UPDATE: Tyler Kissinger has been put on academic probation but is being allowed to  graduate. We had hoped that the University would drop the charges against him and are disappointed that they did not, but congratulate him on his graduation and thank him and his fellow student activists for their service to this University. We look forward to working with the incoming student body president and his team.

The following Statement of Support for the Right to Engage in Peaceful Protest at the University of Chicago and for the Dismissal of All Charges against Tyler Kissinger was delivered on June 9th to President Robert Zimmer, Provost Eric Issacs, and Dean of Students Michele Rasmussen

We the undersigned faculty join the University of Chicago AAUP Advocacy Chapter in supporting the right of all members of the University of Chicago community to engage in peaceful protest at the University of Chicago.  Further, we call on the University administration to dismiss all disciplinary charges against Tyler Kissinger and permit him to graduate on June 11, 2016.   Free speech, free access to university space, and dialogue among students, faculty, staff, and administrators are essential to the university’s educational mission.  The draconian punishment threatened against Kissinger chills dissent. Notably, too, it stands in troubling contrast with the enlightened approach of other universities in addressing campus protest, as reported by The New York Times and The Washington Post.  (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/09/us/university-of-chicago-protests-tyler-kissinger.html?_r=0  https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2015/11/23/after-protests-princeton-debates-woodrow-wilsons-legacy/).

1. Hussein Ali Agrama, Associate Professor of Anthropology
2. Muzaffar Alam, George V. Bobrinskoy Professor of South Asian Languages and Cultures
3. Yali Amit, Professor and Chair, Department of Statistics
4. Clifford Ando, Professor of Classics
5. Dan Arnold, Associate Professor of Philosophy of Religion
6. Elizabeth Asmis, Professor of Classics
7. Leora Auslander, Arthur and Joann Rasmussen Professor in Western Civilization
8. Ralph Austen, Professor Emeritus of History
9. Orit Bashkin, Associate Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations
10. Lauren Berlant, George M. Pullman Distinguished Service Professor of English
11. Robert Bird, Associate Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures, Cinema and Media Studies
12. Douglas Bishop, Professor of Radiation and Cellular Oncology
13. Michael Bourdaghs, Professor and Chair, East Asian Languages & Civilizations
14. Alida M. Bouris, Associate Professor, School of Social Service
    Administration, Co-Director, Chicago Center for HIV Elimination and
    Co-Director, Behavioral, Social, and Implementation Sciences Core, Third
    Coast Center for AIDS Research
15. Mark Philip Bradley, Bernadotte E. Schmitt Professor of International History, Faculty Director, Pozen Family Center for Human Rights, and Chair, Committee on International Relations
16. Larissa Brewer-García, Assistant Professor of Latin American Literature, Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Studies
17. Matthew Briones, Associate Professor of History
18. Adrienne Brown, Assistant Professor of English
19. Daniel Brudney, Professor of Philosophy
20. E. Summerson Carr, Associate Professor, School of Social Service Administration
21. Dipesh Chakrabarty, Lawrence A. Kimpton Distinguished Service Professor of History
22. James Chandler, Barbara E. and Richard J. Franke Distinguished Service Professor and Director, Franke Institute for the Humanities.
23. Robert Chaskin, Associate Prof. & Deputy Dean for Strategic Initiatives, School of Social Service Administration
24. Kyeong-Hee Choi, Associate Professor of East Asian Languages and Cultures
25. Hillary Chute, Associate Professor of English
26. Cathy Cohen, David and Mary Winton Green Professor of Political Science
27. Jennifer Cole, Professor of Comparative Human Development
28. Chiara Cordelli
29. Whitney Cox, Associate Professor of South Asian Languages and Civilization
30. Thomas Christianson, Senior Lecturer, Biological Sciences Collegiate Division
31. Bruce Cumings, Gustavus F. & Ann M. Swift Distinguished Service Professor of History
32. Shannon Lee Dawdy Associate Professor of Anthropology
33. Michael Dawson, John D. MacArthur Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture
34. Daisy Delogu, Professor of French
35. Philippe Desan, Howard L. Willett Professor of French Literaure
36. Michael Dietler, Professor of Anthropology
37. Wendy Doniger, Mircea Eliade Distinguished Service Professor of History of Religions
38. Fred M. Donner, Professor of Near Eastern History
39. Alireza Doostdar, Assistant Professor of Anthropology of Religions
40. Jacob Eyferth, Associate Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations
41. Christopher Faraone, Frank Curtis Springer and Gertrude Melcher Springer Professor of Classics
42. Leah M. Feldman, Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature
43. Martha Feldman, Mabel Greene Myers Professor of Music
44. Allyson Nadia Field, Associate Professor, Cinema & Media Studies
45. Norma Field, Robert S. Ingersoll Distinguished Service Professor in Japanese Studies, Emerita
46. Cornell Fleischer, Kanunî Süleyman Professor of Ottoman & Modern Turkish Studies
47. Anton Ford, Assistant Professor of Philosophy
