Universities in the United States and Canada have fired, suspended and harassed employees for speaking out against Israel’s genocide in Gaza, often using ostensibly neutral disciplinary procedures to conceal politically motivated retaliation.

That is the finding of a new report from the Academic Freedom Initiative, a project of the Middle East Studies Association (MESA).

“Lessons in Repression: Silencing Campus Workers on Palestine Since October 7, 2023” is the first systematic study of retaliation against university employees for their Palestine-related speech and activism in the two countries.

The report draws on a database of 196 incidents recorded through 20 August 2026 and in-depth interviews with 31 targeted employees.

Of those incidents, 76 – nearly 40 percent – resulted in termination, while 59 involved suspension or campus bans.

Both tenured professors and precariously employed instructors and staff have been targeted. Of 134 cases in which racial or ethnic identity was known, nearly two-thirds involved people of color. Some 16.5 percent of those targeted identified as Jewish.

Most retaliation had nothing to do with classroom teaching. More than half the incidents stemmed from other on-campus activities, including protests, while only 11 percent concerned alleged classroom interactions.

Another 16 percent of cases arose from off-campus speech and 12 percent from social media posts, “suggesting that teaching is a relatively less common context provoking punishment.”