The Journal of Multimodal Rhetorics

Elia Newson, University of Colorado Boulder

 

June 30, 2024

On October 23rd, 2023, the Ethnic Studies Department at the University of Colorado Boulder posted a statement in support of the Palestinian people and their right to self-determination in the early days of Israel’s ongoing genocidal war in Palestine. The statement correctly identified Israel’s war crimes against the Palestinian people including “indiscriminate bombing of civilian populations, collective punishments, withholding water, medical aid, food, fuel and causing a preventable humanitarian catastrophe” (“Department of Ethnic Studies Revised Palestine Support Statement”). Ethnic studies also took the time to reflect on important rhetorical issues, acknowledging that Jews have been victims of genocide and antisemitic hatred and violence, but additionally pointing out the difference between powerful militarized states (such as Israel) on one hand and the colonized people resisting them on the other. One cannot “both sides” the conflict, as the capability of violence in Israel is so many degrees beyond the capacity of any Palestinian military action. They went on to point out that settler-colonial states cry terrorism when attacks like October 7th occur, but then respond many degrees beyond such attacks. These assaults, which often kill civilians and children, are not called terrorism but rather a “sanctioned military action” or simply “Israel’s right to defend itself.” Finally, the Ethnic Studies Department effectively tied this colonial violence to the greater settler colonial project in Kashmir in India, against indigenous people on Turtle Island, and across the world (“Department of Ethnic Studies Revised Palestine Support Statement”).

Rather than reflect on the rhetoricity of this document, I think it is more important at this moment to consider its historicity. Contrary to the backlash this statement received, it was rhetorically responsible, nuanced, and brave given the political climate. More importantly, its creation reflects a larger historical narrative about ethnic studies and why it is so important for scholars and teachers in rhetoric and composition to support this body of knowledge and indigenous and colonized peoples. In this brief essay, I will sketch out the historical foundation and significance of ethnic studies, discuss the ongoing tension between ethnic studies and colleges and universities in the United States using CU Boulder as an example, and close by arguing that it is our responsibility as scholars and teachers of rhetoric and composition to fully support ethnic studies.

Much like other ethnic studies programs throughout the United States, CU Boulder’s Ethnic Studies Department has its roots in the radical identity-based activism of the 1960’s and 70’s. Ethnic studies at CU Boulder was first established as an African American Program and Mexican American Program in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s (“Ethnic Studies Department History”). The inception of this program at CU Boulder was a microcosm of a larger historical moment of radical, sudden change in the 60’s and 70’s, when academia in the United States was forced to reckon with its role in perpetuating systemic racism by minoritized people demanding a place for themselves in colleges and universities. The struggle for full integration into systems of higher education reflected the larger Civil Rights Movement occurring at the time (Rogers, 2012).

For many years before this rupture, higher education in the United States was white, upper-class, male, and straight. The beginning of this change in admissions, hiring practices, material aid for the minoritized and the formation of ethnic studies departments arose from struggle among different groups. Namely, in the 1960’s and 70’s, this was a struggle between civil rights activists, socialists, students, and other left-wing forces on one side and university administration, the US government, and corporations on the other (Ferguson, 2012; Kynard, 2012; Rogers, 2012). Through this sometimes violent struggle, minoritized people were able to seize a place in the university through things like open admissions in New York City (Kynard, 2012) and the formation of ethnic studies departments (Ferguson, 2012; Rogers, 2012), which did not exist before the 1960’s.

In the bureaucracy of higher education, platitudes and trickles of money have continued over the years, but the actual position of ethnic studies in the university is precarious. Ethnic studies departments remain underfunded due to racialized austerity and are not yet fully institutionalized or respected as serious scholarly work (Cuello, 1998), minoritized students are still unfairly shuffled into remedial classrooms (Mutnick, 1996), and enrollment of students of color, faculty of color and material aid for minoritized people remains relatively low (Rogers, 2012). With the culture war burning ever stronger in our country, ethnic studies are also prime targets for right-wing ire due to their centrality in propagating Critical Race Theory and often spearheading DEI initiatives (Wu, 2021). Rather than stand up for ethnic studies in this climate, supposed “liberals” in upper university administration who claim to care about academic freedom, free speech, and democracy (DiStefano, 2023) are unwilling to stand up for one of the few spaces for minoritized people in colleges and universities. The example at CU Boulder remains instructive for understanding how this plays out.

The statement in support of Palestine from Ethnic Studies at CU Boulder models this precarious position and the worsening of tensions between ethnic studies and higher education across the United States. Within days of publication, a petition was immediately circulated which condemned the statement and accused the department of being antisemitic (Lev, 2023), the department was condemned by upper university administration (Vanderveen, 2023), CU Boulder’s Chancellor later called the statement antisemitic (Adelson, 2023), and public pressure forced the department to take their statement down (Vanderveen, 2023). Then, on January 30^th, 2024, a right-wing “doxing truck” rolled onto CU Boulder’s campus with names and pictures of every faculty in the Ethnic Studies Department with the headline: “Boulder’s Leading Antisemites.” (DeMare, 2024). That day, the university gave a tepid statement in support of the department that was five sentences long (University statement on mobile billboard truck on campus). Since then, the department has received no public support from any of their colleagues or upper administration despite public slander and indirect threats to their safety.

