The CFA expresses its strongest support for Tariq Khan. Mr. Khan is a PhD candidate in excellent standing in the Department of History at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Tariq is an engaged, thoughtful, and committed scholar and a wonderful and effective teacher. His presence in our intellectual community is invaluable.
Tariq Khan is also the father of three young children and a U.S. Air Force Veteran.
In November a member of Turning Point USA (TPUSA) threatened Tariq’s children, and an altercation followed. These are tactics typical of TPUSA, an alt-right organization that claims to “educate students about the importance of fiscal responsibility, free markets, and limited government” but in practice engages in repeated harassment of faculty and graduate students with whom they disagree politically. Since then Tariq has been targeted in a vilification campaign by the by Turning Point USA and its associated media arm, Campus Reform. He and his family have been bullied, harassed, and intimidated.
When TPUSA members filed disciplinary charges against Khan through the Office of Student Conflict Resolution at UIUC, a dean in the Office of Student Conflict Resolution charged Tariq with violating the student code and has sanctioned him with Conduct Probation using a video with a Campus Reform logo on it as the main piece of evidence. Khan is currently appealing the university’s decision.
The CFA calls on the University’s Office of Student Conflict Resolution to drop all university disciplinary and “criminal damage” charges against Tariq Khan. We condemn TPUSA’s hateful slander and defamation, and demand that the university administrations protect students, staff, and faculty from coordinated far-right outrage campaigns.
Campus Faculty Association 