On January 6, 2007, the business meeting of the American Historical
Association passed an unprecedented resolution condemning recent government
attacks on the free pursuit of historical knowledge. The resolution has been
supported by more than one hundred fifty scholars and is subject to ratification
by the association’s full membership in electronic voting March 1-9, 2007.
Resolution on United States Government Practices Inimical to the Values of
the Historical Profession
Whereas the American Historical Association’s Statement on Standards of
Professional Conduct emphasizes the importance of open inquiry to the
pursuit of historical knowledge;
Whereas the American Historical Association adopted a resolution in January
2004 reaffirming the principles of free speech, open debate of foreign policy,
and open access to government records in furthering the work of the historical
profession;
Whereas during the war in Iraq and the so-called war on terror, the current
Administration has violated the above-mentioned standards and principles through
the following practices:
- excluding well-recognized foreign scholars;
- condemning as “revisionism” the search for truth about pre-war
intelligence; - reclassifying previously unclassified government documents;
- suspending in certain cases the centuries-old writ of habeas corpus and
substituting indefinite administrative detention without specified criminal
charges or access to a court of law; - using interrogation techniques at Guantánamo, Abu Ghraib, Bagram, and
other locations incompatible with respect for the dignity of all persons
required by a civilized society;
Whereas a free society and the unfettered intellectual inquiry essential to
the practice of historical research, writing, and teaching are imperiled by the
practices described above; and
Whereas the foregoing practices are inextricably linked to the war in which
the United States is presently engaged in Iraq; now, therefore, be it
Resolved, that the American Historical Association urges its members
through publication of this resolution in Perspectives and other
appropriate outlets:
- to take a public stand as citizens on behalf of the values necessary to
the practice of our profession; and - to do whatever they can to bring the Iraq war to a speedy conclusion.
Alan Dawley, College of New Jersey
Ervand Abrahamian, CUNY Baruch
College
Michael Adas, Rutgers University
Benjamin Alpers, Oklahoma
University
David Applebaum, Rowan University
Chris Appy, University of
Massachusetts
Armen Baghdoyan, Independent scholar and historian
David
Barber, University of Tennessee at Martin
Michael Batinski, Southern Illinois
University
Rosalyn Baxandal, SUNY College at Old Westbury
Marc Becker,
Truman State University
William Beik, Emory University
Thomas Bender, New
York University
Lyn Bennet, Utah Valley State College
Joyce Avrech
Berkman, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Ira Berlin, University of
Maryland
Magnus T. Bernhardsson, Williams College
Tracey Jean Boisseau,
University of Akron
Eileen C. Boris, University of California, Santa
Barbara
Constance Brittain Bouchard, University of Akron
Joye Bowman,
University of Massachusetts
Renate Bridenthal, Brooklyn College
(Emerita)
Ron Briley, Sandia Prep
Joan Louise Bryant, Rowan
University
Shefali Chandra, University of Illinois, Urbana
Celia Chazelle,
The College of New Jersey
Fredric Cheyette, Amherst College
John H.
Coatsworth, Harvard University
Bruce Cohen, Worcester State College
Miriam
Cohen, Vassar College
Stephanie Coonts, Evergreen State College
Frank
Costigliola, University of Connecticut
John M. Cox, University of North
Carolina
Dan Czitrom, Mt. Holyoke College
Robert Darnton, Princeton
University
J.D.E. Degroat, St. Lawrence University
Ileen Devault, Cornell
University
Charles Dew, Williams College
Gregory Michael Dorr,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Jay Driskell, Yale
University
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, California State University
Eileen Eagan,
University of Southern Maine
Christine T. Ehrick, University of
Louisville
Rosemarie Eichler, University of Akron
Carolyn Eisenberg,
Hofstra University
Eileen Findlay, American University
John Fitzgerald,
Longmeadow H.S., MA (Retired Dept. Chair)
Ian Christopher Fletcher, Georgia
State University
Jerise Fogel, Winston Prep. School, NY
Eric Foner,
Columbia University
Jeffrey Freedman, Yeshiva University
Tami Friedman,
Brock University
Peter Frost, University of Mississippi
Irene Gendzier,
Boston University
Marvin Gettleman, Brooklyn Polytechnic (Emeritus)
Nathan
Godfried, University of Maine
Janet Golden, Rutgers University
Warren
Goldstein, University of Hartford
Van Gosse, Franklin and Marshall
University
Greg Grandin, New York University
Ann N. Greene, University of
Pennsylvania
Robert Griffith, American University
Richard Grossman,
Northeastern Illinois University
Atina Grossmann, Cooper Union
Jennifer
Guglielmo, Smith College
Daniel K. Gullo, University of Chicago
Martin
Halpern, Henderson State University
Michael Hanagan, Vassar College
John
Mason Hart, University of Houston
Carla Hesse, University of California,
Berkeley
John Higginson, University of Massachusetts
Reginald F.
