Principles of Unity

We are an independent coalition of workers at the University of Maryland, College Park, including faculty and staff, who educate and advocate in support of Palestinian self-determination, full equality, and freedom. We assert a right and a responsibility to exert our academic freedoms, and to express our perspectives as scholars, intellectuals, thinkers, educators, and as citizens of this university.  

We stand together against all forms of colonialism, racism, and apartheid. We view Palestinian liberation as anti-colonial and in line with other progressive movements, including indigenous land rights, Black liberation, and gender and sexual freedom. 

We defend the right to free speech on our campus and support public education and discussion about the 75+ years of Israel’s systematic dispossession, occupation, and dehumanization of Palestinians. We collectively demand an end to the ongoing violence inflicted on the Palestinian people.  We support Palestinians' right to self-determination and legal equality, and to return to their homes and lands. We will continue to speak out until the liberation of Palestinian lands and people and the actualization of the right of return is implemented.

We organize and promote activities on campus that serve to educate the community about the history of Palestine/Israel, the ongoing struggle for Palestinian rights, and visions of a just future and human rights for all.

We oppose racism, discrimination, and hatred in all its forms, including, but not limited to anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab racism, Islamophobia, and antisemitism. We reject, unreservedly, the conflation of support for Palestine liberation and opposition to Israel’s actions with antisemitism. We condemn the pervasive misinformation, harassment, censorship, and marginalization of students supporting Palestine.

We support our students’ right to protest, to learn, to think, and to advocate in support of Palestine and to engage in acts of civil disobedience. We support the work of the Students for  Justice in Palestine (SJP), Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), and others on campus in their expressions of support for the liberation of Palestine.

We support the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel’s call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) as a form of peaceful protest against Israel’s occupation and colonization of Palestine. 

We defend each other from harassment, suspensions, firings, and other forms of intimidation for exercising our right to free expression of our political views.The most securely employed among us protect more vulnerable members at all times, and all of us protect our students and each other. 

We participate in cross-campus coalitions in the DMV area and nationally as part of the national network of faculty and staff for justice in Palestine.

This organization is independent of the University of Maryland, College Park, and does not represent the views of the University.