Last spring, faculty across the nation were brutally detained and arrested for standing with encamped students in demanding that our academic institutions divest from Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza and for a Free Palestine. Militarized police occupied our campuses at the request of university administrators and state governors. As a result, we were injured physically, harmed psychologically, and denied access to our campuses, our offices, and university resources while enduring various disciplinary procedures.
The fall semester is here and yet: We are still processing. We are still sick, physically and emotionally. We are still healing. And somehow, we are expected to go back to the classroom.On Tuesday September 3rd 2024, Member at Large Jessica Pabón-Colón will open a Zoom space for arrested faculty and their accomplices to share experiences, process the difficulties of the demand for "business as usual" over the summer, and witness one another as we prepare to return to campus (or not). The invitation is to come as you are and the hope is to activate the power of the collective toward healing our individual and collective trauma.