FSJP@OSU Mission and Values
We are a collective of faculty, staff, and graduate students at Ohio State University (OSU) who support Palestinian rights to self-determination, including the right of return, and the end to Israeli occupation and colonization of Palestine.
We are part of a national network of organized academic chapters and a global movement of university employees.
We are focused on education, advocacy, and action.
We organize faculty and staff support for Students for Justice in Palestine at OSU and for pro-Palestine groups and students at Ohio State University as possible, including documenting harassment and intimidation.
Why found FSJP@OSU now?
The 2023–24 Israeli war on Gaza has produced unprecedented and disproportionate destruction in Gaza and escalated violence by settlers in the West Bank.
People at OSU who advocate for Palestinian self-determination are facing an increased climate of fear and intimidation.
FSJP is an ethical response to these injustices and organizes for collective safety.
What are the founding principles of FSJP@OSU?
We endorse an academic and cultural boycott and the economic sanction and divestment (BDS) from Israel called for by Palestinian civil society.
We are committed to education as part of a broader pursuit of justice.
We are committed to safety and dignity for all.
Ohio State University’s Shared Values inform our advocacy for BDS. Likewise, we will:
- Create and discover knowledge to improve the well-being of our local, state, regional, national, and global communities.
- Prepare a diverse student body to be leaders and engaged citizens.
- Foster a culture of engagement and service.
We condemn all acts of ethnic cleansing and genocide. We believe that Israel’s relentless siege on Gaza, its people, environment, infrastructure, and cultural institutions amounts to genocide and ethnic cleansing.
We believe that the current crisis is not properly understood, or ethically responded to, without a longer history and contextualization from Palestinian perspectives.
We oppose Zionism, the political ideology of the state of Israel, as a settler-colonial ideology that has produced an apartheid state.
We oppose all forms of settler colonialism, including the ongoing colonial conditions of OSU as a “land grant” university. We understand that this acknowledgment requires a commitment to work with and listen to Indigenous and Native peoples at Ohio State University and beyond.
We oppose all forms of racism and bigotry–including anti-Arab racism, anti-Palestinian racism, Islamophobia, antisemitism, and anti-Blackness.
We oppose all forms of oppression, including those driven by caste-hierarchies, cis-heteronormativity, and ableism.
We reject any effort to equate anti-Zionism with antisemitism and we endorse the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism.
We recognize that members of our collective have different positionalities that affect power dynamics within our collective and the various communities to which we belong. As such, the most securely employed among us protect those more vulnerable.