Posted by David Bernstein:
Columbia Report on Mealac:
The Columbia report on the controversy over its Middle Eastern Studies
Department [1]is out. Apparently, Columbia gave an exclusive to the
New York Times to report on the document, but on condition that the
Times publish the story without asking the activist students who had
prompted the report for comments, and, indeed, before students had a
chance to read it. [2]For this and more substantive criticisms, click
here. I was struck by the Times' coverage's emphasis that the report
found no evidence of anti-Semitism related to this controversy. I've
read quite a bit about the controversy, and I don't believe that there
ever were allegations of anti-Semitism.
The one big piece of news from the report is that after interviewing
various students who were present, the report finds the following
allegation "credible":
[The incident involved] Professor Joseph Massad, who was teaching a
class on Palestinian and Israeli politics. According to the report,
a student, Deena Shanker, recalled asking if it was true that
Israel sometimes gave a warning before a bombing so that people
would not be hurt. She said the professor blew up, telling her, "If
you're going to deny the atrocities being committed against
Palestinians, then you can get out of my classroom!"
If true, this was not only an extremely intemperate and inappropriate
response by Massad, but completely non-responsive to the student's
comment. Massad had apparently been bloviating about civilian
casualties caused by Israel's anti-terrorism military actions. The
student, in response, didn't deny these casualtes, but requested that
the professor confirm some additional information and significant
context. But God-forbid a student should interupt the professor's
rants against Israel! Is it the job of professors to indoctrinate
their students with propaganda, and the job of students to sit back
and be indoctrinated? (For a professor who actually argues something
very close to "yes," see the comments of a philosophy professor
[3]quoted over at the Leiter Report--doesn't everyone know that the
only plausible interpretation of Plato is opposition to the Iraq
War?!).
Professors are certainly entitled to have a point of view, and some
students may find that point of view obnoxious. But students are also
entitled to have a point of view, and to the extent they express that
point of view at an appropriate time and place and in an appropriate
manner, they should not be silenced. Even more so, a student who
merely requests confirmation of additional information.
References
1. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/31/education/31columbia.html?
2. http://www.campusj.com/index.php?section=news&id=407
3. http://leiterreports.typepad.com/blog/2005/03/the_destruction_1.html
_______________________________________________
Volokh mailing list
[email protected]
http://highsorcery.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/volokh
