Dear friends,
As you may know, our Letter to President Drake has not been acted on, and is awaiting a discussion by the System-Wide Academic Freedom Committee on September 23 2021. My request for presence at the discussion will also be raised at that meeting.

The Fall quarter begins September 26 and, to prepare and update students for the realities of campus life, I have Tweeted this message for them:
https://twitter.com/yudapearl/status/1439914739820216323

Again, since we cannot communicate with students directly, please forward it to students (and faculty) you know, and encourage them to follow my twitter account @yudapearl.

This joint statement by Hillel-International and AEN (Academic Engagement Networdk) was sent to President Drake past week:
https://academicengagement.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Joint-Hillel-AEN-statement-on-departmental-declarations-9.13.21.pdf
https://oads/2021/09/Joint-Hillel-AEN-statement-on-departmental-declarations-9.13.21.pdf
It repeats our arguments and adds an emphasis on the idea that collective statements by departments applies peer pressure on, and thus violates academic freedom of junior faculty at those departments.

Chag Sameach and Shanna Tovah
Judea

Judea Pearl
Professor
UCLA Computer Science Department
4515 Boelter Hall
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1596
310.825.3243
judea@cs.ucla.edu