28 UC San Diego Professors Write Letter Criticizing Student Hypocrisy

Gary Fouse
fousesquawk

* This information was passed on to me today in a comment which I inadvertently deleted, but for which I am grateful. I am cross-posting the story on this by my friend Donald Douglas at American Power, who is a professor at Long Beach City College. I invite my lost  commenter to add to this.

http://americanpowerblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/ucsd-professors-slam-anti-israel.html

I also read an account in Prospect Journal Blog of UCSD, which has some sort of affiliation with Students for Justice in Palestine. It pointed out that students held several events regarding the revolutions in the Middle East. It thus, criticized the letter, and in the comments section, I found this:

"Look at the departments with which the signatories of the letter are affiliated.Why are there no professors from History, Ethnic Studies, Sociology, Literature, or Communication on that letter? It might be because, for the most part, professors who teach in the social sciences and humanities have a more nuanced and historically grounded perspective on the the kinds of arguments that these student groups are making. It’s shameful that the professors and administrators who published this letter in the Guardian would label these students’ reasoned and informed critiques of Israel (a state, not a religion) as “anti-Semitic.” Shame on them."

To which I added my own (signed) comment.

"Actually, it is because the Humanities on most university campuses are stuffed with far-left professors who hate Israel and try to indoctrinate their students rather than educate them."

(With two typos, damn it!)

I can see the point on both sides. Certainly, many campuses have seen hastily-arranged discussions of the turmoil that has broken out in the Middle East. I doubt that the despotic regimes involved enjoy much support on campus. However, the important point is not only what has specifically been said about these regimes during these events, but what has been said about Israel and the US as well. Without having attended any, I can hardly imagine that the US and Israel did not come in for condemnation as well.  That is always....

...what's the word?

De rigueur, n'est pas?


The point still begs; why don't the pro-Palestinian supporters in the Muslim Student Association and Students for Justice in Palestine et al, devote more time to the problems within the Arab societies rather than constantly attack Israel?

(Rhetorical question)