UMN Faculty Statement on the Visit of Dr. Condoleezza Rice
<For a list of signatures as of 5pm on Wednesday, April 16th, please scroll down to the end of the letter. The letter was sent to President Kaler and Dean Schwartz with the first 213 signatures listed below. We have left the petition open so that faculty may continue to sign.>
<Note: We ask that only UMN faculty sign. Thank you.>
On April 17, 2014, former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit the University of Minnesota to give the Distinguished Carlson Lecture, an annual activity of the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, endowed by a private gift from the Carlson Foundation. This year, the lecture has an additional significance, as it is part of the series of events entitled, "Keeping Faith with a Legacy of Justice," sponsored by the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the American Civil Rights Act of 1964. As the flagship speaker for the main event of the series, Dr. Rice is explicitly being honored as a civil rights leader and being brought in to speak about civil rights given her purported leadership and expertise on American civil rights.
We, the undersigned University of Minnesota faculty, are grateful to the Carlson Family for their past and current generosity. The Carlson family and Foundation have supported a variety of important projects on campus over the years, and have greatly enriched our environment.
We have no objection to Dr. Rice visiting our campus. Indeed, as strong advocates of the right to free speech, we welcome anyone - including Dr. Rice - into our community to engage in an open exchange of ideas.
In that very spirit of free expression, however, and in our commitment to the principles of truth and the common good that are inscribed above the entrance to Northrop Auditorium where Dr. Rice will speak, we object to the circumstances of this particular visit. While Dr. Rice is an accomplished African-American woman, the advancement of civil rights - the theme of this year's lecture series - is not central to her legacy. Indeed, as a leading national security official during the entirety of the Bush administration, she bears responsibility for substantial violations of civil liberties and civil rights that were carried out in the name of prosecuting the War on Terror.
Dr. Rice is welcome to speak on the University of Minnesota campus, but let's not ignore her record. As National Security Adviser in the critical period of 2001-05, Dr. Rice played a central role in the design and implementation of the Administration's policies, which legitimized the use of torture by redefining it to include only practices so severe as to induce organ failure. By this logic, "enhanced interrogation techniques" that had previously been defined as torture, such as waterboarding, were no longer defined as such and became standard practice in the War on Terror. Since the end of her tenure, Dr. Rice has defended the use of torture and has not publicly distanced herself from these decisions that violated both US and international law and resulted in severe violations of human rights.
Dr. Rice also supported the Administration's policy of rendition, whereby individuals were abducted and delivered by US authorities to "black sites" in third countries such as Egypt and Syria, countries that were known to subject prisoners to torture. This practice violated due process, since these individuals were detained without being given the opportunity to defend themselves. They were effectively found guilty without trial. And they were tortured. Since some detainees died while in custody, this practice was, in many circumstances, tantamount to authorizing extrajudicial execution.
Given the focus on free speech, Dr. Rice's role in formulating and implementing a policy of ideological exclusion is also relevant. The State Department she directed from 2005 until 2009 denied visas to numerous foreign scholars that the Administration deemed to be ideologically problematic, preventing scholars from assuming prestigious posts at American universities and from attending scholarly conferences.
Finally, we want to note that there are also human rights implications to the much reported high speaking fee being paid to Dr. Rice. Not only is this oversized payment a dubious priority in a time of economic hardship and austerity, it is also inconsistent with the civil rights movement's emphasis on economic justice.
We are proud to work at the University of Minnesota which, among its many strengths, is a hub for human rights education, and which hosts many important projects and discussions designed to promote human rights and human dignity. We, of course, support free speech as one of the core human rights that sustain an atmosphere of academic freedom and a democratic society. Accountability, in this case, must be central to that open debate.