48. Itamar Francez, Assistant Professor of Linguistics
49. Susan Gal, Mae & Sidney G. Metzl Distinguished Service Professor of Anthropology
50. Rachel Galvin, Assistant Professor of English
51. Edgar Garcia, Provost’s Postdoctoral Scholar (2015-2017), Neubauer Assistant Professor of English (2017- )
52. Adom Getachew, Assistant Professor of Political Science
53. Godfrey Getz, Donald N. Pritzker Professor Emeritus of Pathology, Biological Sciences Division
54. Clark Gilpin, Margaret E. Burton Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of the History of Christianity and Interim Director, Martin Marty Center
55. Andreas Glaeser, Professor of Sociology
56. Jan Goldstein, Norman and Edna Freehling Professor of History
57. Petra M. Goedegebuure, Associate Professor of Hittitology
58. William Green, Professor of Neurobiology
59. Colleen Grogan, Professor, School of Social Science Administration
60. Elizabeth Grove, Professor, Department of Neurobiology and Grossman Institute for Neuroscience
61. Tom Gunning, Edwin A and Betty L. Bergman Distinguished Service Professor, Cinema and Media Studies
62. Ramón A. Gutiérrez Preston & Sterling Morton Distinguished Service Professor of American History
63. Susan Gzesh, Executive Director, Pozen Family Center for Human Rights
64. Esmael Jafari Haddadian, Lecturer, Biological Sciences Collegiate Division
65. Elaine Hadley, Professor of English
66. Jesse Russell Hall, Professor of Medicine
67. Jonathan M. Hall, Phyllis Fay Horton Distinguished Service Professor in the Humanities, Professor, Departments of History and Classics, and the College
68. Sarah Hammerschlag, Assistant Professor of Religion and Literature
69. Kay Heikkinen, Ibn Rushd Lecturer in Arabic
70. Elizabeth Helsinger, John Matthews Manly Distinguished Service Professor Emerita, Departments of English, Art History, and Visual Arts
71. Julia Henly Associate Professor, School of Social Service Administration
72. Angie Heo, Assistant Professor, Anthropology and Sociology of Religions
73. Gary Herrigel, Paul Klapper Professor in the College and the Division of Social Sciences
74. Denis Hirschfeldt, Professor of Mathematics
75. Judy Hoffman, Professor of Practice in the Arts Department of Cinema and Media Studies
76. Thomas Holt, James Westfall Thompson Distinguished Service Professor of History
77. Alison Hunter, Senior Lecturer, Biological Sciences Collegiate Division
78. Paola Iovene, Associate Professor in Modern Chinese Literature East Asian Languages and Civilizations
79. Travis A. Jackson, Associate Professor of Music
80. Alison James, Associate Professor of French
81. Jeffrey Jay
82. Adrian Johns, Allan Grant Maclear Professor of History and Chair, Committee on Conceptual & Historical Studies of Science
83. Janet Johnson, Morton D. Hull Distinguished Service Professor in the Oriental Institute
84. Matthew Kapstein, Directeur d’études, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes and Numata Visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies, The University of Chicago
85. Demetra Kasimis
86. Heather Keenleyside, Assistant Professor, Department of English
87. Robert L. Kendrick Professor of Music
88. Barbara S. Kirschner, MD Professor of Pediatrics
89. Janice Knight, Associate Professor of English
90. Dmitry Kondrashov, Senior Lecturer, Biological Sciences Collegiate Division
91. Karin Krause, Assistant Professor, Divinity School
92. Michael Kremer Mary R. Morton Professor of Philosophy
93. Loren Kruger, Professor of English
94. Michael LaBarbera, Professor Emeritus of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, Chair of the College Disciplinary Committee from 2008-2012
95. Benjamin B. Lahey, Irving B. Harris Professor of Epidemiology, Psychiatry, and Behavioral Neuroscience, Department of Public Health Sciences
96. Susan Lambert, Associate Professor, School of Social Service Administration
97. James Lastra, Associate Professor of Cinema and Media Studies
98. Ben Laurence, Assistant Professor of Philosophy
99. David J. Levin, Addie Clark Harding Professor of  Germanic Studies, Cinema & Media Studies, and Director, Richard and Mary L. Gray Center for Arts & Inquiry
100. Jonathan Levy, Associate Professor of History
101. Bruce Lincoln, Caroline E. Haskell Distinguished Service Professor of History of Religions
102. Cynthia G. Lindner Director of Ministry Studies and Clinical Professor of Preaching and Pastoral Care The Divinity School
103. Armando Maggi, Professor of Italian Literature
104. Anthony P. Mahowald, Louis Block Professor Emeritus of Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology
105. Mary Mahowald, Professor Emerita of Obstetrics and Gynecology
106. Rochona Majumdar, Associate Professor, South Asian Languages and Civilizations
107. Patchen Markell, Associate Professor of Political Science
108. Miguel Martínez, Assistant Professor of Spanish
109. Nicole P. Marwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Service Administration
110. Boris Rodin Maslov Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature
111. William Mazzarella, Professor of Anthropology
112. John P. McCormick, Professor of Political Science
113. Françoise Meltzer, Professor and Chair, Department of Comparative Literature
114. Paul Mendes-Flohr, Dorothy Grant Maclear Professor of History of Judaism
115. Salikoko Mfuwene, Frank J. McLoraine Distinguished Service Professor of Linguistics
