In the November-December 2025 issue of CAUT’s Bulletin, Ozayr Salookee and Michael Faciejew wrote the commentary “Palestine censorship shakes architecture community.” They denounce a case of censorship in the Journal of Architectural Education (JAE) published by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA).
In 2024 the editorial board of JAE approved by unanimity the call for papers (CfP) for the journal’s forthcoming issue 79.2 Palestine. ACSA decided to cancel the CfP due to pressures from state authorities to cut funding and the potential risks linked to the diffusion of it. Their justification looks like a renunciation of academic freedom.
But the authors of the commentary omitted to mention the problematic statements of the CfP, which is more a militant pamphlet than a scholarly invitation to discuss the issues in the context of the war in Gaza.
Besides using known topics against Israel (genocide, apartheid, settler colonialism), the CfP omits to mention the massacre committed by Hamas and Islamic Yihad in Israel on October 7, 2023, and that 1,200 Israelis were killed during the attack and 250 people were taken hostage by the Palestinian militias.
The pamphletary language of the CfP assumes the themes of pro-Hamas activists. Example: “the Jordan River and Mediterranean Sea form the boundaries of aquatic imaginaries of sovereignty.” This means no place for Israel. Or this one: “the latter’s shores are equal parts a respite for Gaza’s citizens and the banks of now-heavily polluted waters weaponized by Israel in counterinsurgency efforts against Palestinian military resistance [my emphasis]…” “Palestinian military resistance” also means terrorists killing and kidnapping of Israeli civilians. The CfP vindicates the tunnel network built by Hamas, the same tunnels used to hide, keep hostages and stock weapons, but not to protect the civilian population of Gaza.
If you believe in academic freedom, it is difficult to justify ACSA’s decision. What is more difficult to understand is how an editorial board of a scholarly journal can unanimously approve such a pamphlet disguised as a call for papers.
Isaac Nahon-Serfaty Professor, Department of communication, University of Ottawa
