Regarding the Recent Union Referendum

January 8, 2025

Dear Faculty Colleagues,

Recently, the AAUP-AFT and the Adjunct Faculty Unions held a referendum among their members at Rutgers on whether the unions should advocate for the university to divest from companies that do business with Israel and for the university to sever its academic partnership with Tel Aviv University. 

Many have expressed concerns about the chilling effect this referendum may have on the scholarship of faculty members who conduct their research on Israel, partner with Israel, are Israeli themselves, or identify deeply with Israel. In response to these concerns, I want to offer a few comments.

The university maintains a policy on investments by which members of the community may propose divestment to our governing boards. A proposal seeking divestment from Israel was submitted last spring and, after review in accordance with the process outlined in our Policy on Investments, it did not move forward. That decision still stands.

While I have no role in how the university’s endowment is invested, I have said publicly many times that I believe in engagement, not isolation.

The unions may choose to take positions as organizations and to advocate for them, but there are central aspects of the university’s academic mission where, I want to be clear, Rutgers will not deviate. 

 Regarding academic partnerships, it is a point of pride that Rutgers faculty interact with scholars and universities in nations around the world. The breadth of our partnerships is among our university’s great strengths. Moreover, Rutgers faculty come from around the world, and we are richer as a community for this diversity of experiences and perspectives. 

Perhaps most important for me to emphasize is this: our academic community seeks to support all faculty in the teaching, research, and service they bring to the university. Our policies and processes for the recruitment, appointment, and advancement of faculty do not consider political views, race, religion, shared ancestry, gender, or any other personal attributes. The university steadfastly prohibits unlawful discrimination.  

Finally, I reiterate that Rutgers maintains its profound and essential commitment to academic freedom: the right of our faculty, in the discharge of their duties, to express their ideas and to challenge the ideas of others without fear of retribution is the core tenet of our identity as a scholarly community. The university will not waver on this commitment.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Holloway
President and University Professor