Signed by:
1. Barbara A. Frey, Director, Human Rights Program, Institute for Global Studies
2. Alejandro Baer, Associate Professor of Sociology, Stephen C. Feinstein Chair in Holocaust & Genocide Studies
3. Stephen Meili, Professor, University of Minnesota Law School
4. Fionnuala Ni Aolain, Professor, Law School
5. David Weissbrodt, Professor, Law
6. Kathryn Sikkink, Emeritus Professor, Political Science
7. James Ron, Associate Professor and Stassen Chair of International Affairs, Department of Political Science and Humphrey School of Public Affairs
8. Greta Friedemann-Sánchez, Ph.D., Associate Professor, International Development Practice and Public Policy, Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs
9. Lisa Hilbink, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science
10. Ana Forcinito, Professor, Spanish and Portuguese Studies
11. Joachim Savelsberg, Professor, Department of Sociology
12. Leigh A Payne, Senior Researcher in Human Rights
13. Kristi Rudelius-Palmer, Human Rights Center Co-Director/Adjunct Professor, Human Rights Center/Law School
14. Samuel L. Myers, Jr., Director and Roy Wilkins Professor of Human Relations and Social Justice, Humphrey School of Public Affairs
15. Joe Soss, Cowles Professor for the Study of Public Service, Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs
16. Teri L. Caraway, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science
17. Ron Krebs, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science
18. Joseph E. Schwartzberg, Distinguished International Professor Emeritus
19. Ron Aminzade, Professor, Department of Sociology
20. Allen Isaacman, Regents Professor, Department of History
21. Naomi Scheman; Professor; Departments of Philosophy and Gender and Women, & Sexuality Studies
22. David Pellow, Professor, Department of Sociology
23. JB Shank, Associate Professor, Department of History and Director of the Center for Early Modern History
24. Riv-Ellen Prell, Professor, American Studies
25. Michael Goldman, Professor, Department of Sociology and Global Studies
26. Vinay Gidwani, Associate Professor, Deparment of Geography and Institute for Global Studies
27. Jigna Desai; Chair and Associate Professor; Department of Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies and Program of Asian and American Studies
28. Paula Rabinowitz; Professor; Department of English, Language/Literature
29. Sarah Holtman, Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy
30. Bianet Castellanos, Associate Professor, American Studies
31. John Wallace, Professor, Department of Philosophy
32. Stuart McLean, Associate Professor, Institute for Global Studies and Department of Anthropology
33. Ana Paula Ferreira, Professor, Portuguese Studies
34. Thomas Pepper, Associate Professor, Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature
35. Kathy Quick, Assistant Professor, Humphrey School of Public Affairs
36. Ajay Skaria, Associate Professor, Department of History and Institute for Global Studies
37. Geoffrey Hellman, Professor, Department of Philosophy
38. William Messing, Professor, Department of Mathematics
39. Jack Zipes, Professor Emeritus, Department of German, Scandinavian and Dutch
40. Christophe Wall-Romana, Associate Professor, Department of French and Italian
41. Rick McCormick; Professor; Department of German, Scandinavian & Dutch
42. Tracey Deutsch, Associate Professor, Department of History
43. Martha Tappen, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology
44. MJ Maynes, Professor, Department of History
45. Lisa Sun-Hee Park, Professor, Departments of Sociology and Asian American Studies
46. Michelle M Hamilton, Associate Professor, Spanish & Portuguese
47. Joan DeJaeghere; Associate Professor; Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy and Development
48. Amy Kaminsky, Professor, Department of Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies and Institute for Global Studies
49. Phillip K. Peterson, M.D., Professor Emeritus of Medicine, University of Minnesota Medical School
50. Cawo Abdi, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology
51. Kirsten Fischer, Associate Professor, Department of History
52. Elizabeth Heger Boyle, Professor, Department of Sociology
53. Rachel Schurman, Professor, Department of Sociology and Global Studies
54. Karen-Sue Taussig, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology
55. Karen Ho, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology
56. Carl Elliott, Professor, Center for Bioethics
57. Diane Katsiaficas, Professor, Department of Art
58. Francis Harvey; Associate Professor; Department of Geography, Environment, Society
59. Tony C. Brown; Associate Professor; Department of English, Language and Literature
60. Stephen Gudeman, Professor, Department of Anthropology
61. William O. Beeman, Professor, Department of Anthropology
62. Keya Ganguly, Professor, Department of Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature
63. Jennifer L. Pierce, Professor, American Studies
64. Teresa Gowan, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology
65. Frances Vavrus; Professor; Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development
66. Kathleen E. Hull, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology
