A part-time lecturer at DePaul University, a private Catholic college in Chicago, has been fired for offering students an elective assignment about the Gaza war.
Last spring, Anne D’Aquino 100-Level Health Science Courses At DePaul University, her focus is on pathogens, the spread of infectious diseases in human populations, and the means to combat them.
“My firing is another example of the current administration’s efforts to distort any discussion of Palestine and Palestinian liberation into false allegations of anti-Semitism.”
On May 7, at the end of the semester, D’Aquino gave a speech to students. Email She gave students a multiple-choice assignment on the “genocide in Gaza” following the Israeli bombing of Rafah. In the assignment, students were to explain “the impact of genocide/ethnic cleansing on the health/biology of the people it affects.” She also asked students to comment on “resisting the normalization of ethnic cleansing.”
The next day, D’Aquino received an email from Sarah Connolly, dean of the School of Health Sciences, informing her that she had been terminated from her adjunct position, effective immediately. Connolly then wrote: took over the course for the remainder of the semester.
As an adjunct instructor, D’Aquino was only entitled to due process after she was fired, so she appealed a week later, arguing that the Gaza assignment was not out of place because the course was set up as a result of COVID-19 and the associated so-called public health crisis.
“Indeed, this assignment was relevant to the course and its objectives,” she asserted. “For months, scientists and doctors have been warning that infectious diseases are spreading in Gaza due to hunger, malnutrition, overcrowding, the destruction of vital water and sanitation infrastructure, lack of hygiene products and the collapse of healthcare.”
D’Aquino also held a small rally on Thursday in support of his lawsuit. “My firing is a violation of academic freedom,” he said. “This is another example of the current administration’s attempt to spin any discussion about Palestine and Palestinian liberation into false allegations of anti-Semitism.”
About 50 protesters waved pro-Palestinian signs while Connolly spoke, then marched afterward with a 24-page petition signed by about 1,500 students calling for her reinstatement. They then delivered the petition to Connolly’s office, but he was not there.
The following day, DePaul University released a statement about D’Aquino’s firing: “We have investigated this matter and after speaking with faculty members, [the assignment] It has adversely affected the learning environment by introducing irrelevant political material outside the academic scope set out in the curriculum.”
The school also Some students The university “expressed serious concerns” about the inclusion of such a politically biased agenda in a health sciences class on microbiology. It confirmed that D’Aquino’s legal proceedings are “ongoing” and will be “soon to be completed.”
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