Editing David Graeber (section)

=== Yale University (1998–2005) ===
In 1998, two years after completing his PhD, Graeber became assistant professor at [[Yale University]], then associate professor.<ref name=arenson/> In May 2005, the Yale anthropology department decided not to renew Graeber's contract, preventing consideration for [[academic tenure]], which was scheduled for 2008. Pointing to Graeber's anthropological scholarship, his supporters (including fellow anthropologists, former students and activists) said the decision was politically motivated. More than 4,500 people signed petitions supporting him, and anthropologists such as [[Marshall Sahlins]], [[Laura Nader]], [[Michael Taussig]], and [[Maurice Bloch]] called on Yale to reverse its decision.<ref name=arenson/> Bloch, who had been a professor of anthropology at the [[London School of Economics]] and the [[Collège de France]], and a writer on Madagascar, praised Graeber in a letter to the university.<ref name="blochletter" />

The Yale administration argued that Graeber's dismissal was in keeping with Yale's policy of granting tenure to few junior faculty. Graeber suggested that Yale's decision might have been influenced by his support of a student of his who was targeted for expulsion because of her membership in [[Graduate Employees and Students Organization|GESO]], Yale's [[graduate student union]].<ref name=arenson/><ref name=inside/><ref name=silenced/>

In December 2005, Graeber agreed to leave Yale after a one-year paid sabbatical. That spring he taught two final classes: "Introduction to Cultural Anthropology" (attended by more than 200 students) and a seminar, "Direct Action and Radical Social Theory".<ref>{{cite news |last=Marsden |first=Jessica |title=Graeber agrees to leave University |newspaper=Yale Daily News |date=December 9, 2005 |url=http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2005/12/09/graeber-agrees-to-leave-university/ |access-date=May 5, 2015 |archive-date=August 30, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170830013757/http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2005/12/09/graeber-agrees-to-leave-university/ |url-status=live }}</ref>