67. Joe Owens, Professor, Department of Philosophy
68. Annie Hill; Assistant Professor; Rhetoric, Department of Communication Studies
69. Gloria Raheja, Professor, Institute for Global Studies and Department of Anthrolopogy
70. Kevin P. Murphy, Associate Professor, Department of History
71. Deborah Levison, Professor, Humphrey School of Public Affairs
72. Guy Gibbon, Professor Emeritus, Department of Anthropology
73. Sarah Parkinson, Assistant Professor, Humphrey School of Public Affairs
74. Amy Sheldon, Professor, Communication Studies
75. Leigh Turner, Associate Professor, Center for Bioethics, School of Public Health, & College of Pharmacy
76. Elaine Tyler May, Regents Professor, Departments of American Studies and History
77. Lary May, Distinguished Teaching Professor, Emeritus, Departments of American Studies and History
78. Ascan Koerner, Associate Professor, Department of Communication Studies
79. Yuichiro Onishi, Associate Professor, African American & African Studies & Asian American Studies
80. David Valentine, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology
81. Enid Logan, Associate Professor, Sociology
82. Qadri Ismail, Associate Professor, English
83. Lisa Albrecht, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Social Justice, Social Work, CEHD
84. Steven Sperber, Professor, Mathematics
85. Gopalan Nadathur, Professor, Computer Science and Engineering
86. Roderick A. Ferguson, Professor, American Studies
87. Ameeta Kelekar, Associate Professor, Laboratory Medicine and Pathology
88. Roy T Cook, Associate Professor, Philosophy
89. M.J.Fitzgerald, Associate Professor, English Department and Creative Writing Program
90. Rose Brewer, Professor, African American & African Studies
91. George Henderson, Associate Professor, Department of Geography, Environment, and Society
92. Maria Damon, Professor, English
93. Jani Scandura, Associate Professor, English
94. Michael Gaudio, Associate Professor, Art History
95. Jennifer Gunn, Associate Professor and Chair, Program in the History of Medicine
96. Steven F. Ostrow, Professor and Chair, Art History
97. Laurie Ouellette, Associate Professor, Communication Studies
98. Susan Craddock, Professor, Institute for Global Studies and Department of Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies
99. Keitha Lucas Hamann, Associate Professor, School of Music
100. Doug Hartmann, Professor,
Sociology
101. Sonja Kuftinec, Professor, Theater Arts and Dance
102. Dominic Taylor, Associate Professor, Theatre Arts & Dance
103. Sumanth Gopinath, Associate Professor of Music Theory, School of Music
104. Michelle Mason, Associate Professor, Philosophy
105. Sara M. Evans, Regents Professor Emerita, History
106. Timothy Brennan, Professor, Cultural Studies & Comparative Literature; and English
107. James Dillon, Professor, School of Music
108. Klaas van der Sanden, Program Director, Institute for Global Studies
109. Keith Mayes, Associate Professor & Chair, African American & African Studies
110. David Samuels, Distinguished McKnight University Professor, Political Science
111. Bruce Braun; Professor; Department of Geography, Environment and Society
112. Hoon Song, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology
113. Juliette Cherbuliez, Associate Professor, French and Italian
114. Paul Garrett, Professor of Mathematics, School of Mathematics
115. Julia W Robinson, Professor, School of Architecture
116. Erin Kelly, Professor, Sociology
117. Hiromi Mizuno, Associate Professor, Department of History
118. Eva von Dassow, Associate Professor, Classical and Near Eastern Studies
119. Ruth-Ellen B. Joeres, Professor Emerita of German , Department of German, Scandinavian, and Dutch
120. David Chang, Associate Professor, Department of History
121. Jimmy Patiño, Assistant Professor, Department of Chicano & Latino Studies
122. Lois Cucullu, Associate Professor, English
123. Howard Lavine, Arleen Carlson Professor of Political Science and Psychology, Political Science
124. Bill Gleason, Associate Professor (retired), Laboratory Medicine & Pathology
125. Patrick J. McNamara, Associate Professor, Department of History
126. Joshua Page, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology
127. Anne Lazaraton, Associate Professor, Writing Studies
128. Mark Pedelty, Associate Professor, Communication Studies
129. Gilbert Tostevin, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology
130. Subir K. Banerjee, CSE Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Institute for Rock Magnetism, School of Earth Sciences
131. Jean M Langford, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology
132. Irene Duranczyk, Associate Professor, Postsecondary Teaching and Learning, College of Education and Human Development
133. david karjanen, Assistant Professor, American Studies
134. Marc Hirschmann, Professor, Earth Sciences
135. Charlotte Melin; Professor; German, Scandinavian and Dutch
136. Hyman Berman, Professor Emeritus, History
137. Na'im Madyun, Associate Dean Undergraduate and Diversity Programs, CEHD
138. Nancy Luxon, Assistant Professor, Political Science
139. Maria Brewer, Associate Professor, Department of French and Italian
