AAUP-Penn says University should not punish lecturer for cartoons denounced as antisemitic

Penn's chapter of the American Association of University Professors sent a letter to University administrators last week calling for Penn lecturer Dwayne Booth not to be punished amid an antisemitism controversy surrounding his political cartoons.

The Feb. 8 letter — which was sent to Interim President Larry Jameson, Provost John Jackson Jr., Faculty Senate Chair Tulia Falleti, and University Board of Trustees Chair Ramanan Raghavendran, and other administrators — warned against any disciplinary action against Booth. The letter also expressed concern with Jameson's response to the controversy. It also wrote that the harassment experienced by Booth must be condemned as a "threat to academic freedom."

A University spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication. 

Booth — who publishes political cartoons under the pen name Mr. Fish — has come under fire for his artwork depicting Israel, President Joe Biden’s stance on the Israel-Hamas war, pro-Israeli figures, and Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu. 

Several of the cartoons — including one that resembles the antisemitic trope of blood libel — have been denounced as antisemitic by critics, and Jameson condemned Booth's art in a Feb. 4 statement.

In an interview with The Daily Pennsylvanian last week, Booth suggested that the cartoons were presented without context, and were meant to be viewed with accompanying columns by the journalist Chris Hedges. He said that the columns provide the necessary context to understand the cartoons and that they are open to misinterpretation when depicted by themselves.

AAUP-Penn's letter said that Booth should not be disciplined by the University for his cartoons.

"Any attempt to discipline Booth for protected extramural speech, and any attempt to do so unilaterally — denying him due process — would constitute unambiguous violations of Penn’s Faculty Handbook and the principles of academic freedom," the AAUP-Penn letter reads, adding that any action would prompt the national AAUP to investigate Penn.

The AAUP-Penn letter references Penn’s Faculty Handbook, which contains protections specifically for extramural speech.

“When speaking or writing as an individual, the teacher should be free from institutional censorship or discipline,” the handbook quoted.

Rabbi Gabe Greenberg, executive director at Penn Hillel, previously wrote to the DP for a previous story that the conflict between Israel and Palestinians was "complex and complicated," necessitating Penn students confront "nuanced perspectives that will help them understand and learn more.” 

Greenberg, however, specifically criticized Booth's cartoon titled "The Anti-Semite," which depicts three individuals drinking blood out of glasses labeled "Gaza" — for "trafficking the millenium-old" antisemitic trope of blood libel, which suggests that Jews use the blood of other groups for religious purposes.

He expressed concern that “this type of speech contributes to a sense shared by many Jewish students that Penn is not a wholly welcoming environment for them.”

Wharton junior and Penn Hillel Vice President of Israel Engagement Sadie Waldbaum previously told the DP that the cartoons “crossed a line.” She added that she was particularly concerned with his depiction of Jews drinking blood, describing them as rooted in “medieval antisemitism.” 

In a Feb. 14 statement to The Daily Pennsylvanian, Booth confirmed that he has received support from Annenberg administrators. 

However, AAUP-Penn also expressed concern with how the University addressed the controversy in the first place, criticizing Jameson’s “unwarranted” response to the cartoons in his statement — in which he called some of Booth’s cartoons “reprehensible” and “painful to see," while also affirming Penn’s “bedrock commitment” to academic freedom. 

“Jameson’s public rebuke of a faculty member for protected extramural speech imperils the academic freedom of every faculty member at Penn,” the AAUP-Penn letter said. “It gives all of us reason to wonder whether the Interim President respects the university’s own written policies, and under what circumstances he might violate them outright.”

The AAUP-Penn Executive Committee referred to the protection of academic freedom as the “fundamental duty” of University administration during a “time of war and political conflict.”

The letter additionally warned against the "targeted harassment" of Booth, suggesting that harassment like that received by Booth is intended to "intimidate all faculty into silence."

The controversy began with a Feb. 1 story published by the Washington Free Beacon, which calld the cartoons "antisemitic." The AAUP-Penn letter writes that this article "instigated" the harassment of Booth.

In a follow-up story to its initial reporting, the Beacon published a story that criticized Jameson's "tepid" statement and included the date that Booth would next be teaching his class at Penn.

“In publishing the date of Booth’s next class, the newspaper endangered the physical safety of both Booth and his students,” the AAUP-Penn letter wrote. “Such harassment must be understood and publicly condemned as a threat to academic freedom.”

The class meeting mentioned in the article — which took place last week — was moved online due to “potential threats” to Booth and his students. Booth told the DP, however, that classes for the rest of the semester will be in person.

In his Feb. 14 statement, Booth said that he has been receiving fewer hateful emails and more letters of support in recent days, including from former students and TAs.

“I've also had email exchanges with many folks who were initially outraged by my work but following a conversation actually apologize for misreading my intentions and support what I'm doing," Booth wrote.

While multiple Annenberg professors echoed concerns about academic freedom and harassment of Booth, the Penn community — and faculty in particular — continues to have mixed opinions about the messages included in Booth's cartoons and what speech should be allowed on campus.

“I agree with the sentiments expressed by [the Faculty Senate Executive Committee] on January 30th and with President Jameson’s view that Penn has  a bedrock commitment to the values of academic freedom and open expression," Annenberg Public Policy Center Director and former Annenberg Dean Kathleen Hall Jamieson, who was copied on the letter, wrote in a statement.

Other professors have previously warned against scholarship that amplifies hateful messages. Last week, professor of modern Jewish history Joshua Teplitsky wrote to the DP that the level of provocation caused by the cartoons led to more polarization, rather than more productive debate.

“The targeted harassment of Dwayne Booth should be seen as an attack on academic freedom, and we all should rise to defend such inviolable principles,” Annenberg professor Victor Pickard wrote to the DP.

Barbie Zelizer, a professor at Annenberg, wrote that the violence against Booth and calls for him to resign are not “keeping” with the University's Open Expression Guidelines.

“The irony is that the political cartoon is a form of expression built upon the freedom to display the very same qualities — distortion, one-sidedness, provocation, exaggeration — that are here being singled out as reasons for Booth’s harassment,” Zelizer wrote.