Associate professor of anthropology Hannah Appel said she has been repeatedly doxed and threatened via email since spring 2024.
Appel, a member of Faculty for Justice in Palestine at UCLA, said she is on the watchlist of Canary Mission, a website that tracks professors who “promote hatred of the USA, Israel and Jews on North American college campuses and beyond.” She had previously participated in pro-Palestine protests and spoke during an occupation of Dodd Hall in May 2024.
[Related: Protesters occupy then vacate Dodd Hall following 2nd encampment dispersal at UCLA]
Some UCLA professors, like Appel, have reported finding their names on conservative watchlists that seek to expose alleged left-leaning bias in higher education. Appel was also listed on Turning Point USA’s watchlist, which tracks professors who “advance leftist propaganda in the classroom,” after she participated in pro-Palestine protests in spring 2024.
Two videos of Appel attempting to enter a protest encampment – erected by pro-Palestine protesters in Kerckhoff patio in May 2024 to demand that the UC divest from companies associated with the Israeli military – were uploaded to X, and both garnered over 190,000 views.
In one of the videos uploaded on X, Appel appears to be on the phone, saying she believes the UCLA administration is using a “mechanism of torture” on people participating in the encampment by not allowing others to drop off food and water. In the other video, Cam Higby, a conservative content creator, confronts her, alleging that people were blocked and “forcibly removed” from entering the encampment.
Appel received personal threats after the videos went viral, she said. She added that people called her number and read her address to her over the phone.
A UCLA spokesperson said in an emailed statement that freedom of expression is a core value of the university, adding that threats or violence will not be tolerated. Faculty, staff or students who feel unsafe should contact 911 or UCPD, the spokesperson added.
“Our highest priority is the safety and well-being of the Bruin community, and we remain committed to providing support and resources,” they said in the statement.
Jonathan Zasloff, a professor of law, was listed on a watchlist at least 10 years ago created by the Bruin Alumni Association, a conservative group of UCLA alumni that previously listed certain professors as the 30 “most radical” professors at UCLA. The association – which had no official affiliation with the university – targeted faculty it identified as “actively proselytizing their extreme views in the classroom” and leftist, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The website of the Bruin Alumni Association, which is not associated with the UCLA Alumni Association, is currently unavailable.
Zasloff is also listed on Turning Point USA’s watchlist, which cites a social media post of Zasloff’s in which he said the Republican party is made up of “old, angry, white Southern men with reactionary views on race.”
Zasloff said he believes his right to free speech is protected as tenured law faculty at UCLA. However, he added that he is worried about graduate students and untenured instructors in Republican-leaning states not being able to exercise their academic freedom rights.
“I imagine somebody who’s an assistant professor or something in Oklahoma, probably the biggest implication for them is either they’re going to keep their mouth shut or they’re going to try to get out of Oklahoma as much as possible,” Zasloff said. “It’s easy for me to sit there and say, ‘Stay and fight,’ but they’re talking about their livelihood, and that’s the whole point.”
Texas A&M University fired English professor Melissa McCoul in September after a student secretly recorded a lecture in which she taught about gender identity and posted it online. The video went viral, leading prominent Republicans – including Texas Gov. Greg Abbott – to call for McCoul’s removal.
The university fired McCoul and demoted College of Arts and Sciences Dean Mark Zoran and head of the English department, Emily Johansen. President Mark Welsh III resigned Sept. 19.
The University of Oklahoma said in a Nov. 30 statement that it placed a graduate student instructor on leave for giving a student a zero percent on a paper that cited the Bible as evidence for why believing in multiple genders is “demonic.”
“The University of Oklahoma takes seriously concerns involving First Amendment rights, certainly including religious freedoms,” an OU spokesperson said in a statement posted to X. “Upon receiving notice from the student on the grading of an assignment, the University immediately began a full review of the situation and has acted swiftly to address the matter.”
Peter McLaren, a professor emeritus at the UCLA School of Education and Information Studies, is also listed on Turning Point USA’s watchlist because he practices “critical pedagogy” – which research database EBSCO defines as a form of teaching that challenges societal oppression through education and activism, according to the organization’s website.
The watchlist also cited McLaren’s critiques of the Trump administration’s plan to gut the United States Department of Education.
A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to reverse the Education Department layoffs in May, according to Inside Higher Ed. Congress also passed a bill in response to the federal government shutdown from Oct. 1 to Nov. 12 – which included provisions to rehire federal employees who were laid off, according to NPR.
[Related: UCLA community reacts, responds to Department of Education restructuring]
Despite having retired from UCLA at the time of the list’s creation, McLaren said in an emailed statement that he was still added under the university’s section in Turning Point USA’s professor watchlist.
“I get frequent attacks from MAGA, even from Trump fans in my native Canada,” McLaren said in the emailed statement.
Appel said she believes the current political environment is “frightening,” adding that she hopes polarization does not impact students in the classroom.
“You have the critical thinking skills to put lists like this into context and come into any class ready to learn, and part of learning means ready to disagree,” Appel said. “Anybody who’s taken my class knows that they are welcome to disagree in my class, and we will have a discussion about it.”
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