This statement was originally published on January 29, 2026.
We are providing two updates:
1) We urge members of this university to join the vigil today, Feb 12, 2026, organized by the Iranian community at UMD
2) We were saddened to hear that a UMD faculty member participated this last weekend in the Al Jazeera Forum with featured speakers such as Khaled Meshaal, who is, according to the forum’s program, the “Head of Hamas abroad,” as well as Abbas Araghchi, foreign minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran. While this faculty member has the right to do so [it is defended by free
speech], we believe the association in title with UMD (the only US university representative in this forum) sends an inappropriate signal to a university community that is grieving.
The Faculty against Antisemitism and for Freedom of Speech group at the University of Maryland, College Park, notes with deep alarm and concern reports about many thousands of innocent Iranian civilians who have been massacred by the Iranian regime in the last couple of weeks. The same oppressive force that has funded terror proxies in the Middle East, costing innocent lives of both Palestinians and Israelis, as well as those of other Arabs in the area, and preventing any kind of peaceful co-existence there, has been for decades oppressing the Iranian people and depriving them of any human rights and dignity. We express our solidarity and stand with the brave people of Iran demonstrating for freedom and democracy, and we support efforts to bring the news of the ongoing repression to the attention of the university community. Please check on your Iranian colleagues, faculty, staff and students as they need the university’s support at this dire moment.
Sincerely, Faculty Against Antisemitism and for Freedom of Speech
Gilad Chen, Robert H. Smith Chair in Organizational Behavior, Robert H. Smith School of Business
Rellie Derfler-Rozin, Professor, Robert H. Smith School of Business
Arthur Eckstein, Distinguished University Professor, Emeritus, Department of History
Brent Goldfarb, Dean’s Professor of Entrepreneurship, Robert H. Smith School of Business
Bruce Golden, Professor, France-Merrick Chair in Management Science, Department of Decision, Operations and Information Technologies, Robert H. Smith School of Business
Neil Goldsman, Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Judith P. Hallett, Professor of Classics and Distinguished Scholar-Teacher Emerita
Jeffrey Herf, Distinguished University Professor, Emeritus, Department of History
Armand Makowski, Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Sonya Michel, Professor Emerita, Department of History
Rachel Pinker, Professor Emerita, Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science
Uzi Vishkin, Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies
Zur Emanuel, Associate Dean of Master Programs, Robert H. Smith School of Business
