SRRT (Social Responsibilities Round Table)

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The Social Responsibilities Round Table works to make ALA more democratic and to establish progressive priorities not only for the Association, but also for the entire profession. Concern for human and economic rights was an important element in the founding of SRRT and remains an urgent concern today. SRRT believes that libraries and librarians must recognize and help solve social problems and inequities in order to carry out their mandate to work for the common good and bolster democracy.

Learn more about SRRT on the ALA website.

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Rashid Khalidi's open letter to the acting president of Columbia University

  • 1.  Rashid Khalidi's open letter to the acting president of Columbia University

    Posted Aug 01, 2025 07:55 AM

    As librarians committed to defending intellectual freedom, academic freedom and the historical record, we should be very concerned about today's announcement by Columbia University professor Rashid Khalidi that he is withdrawing his fall course on modern Middle East history because of the university's recent deal with the Trump administration. Professor Khalidi is the US's foremost Palestinian American historian and author of many books including the critically acclaimed and bestselling The Hundred Years' War on Palestine.

    In an open letter to Columbia's acting president, Khalidi explains that "it is impossible to teach this course (and much else) in light of Columbia's adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism. The IHRA definition deliberately, mendaciously and disingenuously conflates Jewishness with Israel, so that any criticism of Israel, or indeed description of Israeli policies, becomes a criticism of Jews. Citing its potential chilling effect, a co-author of the IHRA definition, Professor Kenneth Stern, has repudiated its current uses. Yet Columbia has announced that it will serve as a guide in disciplinary proceedings."

    The full open letter is published in the Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/aug/01/columbia-historian-rashid-khalidi-open-letter

    Rashid Khalidi spoke a few years ago at the Watson School of International and Public Affairs at Brown University about The Hundred Years' War on Palestine. The video recording of the talk is available here: https://youtu.be/wH8Ip1cvlRY?si=Kb1UHC-7j8HiNgCg



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    Mark Hudson
    Co-chair, SRRT International Responsibilities Task Force (IRTF)
    Pittsburgh, PA, US
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