CAA News Today

CAA has signed on to the American Historical Association (AHA) Statement on 2024 Campus Protests, in response to recent decisions by colleges and universities to encourage police intervention and suppress protests. We stand with AHA in recognizing the historical dangers of suppression, “the fundamental value of peaceful protest on college and university campuses,” and the need for administrators at these institutions to reevaluate their forceful handling of such peaceful demonstrations:

“It is appropriate for universities to establish and enforce, through fair and transparent procedures, reasonable and content-neutral restrictions on the time, place, and manner of protests and other assemblies. These procedures should not, however, deprive students, faculty, and staff of their right to gather, speak, debate, and protest.” 

AHA’s statement resonates with CAA’s mission to advocate for the visual arts through “intellectual engagement and a commitment to the diversity of practices and practitioners,” as more broadly this speaks to a commitment to advocating for diversity of ideas. Opposing ideas, whether expressed via visual art or through protest, can disturb and trigger discomfort. However, as AHA’s statement underscores, “encountering ideas that might make us uncomfortable is central to the educational process.”  

OTHER LEARNED SOCIETIES AND INSTITUTIONS WHO HAVE SIGNED THE AHA STATEMENT 

American Association for Italian Studies
American Association of Geographers
American Society for Environmental History
American Society for Theatre Research
American Sociological Association
Association for Asian Studies
Berkshire Conference of Women Historians
California Scholars for Academic Freedom
Dance Studies Association
Disability History Association
Executive Committee of Czechoslovak Studies Association
Historians for Peace and Democracy
International Labor and Working-Class History
Labor and Working-Class History Association
Linguistic Society of America
Medieval Academy of America
North American Conference on British Studies
Network of Concerned Historians
Oral History Association
PEN America
Shakespeare Association of America
Sixteenth Century Society
Society for French Historical Studies
Society for Historians of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era
Society for the History of Children and Youth
Society for US Intellectual History
Southern Association for Women Historians
Southern Historical Association
Western Society for French History
World History Association