This should come as no surprise to those who have been subjected to anti-woke backlash. Right-wing ideologues are going to become right-wing ideologues. What is alarming, as Eileen Mulvey, president of the American Association of University Professors, put it, is Shafiq’s willingness to “throw faculty and academic freedom under the bus.”
Hopefully, there will be space under the bus for the more than 100 Columbia University students who were arrested the day after the hearing, when Mr. Shafiq announced that In one move, students called on the New York Police Department to remove a tent encampment erected. For withdrawal from Israel. It was the first time in decades that the NYPD had been called to a campus.
Shafik, along with other Columbia University administrators, was called before the House Education and Labor Committee to seek “answers to the rampant anti-Semitism that is engulfing our campus and threatening Jewish students.” She seems determined not to repeat the actions of the then-presidents of Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania, who testified before the same committee last December and firmly acknowledged their schools’ commitment to free expression. Ta. That meant nuanced, almost intelligent answers to questions from committee members like Rep. Elise Stefanik (RN.Y.), who had no interest in nuance.
In one exchange, Stefanik asked Harvard University’s Claudine Gay whether students’ calls for mass murder of African-Americans constituted “protection of free speech.” When Gay tried to answer, Stefanik interrupted him by saying, “It’s a yes or no question,” before moving on to ask how Harvard would respond to students calling for an “intifada revolution.” Gay responded that he felt that kind of speech was “personally abhorrent” and “contrary to Harvard’s values,” but that the university embraces “a commitment to freedom of expression.” . [that includes] unpleasant and unpleasant opinions, [and] It’s disgusting. ”
As an illustration of many universities’ free speech policies, Gay’s answer was exactly right. The reward for her commitment to civil liberties was that she was ousted from her job just weeks after Liz McGill resigned as president of the University of Pennsylvania after voicing similar advocacy for academic freedom. .
At last week’s hearing, Shafiq declared in her opening statement the Colombian government’s commitment to “support rigorous academic inquiry and freedom,” but her responses to commissioners revealed that those words were lip service. Ta. She acknowledged that there is debate about the meaning of words such as “From the rivers to the sea, Palestine will be free,” but added, “There are several disciplinary proceedings underway surrounding that word. We have specified restrictions on where such chants may take place.
At a hearing in December, Stefanik claimed that Harvard’s dean was removed from his position because he acted as legal representative for an unpopular client. Mr. Gay objected that this was incorrect, but he said, “I’m not going to discuss personnel issues in detail.” Shafik was more candid about the faculty he directs. The day before the hearing, Columbia University sent a letter to the committee detailing its investigation into allegations of bias involving eight faculty members and a teaching assistant. At the hearing, Shafik said, “I am monitoring teachers who have made statements that cross the line of anti-Semitism, and there will be consequences for them. Currently, there are cases where they have been removed from the classroom or fired.” There are 5 items.
And she named it. Joseph Massad, a professor of Middle East studies, published an article about the October 7 attack titled “Just a Battle or a War for the Liberation of Palestine?” “I was talked to,” she said. If it had been up to her, Massad would never have won her tenure, she said. Referring to visiting professor Mohamed Abdu, who posted on social media, “I stand with Hamas, Hezbollah, and Islamic Jihad,” Shafiq said, “I am grading student papers and will never teach at Columbia University again.” Ta.
The academy’s traditional response to speech that disparages racial, religious, or other groups has been to protect the academy. Consider the case of Amy Wax, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania. Wax said, “Our country would be better off if there were more white people and fewer non-white people,” and that African-Americans and other “non-Western peoples” were “recognized by the Western world for their great accomplishments and contributions.” He said he felt “resentment, shame, and envy toward other people.” ” and argued that the United States would be better off with fewer Asians and fewer Asian immigrants.
Penn has barred Mr. Wax from teaching new law students, and the faculty senate recently sanctioned Mr. Wax not for his speech but for his “conduct” that involved a “blatant disregard” of university rules. Recommended. Still, the law school dean emphasized, “As a scholar.” [Wax] She is free to defend her views, no matter how far they depart from our institutional ethos and considered practices. ”
Among the House committee’s next targets are Rutgers faculty members, including law professor Sahar Aziz, whose chair, Virginia Foxx, R.N.C. He has made a number of anti-Semitic and pro-terrorism statements, including the statement that ‘Jews are more Jewish’. They are more privileged than Muslims, Arabs, and Palestinian Americans. ”
As an African American graduate of Harvard University, I was disappointed when Gay, the university’s first black president, resigned in the aftermath of his congressional testimony. Shafik’s spinelessness shows that there are worse things a person can lose than a job.
