Project by Shahnaj Sharmin Rimu
On March 13, 2025, Columbia student and president of Student Workers of Columbia–UAW, Grant Miner, was expelled and fired from job for participating in protests against the ongoing genocide in Gaza. On August 1, 2025, Palestinian-American historian Rashid Khalidi cancelled his course on Modern Middle East History following Columbia’s adoption of the IHRA definition of antisemitism, which misleadingly conflates Jewish identity with the Israeli state, rendering teaching around the issue of Palestine virtually impossible. What does academic freedom mean when students face disciplinary consequences for standing against genocide? What does it mean when faculty must withdraw courses to preserve their freedom to teach? Free to Speak? is a zine that situates these events within Columbia University’s long and complicated history of struggles over political expression and academic freedom. It explores how Columbia has functioned as a testing ground for the articulation of solidarity. Across decades, students and faculty have expressed solidarity through occupations, resignations, encampments, and material culture while confronting censorship, discipline, and policing. If more than a century after Columbia’s first major speech controversies, the ability to expose, criticize, and confront oppressive regimes on campus and in the classroom remains disputed. Free to Speak? asks: what forms of expression might solidarity take next?
