THE DAY
Sort of.
Woke up with a migraine and couldn’t figure out if it’s meds or stress or both. Whatever. Had a serious talk with the husband today about the move here, how rough it’s been for me, the writing, all of it. As it happened, it started to snow up here just about the same time he was scheduled to leave for the office…so he stayed for a while. Worked out of the house and I did my work but in a more relaxed way (like, I knew I had to retool this entire section I’d been working on for the last two days), did some reading and other research; hung with the husband. It was actually a much better morning because it was more relaxed and, also, because I think I got a lot off my chest.
In the middle of all that, though, I happened to get an email from my old alma mater, Oberlin, about the remarks that some professor was making, and how this was a very fluid situation and complex, and gee, here’s a link to a letter that a bunch of Jewish students wrote…so I got curious, did some digging (at the same time that a friend sent a story in from Fox News about the same issue), and then got into a very interesting discussion about free speech versus hate speech versus what a college ought to do. You can read all the articles I found but the gist is this: a prof at the college is essentially spouting a lot of hate speech and outright illogical stuff on social media about how Israel was behind 9/11, the Charlie Hebo attacks; says the Holocaust didn’t happen . . . that kind of stuff. And mind you, this is a professor who’s teaching kids. Impressionable kids. The college president doesn’t like but hides behind free speech. The FOX report is here; and the full text is reproduced below:
“The head of a prestigious Ohio school appeared to have defended a professor whose Facebook posts blaming Israel and Jews for everything from 9/11 to the creation of ISIS created an uproar earlier this week.
Oberlin College President Marvin Krislov said in a letter to the college community Wednesday that professor Joy Karega’s posts on social media affected him on a personal level and also challenged his professional beliefs, according to The Chronicle-Telegram.
“I am a practicing Jew, grandson of an Orthodox rabbi. Members of our family were murdered in the Holocaust,” Krislov wrote. “As someone who has studied history, I cannot comprehend how any person could or would question its existence, its horrors and the evil which caused it. I feel the same way about anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. Regardless of the reason for spreading these materials, they cause pain for many people — members of our community and beyond.”
He didn’t mention Karega’s name in the letter, but said backing the right to freedom of speech was parallel to the college’s mission.
“Cultivating academic freedom can be difficult and at times painful for any college community. The principles of academic freedom and freedom of speech are not just principles to which we turn to face these challenges, but also the very practices that ensure we can develop meaningful responses to prejudice.
“This freedom enables Oberlin’s faculty and students to think deeply about and to engage in frank, open discussion of ideas that some may find deeply offensive. Those discussions — in classrooms, residence halls, libraries, and across our campus and town — take place every day here. They are a vital part of the important work of liberal arts education at Oberlin and in our country,” he added.
Karega is an assistant professor of “rhetoric and composition” at Oberlin College. She claimed on social media that the Jewish state secretly planned the Sept. 11 terror attacks, the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris and that Mossad, Israel’s national security agency, former Islamic State.
Critics argued that Karega needed to be fired immediately.
“This is the worst kind of anti-Semitic rhetoric,” said Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, director of the Shurat HaDin—Israel Law Center, an Israeli-based civil rights organization. “It is not acceptable for the dean to hide behind academic freedom and claim this is freedom of speech.
“She (Karega) is not a tenured professor,” she added. “She needs to be thrown off campus immediately.”
Karega received her Ph.D. from the University of Louisville in 2014. She said in a statement on her Facebook page, that she will use the push back she’s received for material for her new book. She also criticized the “anti-Semitism call-out culture.”
“… I can generate articles for days on what I can describe as “antisemitism call-out culture” and some of its accompanying practices. I don’t have to tell some of you that these recent activities in my own professional life have handed me a LARGE body of data (emails, voicemail messages, tweets, Facebook inbox messages, etc.) that will shed light on and provide insight into how and to what extent anti-Blackness rhetorics show up in “anti-Semitic call-out culture and practices,” she wrote.