This is the constant struggle of ethnic studies in the university: a decolonial, radical, activist project housed in a colonial institution hell bent on the status quo. So, as we fight against the ongoing horror in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, we must also be mindful of our positions in the colonial institution of higher education. As rhetoricians and compositionists, we owe many of our innovations to work currently being done in ethnic studies, whether it be anti-racist assessment practices for writing (Inoue, 2019) or critical histories of teaching writing to minoritized students (Kynard, 2012) just to name two of many. Of course, this support must be beyond our instrumental concerns. It is also our responsibility to protect and broaden this area of study as a node of resistance to colonial power in the United States.

At the end of their now retracted statement, Ethnic Studies at CU Boulder effectively tied decolonial struggles together from Turtle Island to Kashmir to Palestine. They were correct. These struggles are intrinsically linked through the global settler-colonial capitalist project, and ethnic studies is one of the most important beach heads in higher education for sustaining critique against settler-colonialism, carving out space for the minoritized, supporting decolonial struggles, and creating a more progressive society. Along with the students themselves, who are bravely putting their lives on the line to force institutions of higher education to divest from Israel, it is also paramount that we support our colleagues in ethnic studies. We must continue to back those who will bravely call out genocide for what it is, work against the utterly destructive status quo of university administration, and support the minoritized across all borders. There is no act too small, whether it be individual encouragement to a colleague, in our research, on our faculty councils, in our activist organizations or in our unions, rhetoricians and compositionists should stand for Palestine, students, and ethnic studies.

Free Palestine!

 

References

Adelson, A. (2023, December 21). CU Boulder chancellor calls department's statement antisemitic, but believes it is protected speech. 9News. https://www.9news.com/article/news/local/local-politics/cu-boulder-chancellor-calls-statement-antisemitic-believes-it-is-protected-speech/73-44621192-b6f3-49a1-a7b6-c58a2c165440

Cuello, J. (1998, April 20). The Struggle to Fully Institutionalize Latino Studies: The Detroit Latino Community, Academic Activists and Wayne State University, 1971-1998. Constructing Latina/Latino Studies: Location and Dislocation, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, United States.

DeMare, K. (2024, January 30). Ethnic studies department faculty targeted by ‘doxxing trucks,’ accused of antisemitism. CU Independent. https://www.cuindependent.com/2024/01/30/ethnic-studies-department-targeted-by-doxxing-trucks-accused-of-antisemitism/

DiStefano, P. (2023, July 28). Attacks on higher ed are attacks on democracy. Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/opinion/views/2023/07/28/attacks-higher-ed-are-attacks-democracy-opinion/

Ferguson, R. (2012). The Reorder of Things: The University and its Pedagogies of Minority Difference. University of Minnesota Press.

Inoue, A. (2019). Labor-Based Grading Contracts: Building Equity and Inclusion in the Compassionate Writing Classroom. The WAC Clearinghouse and University Press of Colorado.

Kynard, C. (2012). Vernacular Insurrections: Race, Black Protest, and the New Century in Composition-Literacies Studies. SUNY Press. 

Lev, S. (2023, October 25). Stand Up Against Antisemitism on CU Boulder’s Campus. https://www.change.org/p/stand-up-against-antisemitism-on-cu-boulder-s-campus

Mutnick, Deborah. (1996). Writing In An Alien World: Basic Writing and the Struggle for Equality in Higher Education. Heinemann.

Rogers, I. (2012). The Black Campus Movement: Black Students and the Racial Reconstitution of Higher Education, 1965-1972. Palgrave Macmillan.

University of Colorado Boulder. (2024, January 30). University statement on mobile billboard truck on campus. https://www.colorado.edu/news/formedia/2024/01/30/university-statement-mobile-billboard-truck-campus

University of Colorado Boulder Ethnic Studies Department. (2023, October 23). Department of Ethnic Studies Revised Palestine Support Statement. https://web.archive.org/web/20231026032109/https://www.colorado.edu/ethnicstudies/2023/10/23/department-ethnic-studies-revised-palestine-support-statement

University of Colorado Boulder Ethnic Studies Department. Ethnic Studies Department History. https://www.colorado.edu/ethnicstudies/department-history

Vanderveen, A. (2023, November 5). Ethnic Studies pro-Palestine statement taken down after CU leadership pushback. CU Independent. https://www.cuindependent.com/2023/11/05/ethnic-studies-pro-palestine-statement-taken-down-after-pushback/.

Wu, W. (2021, August 5). Ethnic Studies and DEI—A Convenient Marriage Anchored in Critical Race Theory. Minding the Campus. https://www.mindingthecampus.org/2021/08/05/ethnic-studies-and-dei-a-convenient-marriage-anchored-in-critical-race-theory/

 

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Elia Newsom is an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Program for Writing & Rhetoric at the University of Colorado Boulder. He serves as the Organizing Committee Co-Chair at CU Boulder for United Campus Workers Colorado (CWA Local 7799), is actively involved in Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), frequently contributes to Cosmonaut, an online Marxist magazine, and is currently working on a monograph on the intersections of radical pedagogy, activism, and labor justice. However, he is most proud of his experiences teaching and working with students in jails, high schools, retirement homes, libraries, and colleges.