Lessons in Repression: Silencing Campus Workers on Palestine Since October 7, 2023

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It has been three years since campuses across the US and Canada erupted in protest against Israel’s genocide in the Gaza Strip. And despite public demonization, mass arrests, harassment, and punishment, history is already vindicating those students, and public opinion now squarely endorses the positions they were demonized for. But retaliation against campus workers speaking out on Palestine, including faculty and staff, has persisted.

This report is the first systematic study of retaliation against workers on campuses in the US and Canada related to Palestine since October 7, 2023, revealing the devastating effects this repression has had on individual lives, campus discussion of Palestine, and academic freedom generally.

The MESA Academic Freedom Initiative has compiled a database of retaliation incidents in higher education pertaining to Palestine-related speech since October 7, 2023. Key findings from our data up to August 20, 2026 include:

• Retaliation goes far beyond firing. Of 196 recorded incidents of employer retaliation against employees speaking out on Palestine, nearly 40% (76) resulted in termination. Retaliation that does not rise to the level of termination is an even larger phenomenon.
• All categories of academic workers are at risk. Of the 162 individuals whose employment status was disclosed, 30% involved non-tenure track faculty or instructors, and 36% were tenured.
• People of color are disproportionately affected. Of the 134 cases recorded in the AFI database in which respondents’ identification is known, two-thirds were people of color: 30% SWANA; 10.5% Black; and 27% other POC. Additionally, 16.5% identify as Jewish. More than half of those targeted whose gender is known are women. Such retaliation compounds the abuse of already racist and sexist work environments.
• Most retaliation is not for classroom speech. Of the 196 cases in the AFI database, only 11% involved classroom interactions, 54% stemmed from other on-campus speech such as protests, 16% were for off-campus speech or activity, 12% for social media posts, and in 8% of cases, the reasons for punishment were not disclosed.
• Universities use the facade of anti-discrimination investigations to pursue politically motivated retaliation. Investigations are often conducted in an arbitrary or opaque manner that lack basic procedural safeguards for those accused. And while most anti-discrimination offices rely on staff with civil rights or education backgrounds, some schools have started using former law enforcement or prosecutors instead. One school employed a former FBI counterterrorism agent, and another had a former prosecutor who was also a pro-Israel activist colluding with their local Hillel.

Lessons in Repression

Based on interviews with 31 employees of higher education institutions in the US and Canada who faced retaliation after October 7, 2023, we have identified a set of tactics that higher education institutions have used to stifle Palestine advocacy and pedagogy.

This report offers a set of tools for resisting these conditions and points readers to resources for asserting their rights and insisting on their academic freedom.