Israeli soldier in Jenin
From: Ami Nahshon [mailto:Ami@jfed.org]
Sent: Friday, May 10, 2002 11:01 PM
A CALL TO ACTION:
As you may have already read in the local and national media, the University
of California at Berkeley has offered in its Fall 2002 schedule of classes,
as part of the Freshman English required curriculum, an elective section
entitled "The Politics and Poetics of Palestinian Resistance". The course
description (minus the reading list) is attached below, copied directly from
the University's online catalogue:
---------------
"The Politics and Poetics of Palestinian Resistance
Course Number: English R1A LEC 4 Units
Semester and Year: fall 2002
Instructor: Shingavi, Snehal"
"Course Description: Since the inception of the Intifada in September of
2000, Palestinians have been fighting for their right to exist. The brutal
Israeli military occupation of Palestine, an occupation that has been
ongoing since 1948, has systematically displaced, killed, and maimed
millions of Palestinian people. And yet, from under the brutal weight of the
occupation, Palestinians have produced their own culture and poetry of
resistance. This class will examine the history of the Palestinian
resistance and the way that it is narrated by Palestinians in order to
produce an understanding of the Intifada and to develop a coherent political
analysis of the situation. This class takes as its starting point the right
of Palestinians to fight for their own self-determination. Conservative
thinkers are encouraged to seek other sections."
---------------
Based on early and vigorous criticism, the University has today issued a
statement (copied at the end of this communication) which addresses some --
but clearly not all -- of our concerns as a community.
This course, as it has been conceived and described, goes beyond the realm
of education and crosses into the realm of indoctrination and, in such form,
has no place in the curriculum of the University of California at Berkeley.
Further, were the University to offer such a course from an Israeli
perspective that, at its core, deligitimized and demonized the Palestinian
people, we would argue that such a course also has no place in the
curriculum.
We therefore urge Chancellor Berdahl and the Academic Senate to take
appropriate leadership on this issue, and to remove this course offering
from the University catalogue.
The Jewish community welcomes the University's acknowledgment of its failure
to properly review and oversee the course proposal and description of the
English class entitled "The Politics and Poetics of Palestinian Resistance",
and endorses efforts to prevent such lapses in the future. We further agree
with the University's assertion that courses which "exclude or discourage
qualified students on grounds other than lack of preparation" have no place
in the University curriculum.
Further, we fully support the belief that the University is, and should be,
a place where study and discussion of alternative -- even controversial --
views takes place in an open and intellectually inviting environment. It
is, in fact, entirely possible that the substance of the literature selected
for this course fits well within this proper intellectual framework.
It is, however, equally clear that the political and historical assumptions
which underlie the concept and description of this course are completely
gratuitous to the appropriate and legitimate purpose of the course itself:
to study the literature of Palestinian resistance.
No less important, the inclusion of the course into the Fall 2002 curriculum
adds yet another troubling and dangerous element to a University of
California environment which is already perceived by many Jewish students,
both current and prospective, as being increasingly inhospitable to their
views and to their core Jewish identities, and as displaying a double
standard of intellectual openness and academic freedom when it comes to the
subject of Israel.
We encourage members of the Jewish community as well as alumni, donors,
students and faculty members of the University of California at Berkeley to
express their views in a civil and appropriate manner, and to call for
action on this matter by writing to the Chancellor and to the Faculty
Senate, as follow (via regular U.S. mail):
Chancellor Robert M. Berdahl
University of California
200 California Hall #1500
Berkeley, CA 94720-1500
Maureen Morley, Executive Director
Academic Senate
University of California
320 Stephens Hall
Berkeley, CA 94720-5842
David Dowall, Chair
Academic Senate
University of California
228 Wurster Hall
Berkeley, CA 94720-1850.
---------------
Ami Nahshon
Executive Vice President
Jewish Federation of the Greater East Bay
ami@jfed.org
---------------
University Statement Regarding Scheduled Fall 2002 Class Titled "The
Politics and Poetics of Palestine Resistance" (from University of California
Department of Media Relations)
10 May 2002
The following is a statement addressing questions raised about a course
scheduled for the fall 2002 semester titled, "The Politics and Poetics of
Palestine Resistance."
There was a failure of oversight on the part of the English Department in
reviewing course proposal descriptions for the reading and composition
sections. This failure is in the process of being addressed. Structures will
be put in place to ensure all course descriptions will be developed in
accord with the Faculty Code of Conduct, specifically that courses not
exclude or discourage qualified students on grounds other than lack of
preparation.
In this particular case, the English Department will immediately revise the
course description to ensure open access. In addition, the department chair
will provide oversight for this class to ensure that it is conducted in
accordance with the Faculty Code of Conduct. Among the code's requirements
is that there be no "discrimination, including harassment, against a student
on political grounds, or for the reasons of race, religion, sex, sexual
orientation, ethnic origin, national origin...."
Chancellor Robert M. Berdahl stated: "I am concerned that this failure of
oversight has occurred and I am pleased that the English Department is
acting immediately to remedy it. Universities should not avoid presenting
controversial material, and we do not. It is imperative that our classrooms
be free of indoctrination - indoctrination is not education. Classrooms must
be places in which an open environment prevails and where students are free
to express their views."
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