A M A J
ACADEMICS FOR MUMIA ABU-JAMAL
Immediate Release
November 27, 1998
Noted Scholars Plan to Attend
Despite PENN's Attempt to Deny Auditorium Space
Distinguished scholars and leaders continue to sign up for the December 11 conference for Mumia Abu-Jamal, to be held at the University of Pennsylvania, on the theme, The Regime of Power And Repression and The Case Of Mumia Abu-Jamal.
AMAJ had originally been promised the use of PENN's Rainey Auditorium, until administrators later backed out because major issues like the death penalty and booming prison construction were being concentrated around Jamal's case.
"We are receiving various reports from student activists claiming administrators at PENN also monitor their own student organizations to prohibit reference to Jamal's case," noted Mark Taylor, coordinator of AMAJ and professor of Princeton Seminary." Reportedly student groups have been told that they would be denied funding if they mentioned Mumia's name, or if they hosted guest speakers like Pam Africa to speak about his case.
"Freedom of inquiry for all students and faculty are at risk," said Taylor, "when the so-called "cradle of liberty," Philadelphia, features universities that blatantly limit free speech about such a crucial national and international case."
Taylor continued: "There is indeed a regime of power and repression that seems to affect the universities, especially if you recall the way Temple University administrators buckled under criticism and prohibited airing of Mumia's commentaries on the university radio station, WRTI-Jazz FM.
Key organizers of the December 11 conference include Philadelphia-based professors, Farah Jasmine Griffin of PENN and Anthony Monteiro of The University of the Sciences in Philadelphia. "We already have an excellent line-up of speakers," noted Griffin, "including
* Sonia Sanchez, author, most recently, of Under a Soprano Sky, award-winning poet and professor at Temple University.
* Houston A. Baker, Jr., author of The Journey Back: Blues, Ideology and Afro-American Literature, professor of English and Human Relations, Director of the Center for the Study of Black Literature and Culture.
* Martin Espada, author most recently of Zapata's Disciple, and award-winning poet, professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
* Joseph Feagin, author of White Racism: The Basics, and President-Elect of the American Sociological Association and professor at the University of Florida.
* Farah Jasmine Griffin, professor of English, University of Pennsylvania,
* Peter Linebaugh, author and historian of the death penalty and political movements, professor of the University of Ohio, Toledo.
* Michael Eric Dyson, author of God and Gangsta Rap, The Meaning of Malcolm, professor at Columbia University.
* Archbishop George Augustus Stallings, Imani Temple, National Cathedral of the African-American Catholic Congregation, Washington, D.C.
This conference will go on, with or without U.PENN's support. "It is in PENN's best interest to allow this conference to go forward," said Taylor, "Otherwise the University's reputation in the academic community will become infamous as a place that obstructs freedom of inquiry."
For more information about the conference, call Mark Taylor at 609-497-7918.
[posted November 28, 1998]
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