has not retracted his accusations.
Capeheart is suing Terrell for defamation, alongside Hahs and Provost Lawrence Frank for violation of her constitutional right to free speech and retaliation against her. She seeks an injunction against further violations, her rightful appointment as chair, and from Terrell, monetary damages for harms resulting from his defamation of her. Incredibly, the administrators' response argues that Capeheart, as a state employee, may not sue the University or its officials, contravene their positions, question their conduct, or speak as a faculty member on matters of public concern. Their motion to dismiss the case states that "clothed in her authority as a faculty member," Capeheart criticized University policy, "even going so far as to disagree with the stated positions of the Provost." "It is very middle ages," Capehart said, "like the lord vs. the serf." The case is pending hearing in Federal Court.
We cannot allow NEIU administrators to get away with these attacks on academic freedom and workers' rights. Their actions should be chilling to all workers, activists, and scholars. Her case is a perfect example of the stakes of the ongoing struggle for academic freedom-for labor, for inclusion and equality of minorities, and for the right to protest against war and injustice. We stand with her.
SIGN THE PETITION at http://www.petitiononline.com/j4lc/petition.html
WE, THE UNDERSIGNED, support Northestearn Illinois University professor Loretta Capeheart in her suit against NEIU's president, vice-president, and provost for violation of her free speech rights and retaliation against her for exercising these rights in defense of labor, minorities, and academic freedom.
After playing a leading role in her union (University Professionals of Illinois-AFT) during a strike, defending students arrested for protest of a CIA recruitment event, and contradicting her provost on the matter of recruitment and retention of Latino/a faculty, Professor Capeheart was
--denied appointment to her duly elected post as department chair,
--denied merited awards, and
--defamed in a faculty council meeting by NEIU's vice president, who maliciously charged her without basis with stalking a student.
We are outraged at these serious and malicious attempts to silence one of our fellow academics, unionists, and anti-war activists. We cannot allow NEIU administrators to get away with these attacks on academic freedom and workers' rights. Their actions should be chilling to all workers, activists, and scholars. Her case is a perfect example of the stakes of the ongoing struggle for academic freedom-for labor, for inclusion and equality of minorities, and for the right to protest war and injustice on our campuses.
Capeheart seeks an injunction against further violations, for her rightful appointment as chair, and for monetary damages for defamation.
We stand with her.
Barbara Chasin, Montclair State University Dana Cloud, University of Texas, Austin Martin Espada, University of Massachusetts Amherst Bill Keach , Brown University David McNally, York University Peter Rachleff, Macalester College David Roediger, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Michael Schwartz, SUNY Stony Brook Howard Zinn, Boston University and many others
(Institutions listed for identification purposes only)