Union Statement on the Student Protest in New Brunswick

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ—The executive bodies of Rutgers AAUP-AFT and the Rutgers Adjunct Faculty Union have issued the following statement about the protest encampment set up on Voorhees Mall on the College Avenue campus in New Brunswick:

Our unions support and defend our students’ and our members’ rights to free speech, free assembly, and free expression. Rutgers AAUP-AFT and PTLFC will establish a faculty committee to monitor the situation and—if the administration makes it necessary—protect them from arrest and repression. As educators and researchers at Rutgers University, members of our union have varying positions on the wider issues in the Palestine-Israel conflict. But regardless of our differences, we are overwhelmingly united in defending the rights of our members and our students to speak, assemble, and protest, especially in the face of the threats and repression students face today on campuses across this nation. We reiterate our unions’ commitment to challenging all instances of antisemitism, Islamophobia, and other forms of bigotry. During this encampment, our unions will protect our students and defend their rights.

Rutgers AAUP-AFT and Rutgers Adjunct Faculty Union represent some 9,000 faculty members (tenure-track, non-tenure track, and adjunct), graduate workers, postdoctoral associates and fellows, and EOF counselors.