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| Judith Butler |
Editors
Note: Despite a
campaign to silence them,
philsophers Judith Butler and Omar Barghouti spoke at Brooklyn
College on Thursday night. In an exclusive, TheNation presents
the text of Butler's remarks.
Usually
one starts by saying that one is glad to be here, but I cannot say
that it has been a pleasure anticipating this event. What a Megillah!
I am, of course, glad that the event was not cancelled, and I
understand that it took a great deal of courage and a steadfast
embrace of principle for this event to happen at all. I would like
personally to thank all those who took this opportunity to reaffirm
the fundamental principles of academic freedom, including the
following organizations: the Modern Language Association, the
National Lawyers Guild, the New York ACLU, the American Association
of University Professors, the Professional Staff Congress (the union
for faculty and staff in the CUNY system), the New
York Times editorial
team, the offices of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Governor Andrew Cuomo
and Brooklyn College President Karen Gould whose principled stand on
academic freedom has been exemplary.
