(Note: The following statement was passed by an overwhelming majority by more than half of the Middlebury AAUP’s 200plus members on May 1, 2024)

The Middlebury AAUP chapter believes the ability to protest is central to both academic freedom and the mission of any educational institution. The AAUP supports the student, faculty, and staff right to protest and assemble, including at the current encampment to express solidarity with Gaza.

In the past, Middlebury has been a contested space where freedom of speech and the right to protest was challenged. The national media attention and the distorted narratives about what happened here have divided our community in ways we are still healing from. We hope to avoid a similar outcome this spring.

We appreciate the administration’s decision to refrain from escalating by bringing the police or outside security to campus. We urge the administration to hold the course and to vigorously uphold this right to peacefully protest.

We ask that the administration temporarily waive the prohibition to camp on school premises, and to actively listen to the requests of the protestors. We hope that our community can use this opportunity to lead by example by accepting peaceful protest as part of both democracy and education.

We call on all members of our community to denounce discrimination, hate speech and harassment in all its forms.

Protecting the right to peaceful protest and dissent is vital to the integrity of our mission as the AAUP.

The Middlebury AAUP
Attendee panel closed