Gauri Viswanathan is a professor in the Department of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University (Columbia). She has supported anti-Israel petitions and defended Steven Salaita, a professor whose employment offer was rescinded after his antisemitic remarks.
Support for Anti-Israel Petitions
Viswanathan signed a Faculty Petition at Columbia in which signatories claimed they “take issue with our financial involvements in institutions associated with the State of Israel’s military occupation of Palestinian lands, continued violations of Palestinian human rights, systematic destruction of life and property, inhumane segregation and systemic forms of discrimination.” The petition further declared: “We now stand with Columbia University Apartheid Divest, Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine as well as with Jewish Voice for Peace” and demanded divestment from corporations doing business with Israel.
Viswanathan is also a signatory to the U.S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI). In addition, she signed a February 13, 2014 letter to the New York State Assembly opposing proposed anti-boycott legislation. Signatories claimed that “academics have a right to express their political views through a wide range of protected speech, including boycotts.”
Defense of Steven Salaita
On August 21, 2014, Viswanathan signed a petition urging a boycott of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign until it reinstated Professor Steven Salaita. The university had withdrawn a job offer to Salaita after his antisemitic tweets, including one stating: “I wish all the f**king West Bank settlers would go missing.”
Conclusion
By lending her voice to petitions that target Israel and defending a professor removed for antisemitic remarks, Viswanathan has aligned herself with movements and rhetoric that threaten the safety and dignity of Jewish students on campus. Her actions contribute to Columbia’s growing climate of hostility, where antisemitic speech is excused under the banner of “academic freedom.”
