This week, the 2024 joint meeting of the Society for Classical Studies (SCS) and Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) is taking place in Chicago. In honour of this event, which I am not attending, but which droves of North American and other colleagues and students will be at, I thought it would be appropriate to share a few clarifications regarding the meaning of the SCS’s and AIA’s current stance on academic freedom and Palestine.
My experience with both organizations has me doubting whether any official statement or discussion centering ongoing threats to academic freedom, and the rooting of these threats in the “Palestine exception”, will take place at the conference.