I mean in comparison at Columbia the entire MELAC department is far left wing/Arabist/Saidian in orientation, yet somehow the problem is the “silencing” of these Professors at Columbia and not the protection of the minority at Princeton or seeking to gain Professors at Columbia that don’t mesh with the Monopolize Clique there?

Yet, now Princeton jumps at grabbing another Saidian Professor and offering him the Chairmanship?

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm you know Richard, something just seems off here? But perhaps you could clear it up for me and explain what I’m missing?

The only thing I have to say to Mike is READ THE NEWSPAPER before you spout ridiculous and inaccurate statements. Doran has NOT been denied tenure. Don’t believe me, go to the Daily Princetonian website and see for yourself (I won’t do your homework for you by providing the link–hopefully even though you can’t spell too well or string together a sentence, you should be able to find an article in an online newspaper). Doran is up for tenure at Princeton and the faculty is currently deliberating on his academic status. Everything I’ve read indicates he’s likely to get tenure.

It’s not “Shandra,” fella. It’s “shande.” Where did you learn your Yiddish??

First, I read the link enclosed and I realized he ‘wasn’t officially denied tenure’… what they did do was defer conferring on it last year due to faulty (bogus) reasons and Professors were cited in the National Review article stating they would work against him due to his positions on the Iraq War. This makes one suspicious and cautious at the least. However, Princeton, which is fairly balanced at least is not the main issue here. Its a minor lesser example of the overall issue at college campuses in general.

Its telling that you turn a ’scant eye’ on the students at Columbia while not turning one at Massad/Khalidi/Columbia nor the Doran situation.

I’ve personally spoken to these students and prior ones at Columbia. In the spirit of Tikun Olam have you ‘fella’? Most privately but not publically said to one degree or another that via the Professors and students there is an atmosphere very hostile to anything Israeli and its very palpable. Does that bother you my Tikun Olam friend? Or defending a bully like Joseph Massad is more your fancy?

Most have said the department is highly politicized, way past the point of reasonable prudence or fostering a comfortable questioning learning environment - Massad was certainly the worst example of injecting flat out politicized bias and being a classroom bully latently and at times blatantly. Needless to say most felt uncomfortable in his class.

Most kids just blow it off and get their degree and go ont their way. Very few stood up and tried to question anything, but finally some did. However, because the David Project assisted them, imagine?, they are treated with cynicism? I wonder in that vein, if you’ve posted any opinions (I haven’t “trolled around enough”) on the tactics of CAIR?

So amazingly enough, cynicism is directed towards the students, emeshed in an atmosphere hostile to them, and not the monopolized clique of Professors? That’s a nice role reversal of victimization there. And here I thought Professors are supposed to foster an atmosphere of debate and safety let alone for 20 year old kids.

However, I don’t see a thing at your site at that token, defending or saying a boo about the Kloceck immediate firing at Depaul?

Oh, and thanks, fella, for the Yiddish spelling correction. :=-)

The only comment I have to make about your entirely spurious charges is that you’re not a student at Columbia, have never taken a MEALAC course before, have never met or spoken with any of the professors involved, and have no direct first-hand knowledge of anything related to this issue. You present 2nd or 3rd hand opinions that have no validity whatsoever. And this of course is typical of the bullying tactics used by the MEALAC haters out there like you. A comparison between the tactics of the haters & Joe McCarthy is perfectly apt.

Your comments on this post are now officially over. Ignore my request and you’ll no longer be welcome to comment anywhere at this site.

According to a January story in New York Magazine, it was The David Project - a pro-Israel advocacy group with ties to Daniel Pipes Mideast Forum - that went out in search of students willing to complain about anti-Semitism among Arab professors. After being turned down by undergrads at many Northeast campuses, they found a few Campus Watch members at Columbia who agreed to go along.

Unfortunately, almost none of them had actually taken classes in MEALAC. In fact, as soon as the “Columbia Unbecoming” film was released, a number of Jewish MEALAC students told Jewish Week that the charges of intimidation and anti-Semitism were nonsense. More detailed student testimony is here.

Many of these students tried to approach the filmmakers while the documentary was in progress and were turned away. There was little pretense, in the making of the film, that The David Project was engaging in objective research. It was an anti-MEALAC propaganda piece from the beginning. If you look at the film, it’s just what you’d expect: poorly documented, hyperbolic and inflammatory.

A Columbia panel, after hearing extensive testimony from students on both sides of the issue, cleared Massad and other professors of charges of intimidating students and of anti-Semitism.

It is quite true that the Columbia Arab studies department is left-leaning and critical of Israel. It is also true that Columbia has a large, well-funded Jewish Studies department that offers a curriculum much more supportive of Israel.

Do MEALAC professors stifle debate and create an atmosphere hostile to students? Here’s Columbia student Elisheva Cohen:

I, as a Jew who is fairly supportive (though critical) of Israel, have had nothing but positive experiences in the MEALAC department… To be honest, in all the MEALAC classes I have taken, Professor Massad, more than any other professor.. is open to hearing the other side, answering questions, and entertaining criticism. In my experience, he does it readily because, as a teacher, it is his job to make students think.

If Mike is looking for bullying and anti-Semitism, he might check out the reports in Jewish Week and the Forward about a conference sponsored by The David Project itself, to discuss “Academic Intergrity on the American Campus”. Students who disagreed with the rabid anti-Arab rhetoric spewing from the podium were shouted down, and reporters were overtly threatened. Charles Jacobs, the ED for the David Project, referred to Jews who disagreed with him as Marranos ["pigs" in Spanish]- a particularly nasty and violent anti-Semitic slur.

Give me Joseph Massad any day.

I’m afraid you’re not even in the ballpark, Mike. Richard’s doing great reportage on Khalidi. Thank G-d there are a few voices of reason among us.

The sad thing is that Khalidi is considering leaving Columbia. It looks like the David Project’s intimidation tactics - regardless of how unfounded - had an impact.