Second, under the pretext of a “clear and present danger” the decision to call the police into campus violated the important principle of shared governance. (7/16)

The relevant Senate committee was not consulted, as required by university rules, but merely notified and the action proceeded despite the Senate committee objecting to it and advising against it. (8/16)

Third, the decision to call the police into campus violated also the important principle of protecting free expression on campus. Coupled with the testimony given by the President Shafik and members of the Board of Trustees in Congress, (9/16)

in which they failed to defend crucial values of academic freedom, the police action seems like capitulation to forces outside the university that would like to curtail academic freedom and freedom of expression. (10/16)

Finally, the suspensions of the arrested students seem to us irregular, unnecessary and resting on shaky legal ground. We call on the university to immediately reverse these suspensions and allow the affected students to return to their dorms and to their courses. (11/16)

For our own part, as members of the faculty of the department of sociology, we will continue to keep our courses open to these students, we will grade their exams and papers, and we will give them final grades in our courses so they may receive credit. (12/16)

Peter Bearman, Professor of Sociology, Columbia
Debbie Becher, Associate Professor of Sociology, Barnard
Elizabeth Bernstein, Professor of Sociology, Barnard
Yinon Cohen, Professor of Sociology, Columbia
Tom DiPrete, Professor of Sociology, Columbia (13/16)

Gil Eyal, Professor of Sociology, Columbia
Yao Lu, Professor of Sociology, Columbia
Tey Meadow, Associate Professor of Sociology, Columbia
Denise Milstein, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, Columbia
Debra Minkoff, Professor of Sociology, Barnard (14/16)

Adam Reich, Associate Professor of Sociology, Columbia
Teresa Sharpe, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, Columbia
David Stark, Professor of Sociology, Columbia
Marissa Thompson, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Columbia (15/16)

Gerard Torrats-Espinosa, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Columbia
Diane Vaughan, Professor of Sociology, Columbia
Bruce Western, Professor of Sociology, Columbia
Josh Whitford, Associate Professor of Sociology, Columbia (16/16)