░▒▓███████▓▒░ ░▒▓██████▓▒░░▒▓███████▓▒░░▒▓███████▓▒░░▒▓█▓▒░░▒▓█▓▒░░▒▓█▓▒░▒▓█▓▒░▒▓███████▓▒░▒▓████████▓▒░▒▓█▓▒░░▒▓█▓▒░
░▒▓█▓▒░░▒▓█▓▒░▒▓█▓▒░░▒▓█▓▒░▒▓█▓▒░░▒▓█▓▒░▒▓█▓▒░░▒▓█▓▒░▒▓█▓▒░░▒▓█▓▒░░▒▓█▓▒░▒▓█▓▒░▒▓█▓▒░░▒▓█▓▒░ ░▒▓█▓▒░   ░▒▓█▓▒░░▒▓█▓▒░
░▒▓█▓▒░░▒▓█▓▒░▒▓█▓▒░░▒▓█▓▒░▒▓█▓▒░░▒▓█▓▒░▒▓█▓▒░░▒▓█▓▒░▒▓█▓▒░░▒▓█▓▒░░▒▓█▓▒░▒▓█▓▒░▒▓█▓▒░░▒▓█▓▒░ ░▒▓█▓▒░   ░▒▓█▓▒░░▒▓█▓▒░
░▒▓███████▓▒░░▒▓████████▓▒░▒▓█▓▒░░▒▓█▓▒░▒▓█▓▒░░▒▓█▓▒░▒▓█▓▒░░▒▓█▓▒░░▒▓█▓▒░▒▓█▓▒░▒▓█▓▒░░▒▓█▓▒░ ░▒▓█▓▒░   ░▒▓████████▓▒░
░▒▓█▓▒░░▒▓█▓▒░▒▓█▓▒░░▒▓█▓▒░▒▓█▓▒░░▒▓█▓▒░▒▓█▓▒░░▒▓█▓▒░▒▓█▓▒░░▒▓█▓▒░░▒▓█▓▒░▒▓█▓▒░▒▓█▓▒░░▒▓█▓▒░ ░▒▓█▓▒░   ░▒▓█▓▒░░▒▓█▓▒░
░▒▓█▓▒░░▒▓█▓▒░▒▓█▓▒░░▒▓█▓▒░▒▓█▓▒░░▒▓█▓▒░▒▓█▓▒░░▒▓█▓▒░▒▓█▓▒░░▒▓█▓▒░░▒▓█▓▒░▒▓█▓▒░▒▓█▓▒░░▒▓█▓▒░ ░▒▓█▓▒░   ░▒▓█▓▒░░▒▓█▓▒░
░▒▓███████▓▒░░▒▓█▓▒░░▒▓█▓▒░▒▓█▓▒░░▒▓█▓▒░▒▓███████▓▒░ ░▒▓█████████████▓▒░░▒▓█▓▒░▒▓███████▓▒░  ░▒▓█▓▒░   ░▒▓█▓▒░░▒▓█▓▒░

When members of the American Historical Association (AHA) gathered in Chicago for their annual conference from January 8-11, 2026, many hoped the professional society would condemn the undermining of education and historical research in the United States and abroad. While the majority of members who attended the conference’s business meeting on January 10 voted in favor of two resolutions denouncing the destruction of education infrastructure in Gaza and attacks on core principles of education in the United States, respectively, the wins were short-lived. On January 11, the association’s leadership announced that it had voted not to approve the two resolutions.

“This is a really egregious violation of both the AHA’s principles and mission, but also the democratic vote,” AHA member Mezna Qato, a historian of Palestine at the University of Cambridge and a member of the Palestinian Historians Group (PHG), told Truthout. The success of the two resolutions at the January meeting was the result of months of organizing spearheaded by groups within the larger association, including PHG, Historians for Peace and Democracy (HPAD), and Historians for Palestine.

Qato told Truthout that a growing number of academics have been spurred to action as they witness escalating attacks against their profession and on-campus Palestine solidarity movements. “Part of it is about bringing your historical profession in alignment with your moral and civic and political values and doing so in a way that supports and advances other struggles within the AHA, including a defense of academic freedom, freedom of speech, [and] the profession itself against the vagaries of this rising authoritarian turn in the U.S.,” she told Truthout.

Members who put forward the resolutions see the AHA as a powerful space within which to organize. Chartered by congress in 1889, it is the oldest professional association of historians in the United States. It is also the largest such association in the world, with over 10,000 members who research various regions and eras at institutions worldwide.

This year’s conference in Chicago featured panels on academic freedom, immigration, and teaching Palestine and the Middle East, which drew connections to contemporary threats to the field and attacks on vulnerable communities. The meeting followed weeks of Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in the host city, which disrupted learning for hundreds of students. (Now, the attacks have mostly moved on to Minneapolis, where many schools have begun offering online learning in an effort to protect students and families from harassment or abduction.)

