LETTER: What good is college without open discourse?

April 7, 2026

To the Editor:

Shame on the University of Southern Maine for banning an event called “The Consequence of Palestine” because the Trump Administration placed one participant on the US government sanctions list.

The sanctioned person, Francesca Albanese, is the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Gaza and the West Bank.

Samantha Warren, a spokesperson for the university, rejected event organizer Fateh Azzam’s claim that the US Office of Foreign Assets, the agency that enforces the sanctions list, had indicated that Albanese’s participation would be allowed if she were not paid for the appearance.

The event was to be co-hosted by the Maine Coalition for Palestine, Maine Voices for Palestinian Rights and the university’s Department of Criminology and Sociology.

This cancellation is a gross violation of Americans’ right to free speech, a fundamental right embodied in our Constitution.

What good is our university system if it cannot foster discussion of our government’s role in international affairs?

—Steve Hindy, Brooklin

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