Fox News’ Malia Zimmerman contributed to this report.”
So I find all this fascinating–and mind you, it’s against the LAW in Germany to deny the Holocaust–and feel two ways about this. Acknowledging that this is upsetting is important, but shutting this person down just because we’re upset is not the right way to go. This could be an opportunity to engage with this person around the substance of what she wrote. That is, you can start with an acknowledgement of the feelings, but then…okay…show me proof, show me what you got. Then the students at the College and society at large learn how to engage people who are hateful or saying outrageous things rather than simply hitting back because they’re pissed. (As in the majority of the angry voters this year.). This is a test of civil society as much as a test of the truth of what she’s saying. In a less civil society, where speech is not protected, you might stone this person or throw her jail or kick her off the faculty. But that doesn’t really solve anything or even provide a good example of HOW to deal with hatred or disagreements.
So for my money, the best approach would be to engage this person, hear what she’s saying, and then–if she’s got nothing but her feelings to go on–show her where she’s gone wrong while reinforcing the behavior that you’d like to see in society in general and students, in particular. Students are kids; they look to adults and society to show them how to behave when faced with this kind of stuff–because this will happen again to kids once they leave college. Only then and if, for example, she’s essentially engaging in inflammatory hate speech…then you take appropriate action. In essence, though, this discussion should be out in the open for everyone to see.
But then I find out more from the Daily Mail which includes this:
“Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, director of the Shurat HaDin Israel Law Center, an Israeli-based civil rights organization, told Fox News: ‘This is the worst kind of anti-Semitic rhetoric.
‘It is not acceptable for the dean to hide behind academic freedom and claim this is freedom of speech.’
‘She is not a tenured professor. She needs to be thrown off campus immediately.’
In recent months, however, students at the $50,000-a-year college have expressed concerns that anti-Semitism is becoming a problem at the school.
The student newspaper, the Oberlin Review, says Jews do not feel welcome, quoting one student, who said: ‘I quickly learned that, at Oberlin, love for my own nation (Israel) was not something I could express.’
The same student reportedly later transferred out of the school due to the ‘toxic climate’ regarding Israel.
Last month, hundreds of alumni and students published an open letter to Oberlin President Martin Krislov saying the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanction Israel) movement has become considerably active on the college campus.
‘Several student organizations at Oberlin have assumed the role as the mouthpiece of the BDS movement, which claims to be a defender of Palestinian rights, but whose inflammatory language falsely portraying Israel as an illegitimate, colonialist and murderous regime demonstrates that its primary goal is to demonize the Jewish state,’ the letter said.
As Oberlin students and alumni representing a diversity of views on Israel, we accept criticism of its leadership and policies. However, we do not believe Israel should be singled out for condemnation and we object to questioning its right to exist.
‘We also abhor the tactics of Oberlin’s pro-BDS student organizations that intimidate, threaten, and coerce Jewish students, which we have seen and heard in numerous written and spoken reports. “
And then, finally, I tracked down a letter a bunch of Jewish kids on campus wrote and includes this:
“Recently, Oberlin alumni created a Facebook group called “Obies Against BDS” with the intent to write a letter to the administration about their concerns over BDS and anti-Semitism on campus. To the surprise of current student leaders on campus, there was virtually no student involvement or input on the letter’s contents. Leaders from Hillel, Chabad, Oberlin Zionists and J Street U came together to discuss our reaction to the letter and group. We found the language of the letter to lack a nuanced understanding of the complex dynamics on Oberlin’s campus.
Leaders from every Jewish and Israel group on campus wrote a response to this group sharing how, through our work on campus and experiences as students, we’ve realized that the best tool against anti-Israel sentiment is open, honest conversation about the realities on the ground and our responsibility to change them. We asked for language which included a call to end settlement expansion and other obstacles to lasting peace and a two-state solution. We all agreed that working to end the occupation and achieve a two-state resolution is vital for the future of a Jewish and democratic Israel.
