Iymen Chehade

Iymen Chehade is a Palestinian American professor of history, public speaker, community organizer, activist, actor, and theatre artist.

Iymen Chehade
Born
Chicago, Illinois U.S.
EducationUniversity of Illinois at Chicago
OccupationHistory professor, Political activist

Academic career

Chehade currently teaches courses on modern Middle Eastern history at Columbia College Chicago.[1] and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC).[2] He also used to teach as an adjunct history professor at Roosevelt University.[3]

Activism

Chehade is an advocate in the area of human rights and public policy regarding the Palestinian Israeli conflict, along with academic freedom.[4] He is one of five committee members on the American Association of University Professors Committee A on Academic Freedom,[5] and is the adviser for the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at both SAIC and Columbia College Chicago.[3] He is also the advisory for Jewish Voice for Peace chapter at Columbia College Chicago [6]

Course cancellations

Chehade teaches a course on the Palestinian-Israeli impasse at both Columbia College Chicago and SAIC. The course offered at Columbia garnered a great deal of national attention when it was canceled in 2014.[7] Professor Chehade was accused of bias after screening the Academy Award-nominated film 5 Broken Cameras in his class.[8] Over 7,000 people petitioned to get the class reinstated.[3][9][10][11] The co-director of 5 Broken Cameras, Guy Davidi, wrote an open letter of support for Chehade and urged Columbia to reverse its decision.[12] Columbia College Chicago was found guilty of an academic freedom violation and the class was reinstated.

Chehade and his supporters launched a campaign for academic freedom called "Respect Academic Freedom: Palestine is No Exception" and with the help of thousands of supporters, Chehade's course was restored. Chehade, some students, and some colleagues founded Uprising Theater in Chicago to show and discuss works about the Palestinian Israeli conflict.[13][14] In the spring of 2016 Columbia tried to cancel the course again. As before, the course we reinstated after protest.[15]

Public speaking

In addition to speaking as a guest lecturer at other universities. Chehade has been a keynote speaker for the General Delegation of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Land Day event in Washington DC 2015, where he was celebrated among other Palestinians "who won't be silenced".[16][17] He was also a speaker at the National SJP Conference in 2016.

Acting and theatre

Chehade has been seen on screen and stage as an actor. He was a producer of a Chicago production of 'The Gaza Monologues'.[18] He also wrote, produced, and directed a film about a Palestinian family living under occupation called Garden of the Three in 2009.[3]

References
  1. "Iymen Chehade - Faculty". Columbia College Chicago.
  2. "Iymen Chehade fights Chicago school's cancellation of his class". Mondoweiss. 24 March 2014.
  3. Isaacs, Deanna. "At Columbia College, a film screening is followed by a charge of bias". Chicago Reader.
  4. "SXU welcomes Iymen Chehade of Columbia College to campus on April 1". Saint Xavier University.
  5. "AAUP Backs Iymen Chehade, Supports Academic Freedom at Columbia College Chicago". Palestine Chronicle. 28 March 2014.
  7. "Iymen Chehade fights Chicago school's cancellation of his class". Mondoweiss. March 24, 2014.
  8. "Administrators against justice in Palestine". Socialist Worker.
  9. "Israel's supporters seek to restrict the freedom of speech of America's academics". The National.
  10. "AAUP vindicates Chehade". SocialistWorker.org.
  11. "Columbia College reinstates Palestinian professor's censored class". The Arab Daily News. 8 April 2014.
  12. "Guy Davidi: In Support of Professor Iymen Chehade". Palestine Chronicle. 29 March 2014.
  13. Sullivan, Catey. "Uprising Theater shifts focus from Palestine to PPE". Chicago Reader.
  14. Daniels, Dyana (21 May 2020). "Chicago theatre community journeys 'over the rainbow' to connect with audience". The Columbia Chronicle.
  15. Sadat, Laila (30 November 2015). "Columbia College Chicago Professor Faces Round Two in Fight for Academic Freedom". Chicago Monitor.
  16. "Land Day Commemoration Honors People Who Won't Be Silenced". WRMEA.
  17. "PLO Delegation Commemorates 39th Anniversary of Palestinian Land Day – Youm Al Ard". Arab America. 2 April 2015.
  18. "The Gaza Monologues: A Dramatic Reading". American Friends Service Committee. 24 November 2010.
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