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43 groups demand that UC Berkeley Chancellor take immediate action to ensure course vetting procedure includes Regents’ policy prohibiting political indoctrination in the classroom
GREAT NEWS: THE ANTI-ISRAEL AND ANTISEMITIC COURSE AT UC BERKELEY HAS BEEN SUSPENDED
UC Berkeley responds to our 43 groups’ letter saying that “the proposed course did not receive a sufficient degree of scrutiny” and “the course has been suspended” pending further review.
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TAKE ACTION: Write to Chancellor Dirks (chancellor@berkeley.edu) to thank him for suspending the course pending further review, and reiterate that the review process for this course, and all courses at UC Berkeley, must include compliance with the UC Regents Policy on Course Conduct, which prohibits the misuse of the classroom for political indoctrination.
In an AMCHA-coordinated letter sent this morning to UC Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks, 43 Jewish, civil rights and education advocacy groups demanded that he take immediate steps to overhaul the course review process that allowed a student-taught, credit bearing course entitled “Palestine: A Settler Colonial Analysis” to be offered this semester. The course was in clear violation of the Regents Policy on Course Content that prohibits using the classroom for political indoctrination, and it is apparent that the Regents Policy was not even consulted in the procedure for vetting this, or any other new course at UCB.
Affirming our coalition’s focus on the inadequate vetting process for student-taught courses, Chancellor Dirks office responded to our 43 groups’ letter, stating:
It has been determined that the facilitator for the course in question did not comply with policies and procedures that govern the normal academic review and approval of proposed courses for the Decal program. As a result, the proposed course did not receive a sufficient degree of scrutiny to ensure that the syllabus met Berkeley’s academic standards before it was opened for enrollment to students. For that reason, approval for the course has been suspended pending completion of the mandated review and approval process. It should also be noted that the Executive Dean of the College of Letters and Science is very concerned about the offering of any course, even a student-run course, which espouses a single political viewpoint and/or appears to offer a forum for political organizing rather than an opportunity for the kind of open academic inquiry that Berkeley is known for.
UC Berkeley’s letter further specified, “UC Berkeley will continue to confront intolerance, bias, and the campus fully supports the Regents recently issued Principles Against Intolerance.”
While we are thrilled that the course is now properly suspended following a more thorough review, there are further steps Chancellor Dirks needs to take in order to ensure that this sort of political indoctrination is not allowed to continue.
TAKE ACTION: Write to Chancellor Dirks (chancellor@berkeley.edu) to thank him for suspending the course pending further review, and reiterate that the review process for this course, and all courses at UC Berkeley, must include compliance with the UC Regents Policy on Course Conduct, which prohibits the misuse of the classroom for political indoctrination.
INTERESTED IN KNOWING ABOUT ANTISEMITIC ACTIVITY ON CAMPUS?
2016 Antisemitism Tracker
September 8, 2016 – GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY –
A group of students interrupted an event hosted by the Center for Jewish Civilization on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s career. The students held a banner that read “Netanyahu is a War Criminal” and chanted, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” The demonstration occurred at the beginning of the question and answer period for the event, after a student referred to Netanyahu’s policies toward Palestinians as “imperial genocide.” A prepared statement by the protesters claimed, “We’re concerned that a conversation about the Israeli state took place without talking about it as an occupation and apartheid.” Georgetown University Police Department (GUPD) officers immediately removed the protesters from Gaston Hall, as event organizers informed them that they were in violation of the university’s Speech and Expression Policy.
(TARGETING JEWISH STUDENTS AND STAFF: SUPPRESSION OF SPEECH/MOVEMENT/ASSEMBLY; DENY JEWS SELF-DETERMINATION; DEMONIZATION)
September 2, 2016 – SWARTHMORE COLLEGE –
Another swastika was found on campus, this time at Crum Woods.
(TARGETING JEWISH STUDENTS AND STAFF: GENOCIDAL EXPRESSION; HISTORICAL)
August 31, 2016 – COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY/ BARNARD COLLEGE –
A “Disorientation Guide 2016” was produced by a new hub called Disorientation 2016, which was shared with students as a resource for activism on campus and progressive spaces. Pages 36 & 37 covered the campus organizations of Jewish Voice for Peace and Students for Justice in Palestine, both of whom called for BDS on their respective pages.
(BDS ACTIVITY: CALLS FOR BDS)
August 31, 2016 – SWARTHMORE COLLEGE –
Students found swastikas graffitied in the campus library.
(TARGETING JEWISH STUDENTS AND STAFF: GENOCIDAL EXPRESSION; HISTORICAL)
August 31, 2016 – SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY –
Israeli filmmaker Shimon Dotan was disinvited from showing his film at an upcoming conference on campus because, according to M. Gail Hamner, the professor who disinvited Dotan, “the BDS faction on campus will make matters very unpleasant for you and for me if you come” and “I will lose credibility with a number of film and Women/Gender studies colleagues.”
(TARGETING JEWISH STUDENTS AND STAFF: DISCRIMINATION)
August 29, 2016 – UC BERKELEY –
UC Berkeley offered a 1-unit decal course entitled, “Palestine: A Settler Colonial Analysis” with course facilitator Paul Hadweh and faculty sponsor Dr. Hatem Bazian. The course title and syllabus provided evidence that the course was designed to delegitimize Israel. The syllabus accuses Israel of being a “settler colonial state.”
(ANTISEMITIC EXPRESSION: DELEGITIMIZATION)
August 17, 2016 – UC SANTA CRUZ –
Antisemitic fliers with swastikas were printed on networked campus printers that were similar to antisemitic fliers printed earlier this same month and back in March. However, this flier differed in that it was extremely graphic and appeared to tell a fictional story of a man reveling in murdering and raping “filthy Jews” at a synagogue. The flier mentioned words and phrases such as “kike demon,” and “I know you f***ing Jews control the f***ing media anyway.”
(TARGETING JEWISH STUDENTS AND STAFF: GENOCIDAL EXPRESSION; DENIGRATION; HISTORICAL)
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