Unfortunately, it has become clear that many of the alumni behind the “Obies Against BDS” letter did not wish to truly learn about the dynamics of Oberlin’s campus today. We as students have the largest stake in what happens at our school, yet we were told that our experiences and knowledge should not inform the kinds of changes to campus dynamics these alumni are now calling for.”
So now, at the end of the day, I feel this way. While I still defend the right to free speech, the right to spread HATE speech that is unsubstantiated–and with no proof–is a different matter. If this person were spouting hate speech about LGBT, blacks, Muslims…how long do you think she would last at a university?
Right. That long.
Yes, this professor has the right to be hateful. She does not have the right to hateful and WRONG and paid for it AND allowed to teach students. She should be fired–but done so in a transparent way, so no one can say she wasn’t given an opportunity to submit something like proof.
So that was the morning–and then I wrote in the afternoon. Gymed and now back, going to do some reading, wait for the husband and have dinner.
But an interesting day.
WRITING OUT LOUD
Dark Side of the Moon
Day 1: 4326 Day 11: 2500 Day 21: 1800 Day 31: 745
Day 2: 2085 Day 12: 500 Day 22: 0 Day 32: 0
Day 3: 3011 Day 13: 1000 Day 23: 2700 Day 33: 4000
Day 4: 2652. Day 14: 3700 Day 24: 3500 Day 34: 2800
Day 5: 3210 Day 15: 5630 Day 25: 1500 Day 35: 4500
Day 6: 3450 Day 16: 1060 Day 26: 0 Day 36: 4800
Day 7: 0 Day 17: 130 Day 27: 0 Day 37: 0
Day 8: 2756 Day 18: 0 Day 28: 380 Day 38: 450
Day 9: 4580 Day 19: 3000 Day 29: 390 Day 39: 1000
Day 10: 2670 Day 20: 2600 Day 30: 380 Day 40: 2500
Day 41: 2600 Day 51: 1000 Day 63: 4800 Day 73: 1500 (edit)
*Day 42: 830 Day 52: 1600 Day 64: 3300 Day 74: 250 (sick)
Day 43: 3600 Day 53: 2600 Day 65: 2500 Day 75: 3000 (edit)
Day 44: 5000 Day 54: 3600 Day 66: 1200 (edit) Day 76: 2500 (edit)
Day 45: 2600 Day 55: 3200 Day 67: 1000 (edit) Day 77: 2500 (edit)
Day 46: 3000 Day 56: 4000 Day 68: 3000 (edit) Day 78: 2000 (edit)
Day 47: 2800 Day 57: 1200 Day 69: 1000 (edit) Day 79: 2000 (edit)
Day 48: 2500 Day 58-60: 0 Day 70: 1000 (edit) Day 80: 4300 (edit)
Day 49: 1000 Day 61: 3500 Day 71: 1500 (edit) Day 81: 1000 (edit)
Day 50: 4600 Day 62: 3000 Day 72: 2500 (edit) Day 82: 2000 (edit)
Day 83: 1500 (edit)
Day 84: 2700 (edit)
Day 85: 1500 (edit)
Day 86: 0 (travel)
Day 87: 0 (travel)
Day 88: 0 (travel)
Day 89: 2500 (edit)
Day 90: 2400
Day 91: 1300
Blog Post: 2100 (and about half of that isn’t mine)
***
What I’m Watching:
Finished Justified. Very satisfying. Then immediately started The Americans.
***
What I’m Reading:
Too many articles about hate speech, that’s for sure. Also started a fabulous new book, Evicted by Matthew Desmond.
***
What I’m Listening to:
Serial, Part 9. I’m still very meh about this. It’s interesting, but…I wouldn’t voluntarily seek this out. I’m hanging in there primarily because I’ve hung in there so long.
