Get John Kirby out of U Chicago Fact Sheet

Even if you can only make one call, that’s better than nothing! Do not let this outrage pass unremarked!

If you email, we recommend that you send to all email addresses or copy everyone.

Katherine Baicker (Provost)

(773) 702-8825

provost@uchicago.edu

Andrew Campbell (Senior Adviser to Provost)

(773) 834-1585

acampbel@uchicago.edu

Melina Hale (Dean of the College)

mhale@uchicago.edu

773.702.8576

Paul Alivisatos (President)

president@uchicago.edu

773-702-8001

Bridget Kostigen

Director of Presidential Communications

Phone: 773.702.7618

bkostigen@uchicago.edu

Cathy Jacobson

Executive Assistant to the President

Phone: 773.702.2046

cathy123@uchicago.edu

KEY INFORMATION

Kirby was Pentagon Press Secretary and Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs (beginning January 2021) and in May 2022 became the Coordinator for Strategic Communications for the National Security Council (NSC). In February 2024, he was elevated to the White House National Security Communications Adviser (Assistant to the President.) His job was to coordinate and deliver the Biden administration’s public messaging on national security issues, including US messaging on the genocide in Gaza. This means that Kirby was a key figure in lying to the American public about the role of their government in abetting and funding this genocide. Now he has been named as the new Director of the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics.

John Kirby knowingly lied to the American public and the world about the mass slaughter, genocide, and intentional starvation in Gaza countless times. We all know now that the casualty toll in Gaza is staggering: the Costs of War Project at Brown University estimates the dead and injured number at least 235,000, a number confirmed by a former IDF chief. This is a conservative estimate. Leaked IDF intelligence estimates that at least 80% of casualties were civilians.

Reporting in the Israeli, UK and US press shows that the Biden administration did nothing to pressure the Israeli government to stop the slaughter.

  • In April of 2025, Israel’s Channel 13 published a report on the Biden administration’s support for the genocide. In the words of Former Israeli ambassador Michael Herzog, “God did the State of Israel a favour that Biden was the president during this period… We fought [in Gaza] for over a year and the administration never came to us and said, ‘ceasefire now.’”
  • The investigation, which included interviews with nine current and former US officials, reveals a deeply troubling portrait of US complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Former national security aide, Ilan Goldenberg, stated that the war amounted to “killing and destroying for the sake of killing and destroying”, with no viable political alternative ever established. Despite the White House’s public messaging about restraining Israel, the internal consensus appeared to be that the administration had no intention of exerting real pressure.
  • Multiple State Department staffers resigned over the “shocking mendacity” of US reports; for instance, lawyer Stacey Gilbert resigned after being excluded from the production of a report that blatantly lied about Israel obstructing humanitarian aid, thus violating US arms laws. There are multiple such cases.

Despite full knowledge of the scale of atrocities being committed, Kirby knowingly lied to cover US complicity and violation of arms laws.

  • US officials admit that they were aware that the Israeli government regularly lied to them about the targets of strikes, numbers of people killed, and what percentage of the dead were civilians.
  • Twelve former US government officials released a joint statement accusing the Biden administration of “undeniable complicity” in the genocide.

We know that they knew. Everyone knows. Kirby specifically played a key role in lying about the US support for the genocide.

-Kirby continually lied about the amount of aid getting in to Gaza; participated in the farce of a humanitarian pier that ultimately did nothing to help the starvation; lied about Israeli cooperation in talks when in fact the Israelis were constantly sabotaging negotiations; cast doubt on the death toll; lied that Al-Shifa hospital was being used as a command center, contributing to the atrocities that unfolded in its capture; denigrated the ICJ’s finding that Israel was committing genocide; denied that a famine was unfolding.

-Despite Biden’s alleged clear “red line” about a ground invasion in Rafah, Kirby stated that clear launch of a ground offensive that ultimately flattened Rafah and left thousands dead did not constitute a crossing of that red line.

-Kirby parroted lies about Palestinian UNRWA workers being members of Hamas, ending US support for food aid through UNRWA and contributing to the starvation. This lie directly provided cover for Israel to capture and torture Palestinian civilians.

- In March of 2024, multiple US officials were warning that Israel was violating international law, but the Biden administration dismissed these concerns, instead issuing a report justifying continued US support for the slaughter and starvation.

Points to stress in emails and calls:

  • Appointing someone widely known to be complicit in abetting and covering up war crimes like Kirby delegitimizes the moral and intellectual community at the University of Chicago and, during a time of broad degradation of trust in universities, the academy more broadly
  • This looks like the University of Chicago has no regard for ethics and is simply desperate to cozy up to political power– this is slimy.
  • Does the University of Chicago really want to appoint such a risky hire from a member of a Trump enemy’s cabinet while the Trump administration is at war with universities, and for no clear benefit?
  • This is not about viewpoint diversity or free speech– Kirby was a participant in the US participation in war crimes and crimes of international law. It is exceedingly likely that if the case is taken to the Hague, he will be found guilty. Ditto if Kirby is called before Congress in a future administration. Does the University of Chicago want to expose itself to that kind of risk?
  • This is similar to the John Yoo case, in which Yoo– the author of US “enhanced interrogation” legal briefs– was appointed at Yale. The institution had to apologize  for hosting someone linked to policies “broadly viewed as contrary to international law.”
  • The case is also reminiscent of when Harvard appointed former Trump spokesperson Sean Spicer and had to apologize.

Sample email (please write your own! It looks stupid if we all send the exact same thing!):

“Dear X,

I'm a [name your role] at [institution], and I'm writing to register my shock and dismay that the University has appointed John Kirby to head the Institute of Politics. Kirby is widely known to have extensively lied to the US public and the world in order to enable US support for Israel's slaughter and starvation in Gaza. These actions constitute grave violations of both US and international law. To see the University of Chicago elevate such a person is deeply disturbing.

This is not about free speech or viewpoint diversity-- Kirby knowingly violated US and international law. Multiple former US officials resigned in protest; I will not bother to include multiple links here because I assume that you, like everyone else who keeps up with the news, already know. Indeed, everyone knows. It is saddening and shocking to see the University put itself in such a compromised ethical position, seemingly in order to curry political favors. The situation is reminiscent of Yale's hiring of John Woo-- a legal architect of US justification for "enhanced interrogation"-- or Harvard's hiring of former Trump spokesman Sean Spicer. In both cases, the institution had to apologize, and it contributed to declining faith in the integrity of the academy. We have to do better.

The academy is under attack more than ever from the current US administration. I cannot fathom why the University of Chicago is undertaking such a clearly compromised and risky ethical mistake with this hiring, when public faith in our academic institutions is already so low.

As a fellow academic, and as someone who cares about the future of the American university system, I urge the University of Chicago to reconsider this mistake.

With my regards,

[name]