UC Berkeley reinstates class on Palestine following outcry over its suspension
Source: The Guardian
The controversial class was halted after complaints it was
‘antisemitic’ and ‘anti-Israel’, but critics said the suspension
threatened academic freedom
Sam Levin in San Francisco
Monday 19 September 2016 22.36 BST
The University of California, Berkeley has reinstated a controversial course examining Palestine “through the lens of settler colonialism” after facing intense backlash that it was stifling academic freedom.
A coalition of Jewish organizations had launched a campaign against the course, claiming it was “antisemitic” and “anti-Israel”, and last week the elite school suspended the class, saying it “did not receive a sufficient degree of scrutiny”.
But on Monday, UC Berkeley announced that a review had determined “the course does not cross the line between teaching and political advocacy and organizing”.
“I’m hoping that this will make the administration think twice before they respond to outside political pressure,” said undergraduate Paul Hadweh, who created the course, which is part of a UC Berkeley program that allows students to teach classes to their peers.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/sep/19/uc-berkeley-palestine-class-controversy
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Source: The Forward
The Obama Administration just approved a $38 billion foreign aid package to the Israeli government. This is the largest aid package to Israel in history, ensuring Israel can maintain the largest and strongest military in the region.
And yet, some of Israel’s advocates in Northern California say they’ve been battling for Israel’s very existence.
The existential threat? A one-unit, pass/fail course entitled “Palestine: a Settler Colonial Analysis,” in the Democratic Education at Cal program, known as DeCal, at my alma mater, the University of California, Berkeley. The class was to be run by undergraduate student Paul Hadweh, who grew up in Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank. Students in the course were intended to have “researched, formulated, and presented decolonial alternatives to the current situation in Palestine/Israel.”
DeCals are known for giving students the freedom to teach unorthodox classes on topics about which they are passionate. I once taught a DeCal about the Jewish holiday calendar; we ate a lot of good food.
Read more: http://forward.com/opinion/350233/berkeleys-choice-to-nix-palestinian-course-disgusts-me-as-a-jewish-alum/
Note: The opinions expressed in the article don't necessarily reflect my own.