116. W.J.T. Mitchell, Gaylord Donnelley Distinguished Service Professor of English and Cinema and Media Studies
117. Nadine Moeller, Assistant Professor, Oriental Institute
118. Benjamin Morgan, Assistant Professor of English
119. Daniel R. Morgan, Associate Professor and Incoming Chair, Department of Cinema and Media Studies
120. Janel Mueller, Professor Emerita of English
121. Brian Muhs, Associate Professor, Oriental Institute
122. Nancy Munn, Professor Emerita of Anthropology
123. Matam P. Murthy, Professor Emeritus of Mathematics
124. C M Naim, Professor Emeritus, Department of South Asian Languages and Cultures
125. Constantine V. Nakassis, Assistant Professor of Anthropology
126. Richard Neer, William B. Ogden Distinguished Service Professor in Art History, Cinema & Media Studies
127. Madhav Nori, Professor of Mathematics
128. Julie Orlemanski, Assistant Professor of English
129. Willemien Otten, Professor of History of Christianity
130. Stephan Palmié, Professor of Anthropology
131. Charles M. Payne, Frank P. Hixon Distinguished Service Professor, School of Social Service Administration
132. Lucy Pick, Senior Lecturer and Director of Undergraduate Studies, Divinity School
133. Jennifer Pitts, Associate Professor of Political Science
134. Kenneth Pomeranz University Professor of History, Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations
135. Andrei Pop, Committee on Social Thought
136. Moishe Postone, Thomas E. Donnelley Professor of Modern History and Co-Director, Chicago Center for Contemporary Theory
137. Clifton Ragsdale, Associate Professor of Neurobiology
138. Eugene Raikhel, Assistant Professor of Comparative Human Development
139. Kaushik Sunder Rajan, Associate Professor of Anthropology
140. Ronald Suny, Professor Emeritus of Political Science
141. Samuel Refetoff, M.D., Professor in Medicine, Pediatrics and Genetics
142. François G. Richard, Associate Professor of Anthropology
143. Robert K. Ritner Professor of Egyptology, The Oriental Institute
144. Robert L Rosenfield, MD, Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics and Medicine
145. Mel Rothenberg, Professor Emeritus of Mathematics
146. Larry Rothfield, Associate Professor of English
147. Lucia B. Rothman-Denes, A. J. Carlson Professor, Department of Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology
148. Marshall Sahlins, Charles F. Grey Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Anthropology
149. Zachary Samalin, Assistant Professor of English
150. Mario Santana, Associate Professor of Hispanic Literatures
151. Eric Santner, Philip and Ida Romberg Professor in Modern Germanic Studies
152. Julie Saville, Associate Professor of History
153. Jennifer Scappettone, 
Associate Professor of English
154. Hans Schreiber, Professor, Department of Pathology
155. Bart Schultz, Director of the Civic Knowledge Project and Senior Lecturer in Philosophy
156. William Schweiker, Edward L. Ryerson Distinguished Service Professor of Ethics
157. Joshua Scodel, Helen A. Regenstein Professor of English
158. Mindy A. Schwartz, MD, Professor of Medicine
159. Janet H. Sedlar, Senior Lecturer and Coordinator of Spanish, Department of Romance Languages & Literatures
160. William Sewell, Frank P. Hixon Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Political Science and History
161. Bozena Shallcross, Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures
162. James A Shapiro, Professor of Microbology, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
163. A. Holly Shissler Associate Professor of Middle Eastern History
164. William Sites, Associate Professor, School of Social Service Administration
165. Salomé Aguilera Skvirsky, Assistant Professor of Cinema and Media Studies
166. Amy Dru Stanley, Associate Professor of History and the Law School
167. Howard Stein, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy
168. Josef Stern, William H. Colvin Professor of Philosophy
169. Ursula Storb, MD,  Professor of Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology
170. Richard Strier, Sulzberger Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of English
171. William Tait, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy
172. Christopher Taylor, Assistant Professor of English
173. Sonali Thakkar, Assistant Professor of English
174. Aaron Turkewitz, Professor of Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology
175. Theo van den Hout, Professor of Hittite, Oriental Institute
176. Veronica Vegna, Senior Lecturer in Italian
177. Martha Ward, Associate Professor of Art History
178. Kenneth W. Warren, Fairfax M. Cone Distinguished Service Professor of English
179. Lisa Wedeen, Mary R. Morton Professor of Political Science
180. Christian Wedemeyer, Associate Professor of History of Religions
181. Amy Whitaker MD MS Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology
182. James L. Wilson, Assistant Professor of Political Science
183. William Wimsatt, Peter B. Ritzma Professor Emeritus of Philosophy
184. Bernd Wittenbrink, Robert S. Hamada Professor of Behavioral Science
185. John Woods, Professor of History and Near Eastern Languages and Cultures
186. Marci Ybarra, Assistant Professor, School of Social Service Administration
187. Tara Zahra, Professor of History

[180 signatures were collected in less than 24 hours, and hence these likely represent only a fraction of the faculty members who share the views represented in this statement.]