Members who voted on the “Resolution Opposing Attacks on Core Principles of Education” at January’s AHA meeting said doing so felt particularly urgent in the face of those attacks. “The Trump administration has been so brutal, so unscrupulous, and so quick in mounting an attack on education and its core principles of fairness, transparency, truth,” AHA member Ellen Schrecker, a professor emerita of American history at Yeshiva University and HPAD member, told Truthout. “The whole sector, from Harvard’s president down to daycare providers, are under assault.”

The resolution calls on the association to condemn “ongoing attacks on academic freedom, free speech, faculty governance, and equity from government officials, including the president of the United States, [which] are irreparably damaging education.” It also calls on the AHA to condemn justifications for attacks on education rooted in “weaponize[d] allegations of antisemitism and racism.” That phrasing points to the way that lawmakers and special interest groups have seized on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, as well as expressions of solidarity with Palestine, to target, investigate, and attack institutions, educators, and students.

The second resolution heard at this year’s meeting was a “Resolution in Solidarity with Gaza.” It recognized scholasticide in the enclave and called for “support[ing] efforts to ensure the current survival, and future rebuilding, of Palestinian higher education.” AHA member Stacy Fahrenthold, a historian of the modern Middle East at the University of California, Davis, told Truthout that supporting the future of Palestinian educational institutions is not only a moral issue but also a matter of professional importance to her field.

“If professors aren’t free to do research in Palestinian history, if the archives are burned, the colleges razed to the ground, the schools destroyed, and the professoriate targeted, assassinated, and killed, the AHA’s own slogan about being an advocate for the promotion of historical studies becomes an empty phrase unless we can do the most basic speech act of standing up and speaking out about these atrocities,” Fahrenthold told Truthout.

Votes on the two resolutions came after leadership vetoed a similar “Resolution to Oppose Scholasticide in Gaza” last year, even though members had voted to pass it at the annual meeting. Initially, the AHA Council also refused to add this year’s resolutions to the meeting agenda. The resolutions were eventually voted on and passed during the January 10 meeting — but only after more than two-thirds of the members in attendance voted to suspend the meeting rules to allow for their introduction.

The January 11 statement announcing the AHA Council’s decision not to approve the resolutions claimed both fell “outside the scope of [its] chartered mission” and that approving them “would present institutional risk.” Barbara Weinstein, a professor of history at New York University who served as AHA president in 2007 and on the council from 2006 to 2008, told Truthout that when the AHA leadership references risk, she suspects it is chiefly concerned about “blowback from the Trump administration.”

The decision tracks with a wider trend among professional societies and unions of educators of suppressing members who speak out against genocide in Gaza, as well as their efforts to distance their associations from that violence through divestment or other actions. Many have been accused of complying in advance with an increasingly authoritarian Trump administration.

Under previous administrations, AHA has passed resolutions or issued statements condemning conflicts that were led or backed by the U.S., and the destruction of educational infrastructure. In 2007, it passed a resolution urging its members to oppose the war on Iraq. It also issued a statement condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The statements seem to align with guiding principles that AHA published in 2017, which call for the association to take a public stance “when public or private authorities, in the United States or elsewhere, threaten the preservation of or free access to historical sources.”

A January 15 statement from PHG also rejects the council’s reasoning for blocking the resolutions and suggests that the decision undermines the association’s mission. “These vetoes are an abandonment of the AHA’s democratic principles and a dereliction of the AHA’s duty to defend academic freedom. With these vetoes, the AHA Council has silenced Palestinian scholars and colleagues, placed historians of Palestine at greater professional and personal risk, and fed rising authoritarianism at home and abroad,” the statement reads.

Despite setbacks, Qato told Truthout she believes many members remain committed to mobilizing within the confines of the professional association, whether through future resolutions or other interventions. “The incredible work that’s been done that’s crystallized a broad-based opposition to Israeli and U.S. genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, that work needs to move forward,” Qato told Truthout. “The space at AHA, and the extraordinary capacity building that it has allowed for, and the conversations that have brought so many of us together — we’re not going to rescind that space.”

Schrecker, who at 87 years old has been engaged in the anti-war struggle and the fight for academic freedom longer than most, told Truthout she is confident that the movement will gain ground as she and her colleagues continue their organizing work.

“The people in the executive council are going along defending the status quo when it is indefensible,” she said. “So, what do we do? We educate. We organize. We demonstrate, we demonstrate some more. We have to keep fighting.”

Press freedom is under attack

As Trump cracks down on political speech, independent media is increasingly necessary.

Truthout produces reporting you won’t see in the mainstream: journalism from the frontlines of global conflict, interviews with grassroots movement leaders, high-quality legal analysis and more.

Our work is possible thanks to reader support. Help Truthout catalyze change and social justice — make a tax-deductible monthly or one-time donation today.