Hildebrand, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Walter Hixson,
University of Akron
David Hostetter, Shepherd University
B.T. Huntlye,
Front Range Community College
Maurice Isserman, Hamilton College
Tony
Judt, New York University
Tom Kaiser, University of Arkansas
Marion
Kaplan, New York University
Michael Kazin, Georgetown University
Kevin
Kern, University of Akron
Alice Kessler-Harris, Columbia University
Rashid
Khalidi, Columbia University
Peter N. Kirstein, Saint Xavier
University
Janet Klein, University of Akron
J. Morgan Kousser, California
Institute of Technology
Michael Kwass, University of Georgia
Vinay Lal,
UCLA
Fabio Lanza, University of Arizona
Bruce Laurie, University of
Massachusetts
Jackson Lears, Rutgers University
Michael Levin, University
of Akron
Nelson N. Lichtenstein, University of California, Santa
Barbara
Peter Linebaugh, University of Toledo
Lester Little, Smith
College
Jeff Livingston, California State University
Ngo Vinh Long,
University of Maine
Thomas M. Luckett, Portland State University
Staughton
Lynd, independent scholar
Henry Maar, California State University
Laura
Mason, University of Georgia
Elizabeth McKillen, University of
Maine
Jeffrey Merrick, University of Wisconsin
Richard H. Minear,
University of Massachusetts
Carl Mirra, SUNY College at Old Westbury
David
Montgomery, Yale University
Anna K. Nelson, American University
David
Newbury, Smith College
Mary Nolan, New York University
Francis Oakley,
Williams College
Enrique Ochoa, California State University
Arnold A.
Offner, Lafayette College
Grey Osterud, independent historian and academic
editor
Mark Overmyer-Velazquez, University of Connecticut
Maria Pascualy,
Washington State History Museum
Roger Peace, Florida State
University
Carla R. Petievich, Montclair University
Anne E. Phillips,
Rowan University
Margaret M. Power, Illinois Institute of Technology
Jean
Quataert, Binghamton University
Liam Riordan, University of Maine
Roy
Rosenzweig, George Mason University
Peter Sahlins, Social Science Research
Council
Neal Salisbury, Smith College
Martha Saxton, Amherst
College
David Schalk, Vassar College
Sigrid Schmalzer, University of
Massachusetts
Ellen W. Schrecker, Yeshiva University
Jeff Schutts, Douglas
College
Joan W. Scott, Institute for Advanced Study
Scott W. See,
University of Maine
Martin Sherwin, Tufts University
Sarah Shields,
University of North Carolina
Shanti M. Singham, Williams College
Judith
Smith, University of Massachusetts, Boston
David Snyder, Grand Valley State
University
Hobart Spalding, CUNY (Emeritus)
Carole Srole, California State
University Los Angeles
Ted Steinberg, Case Western Reserve University
Eric
Strahorn, Florida Gulf Coast University
Lillian Taiz, California State
University, Los Angeles
Baki Tezcan, University of California,
Davis
Robert Tignor, Princeton University
Dale Van Kley, Ohio State
University
William Van Norman, James Madison University
Mike Wallace,
Gotham Center for New York City History
Chuck Walton, Yale
University
David Watt, Temple University
Peter Weiler, Boston
College
Jon Wiener, University of California, Irvine
Jocelyn A. Wills,
City University of New York
Lawrence Wittner, SUNY Albany
Andrew Wood,
University of Tulsa
John Womack, Harvard University
Marilyn B. Young, New
York University