On Feb. 5, Keziah Ridgeway and Maura Finkelstein — educators suspended and fired, respectively, after controversies surrounding their pro-Palestine speech — visited Swarthmore. Ridgeway, a Philadelphia high school history teacher, and Finkelstein, formerly an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Muhlenberg College, discussed their experiences facing backlash for controversies surrounding pro-Palestine speech and its implications for the concept of academic freedom.
Ridgeway was suspended from her job at Northeast High School for speaking on what she describes as pro-Palestine speech and teaching on “structures and systems of history, along with the importance of understanding culture and society.” Lori Lowenthal Marcus, the director of The Deborah Project, a law firm representing those who have been discriminated against in the Jewish community, told NBC10 that “She was removed because she made credible threats of violence against specific named Jewish parents of the Philadelphia School District.”
Finkelstein argues that she was fired from her job at Muhlenberg College for her pro-Palestine speech. In January, Finkelstein reposted a statement from a Palestinian-American poet on Instagram. The college suspended her a week after for complaints regarding a class discussion from October.
“I wasn’t fired for anything I said in the classroom. I was fired because of a charge brought by a student I had never met, let alone taught, who had been surveying my social media account for months. This isn’t about student safety, this is about silencing dissent. We are witnessing a new McCarthyism and we should all be terrified of its implications,” Finkelstein said in an interview with Inside Higher Ed.
“Where can’t we speak? What can’t we speak? Because it is more important that we know,” Finkelstein said.
Despite both speakers facing Title VI investigations, they shared with the audience how they have tried to continue to advocate for their beliefs even while facing institutional opposition. During the talk, they spoke about how empires build a society in which ignoring issues like Palestine is both accepted and expected. They highlighted the lack of protection for those who speak about taboo topics and push back against what the “society” deems acceptable.
Finkelstein said that before Oct. 7th, 2023, she relied on “the fact that as an anti-Zionist Jewish person [she] had a sort of moral and ethical obligation and also a position of safety in order to teach about Palestine.” She attributes the repercussions she is facing because “talking about Palestine and advocating for Palestine and talking about genocide are also in the same breath talking about empire in the United States, along with many other countries.”
When both speakers were asked about the repercussions, they had very similar responses.
Ridgeway spoke about the diversity of her school, which includes Palestinian and Sudanese students. These students, along with Ridgeway, dealt with many issues during a school project focusing on resistance through art. The students produced a podcast on Palestine and it played at the school’s Black History Month assembly. Ridgeway said within “24 hours the district pulled the podcast from rotation” and stated it was anti-Semitic, prompting a Title VI investigation.
Finklestein was a master’s student at Columbia University, which she joked was always in the news for “being up to no good.” She said that after one of her professors was targeted for his teachings on Palestine, she organized a group of students, found anti-Zionism, and has held onto that.
Both educators said they have had students reach out trying to help with their situation. They described that their students may not necessarily agree with them or have an opinion, but they have built strong bonds with their mentors and don’t want to see the people in their lives suffer for speaking up.
Finkelstein and Ridgeway say they plan to continue to fight for those who cannot, calling on others to join them if they have the ability to risk things they find important. Ridgeway emphasized the consequences of speaking out in academia, saying that many students do not report discrimination.
But Finkelstein and Ridgeway focused most on their approach to education. In an interview with The Phoenix, Finkelstein said, “there is this myth about education, that it’s about learning facts as if there is an objective reality. And the truth is that we, if we’re really teaching, we’re actually not trying to reproduce knowledge or power or institutions or whatnot. We’re trying to help our students imagine the world otherwise.”