140. Diane Willow, Associate Professor, Art / Gender, Women, & Sexuality Studies
141. Raúl Marrero-Fente, Professor, Spanish and Law
142. Lorena Munoz; Assistant Professor; Department of Geography, Environment, Society
143. Thomas Wolfe, Associate Professor, Department of History
144. Matthias Rothe; Assistant Professor; German, Scandinavian & Durch
145. Siobhan Craig, Associate Professor, Department of English
146. Monika Zagar, Professor of Scandinavian, GSD
147. Leslie Morris; Associate Professor; Department of German, Scandinavian and Dutch
148. Dr. Hilde Hoffmann; Visiting Professor; German, Scandinavian and Dutch
149. Jeffrey Broadbent, Professor, Sociology
150. Elizabeth Belfiore, Professor Emerita, Classical and Near Eastern Studies
151. Andrew D. Cohen, Professor Emeritus, Second Language Studies
152. August H. Nimtz, Professor, Political Science/African American and African Studies
153. Mary Vavrus, Associate Professor , Communication Studies Department
154. Catherine Guisan, Visiting Assistant Professor , Political Science
155. Hernan Vidal, Professor emeritus, Department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies
156. Charles J. Sugnet, Associate Professor, Department of English
157. Jennifer Karns Alexander; Associate Professor; History of Science, Technology, and Medicine, and Department of Mechanical Engineering
158. Ragui Assaad, Professor, Humphrey School of Public Affairs
159. Jodi Sandfort, Associate Professor, Humphrey School of Public Affairs
160. Arun Saldanha; Associate Professor; Geography,Environment,Society
161. Katherine Fennelly, Professor emerita, Humphrey School of Public Affairs
162. Diana Burgess, Associate Professor, Medicine
163. Angelica Afanador-Pujol, Assistant Professor, Art History
164. David L. Fox, Associate Professor, Department of Earth Sciences
165. Patricia Lorcin, Professor, Department of History
166. Jaime Hanneken, Associate Professor, Spanish and Portuguese Studies
167. Carol Chomsky, Professor, Law School
168. John Song, Associate Professor, Center for Bioethics Department of Medicine
169. Betsy J. Kerr, Associate Professor, Department of French and Italian
170. Melissa Partin, Associate Professor, Department of Medicine
171. George Spangler; Professor Emeritus; Dept. of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology
172. Carol A. Klee, Professor and Chair, Spanish and Portuguese Studies
173. Jane Blocker, Professor, Art History
174. Eileen Sivert, Associate Professor, French and Italian
175. Zenzele Isoke; Assistant Professor; Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies
176. Melissa Stone, Professor, Humphrey School of Public Affairs
177. Daniel Schroeter, Professor, Department of History
178. Michelle Phelps, Assistant Professor, Sociology
179. Karen Miksch, Associate Professor of Higher Education and Law, Postsecondary Teaching and Learning
180. Joan Liaschenko, Professor, Center for Bioethics and School of Nursing
181. Michael B. Kac, Professor, Department of Philosophy and Program in Linguistics
182. Richard McGehee, Professor, School of Mathematics
183. Dennis Hejhal, Professor, School of Mathematics
184. Joseph Gerteis, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology
185. Emi Ito, Professor, Earth Sciences
186. Donald Kahn, Professor (retired), School of Mathematics
187. Joan C. Tronto, Professor, Department of Political Science
188. John Baxter, Professor, Mathematics
189. Joel Eisinger, Associate Professor, Art History, UMM
190. Abigail Neely; Assistant Professor; Department of Geography, Environment and Society
191. Clint Carroll, Assistant Professor, American Indian Studies
192. Margaret Werry, Associate Professor, Theatre Arts and Dance
193.Eric Van Wyk, Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering
194.Arthur Walzer, Professor, Communication Studies
195.Mats Heimdahl, Professor, Computer Science and Engineering
196. Ronald Walter Greene, Professor, Communication Studies
197. Jennifer Marshall, Associate Professor, Department of Art History
198. Jonathan Sachs, Associate Professor, Biomedical Engineering
199. Richard Lee, Professor, Psychology
200. Ananya Chatterjea, Professor, Theater Arts and Dance and Director, Dance ProgramTheater Arts and Dance
201. Charles Doss, Assistant Professor, Statistics
202. Rodney G. Loper, Professor Emeritus, Counseling Services and Psychology
203. Brenda Child, Associate Professor, Department of American Studies
204.Joan A Smith, Professor, Department of Theater Arts and Dance
205. Elaine Tarone, Professor, CLA and CEHD
206. Frank C Miller, Professor Emeritus, Department of Anthropology
207. Paul Porter, Professor, Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics
208. Donald Wyse, Professor, Agronomy and Plant
209.Patricia Walker, Associate Professor, Department of Medicine
210. Constance Sullivan, Associate Professor Emerita, Spanish and Portuguese Studies
211. Cindy Garcia, Assistant Professor, Theater Arts and Dance
212. Jason McGrath, Associate Professor, Asian Languages and Literatures
213. Ernest Davenport, Associate
Professor, Educational Psychology
Departmental
affiliation is provided for identification purposes only and is not intended to
reflect the opinion of the University of Minnesota.