Tenured professor fired for pro-Palestine speech

Maura Finkelstein was a professor of anthropology at Pennsylvania’s Muhlenberg College for nine years. In 2021, she gained tenure, supposedly ensuring lifetime job security and robust safeguards of academic freedom.

But last May, she was fired. The reason? An Instagram repost protesting Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza.

Finkelstein, who is Jewish, is the first tenured professor in the U.S. to be fired for pro-Palestinian speech since the immediate aftermath of September 11. But she’s unlikely to be the last.

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Muhlenberg’s decision to dismiss Finkelstein followed a monthslong pressure campaign. The professor reported receiving anonymous rape threats and messages from people saying they watched her while she walked her dog.

Rather than defend Finkelstein and uphold principles of academic freedom, Muhlenberg fired her.

As the first instance of a tenured professor being fired for criticizing Israel’s war on Gaza, Finkelstein’s dismissal sets a grim new precedent against a backdrop of right-wing attacks on higher education nationwide.

But since October 7, 2023, other tenured professors have been suspended and investigated, and numerous professors without the protection of tenure have lost jobs in apparent retaliation for speaking out against Israel’s brutal Gaza assault.

Meanwhile, hundreds of students have faced grave disciplinary consequences for participating in Gaza solidarity encampments and protests.

The Intercept is among the only news outlets reporting on what’s being called the “new McCarthyism” on college campuses — aimed at silencing pro-Palestinian speech — and your donations are an essential source of funding for this coverage.

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