Scholars for Peace in the Middle East Statement on the Accusation of Dissemination...

Scholars for Peace in the Middle East Statement on the Accusation of
Dissemination of Anti-Semitic Material Against University of California, Santa
Barbara, Sociology Professor, William Robinson

CHICO, Calif., May 11 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Scholars for Peace in the
Middle East (SPME) Board of Directors has been asked by many colleagues to
issue a statement about the email that Professor William Robinson at the
University of California at Santa Barbara sent to the students in his course
on The Sociology of Globalization, in which he dispatched paired photographs
of atrocities committed by the Nazis with photographs from the recent Israeli
operations in Gaza.

The allegations, and reactions to them, have been widely reported in the media
and are being reviewed by the Academic Senate of the University of California
at Santa Barbara.

As an organization of 27,000 academics worldwide, SPME takes the position that
the primary responsibility for adjudicating allegations of unscholarly
behavior or violations of academic standards and codes of conduct, including
allegations of anti-Semitic and other racist expressions, falls on the
institution where the events in question occurred. Some commentators have
claimed that academic freedom protects Professor Robinson's right to send such
emails. However, according to the Revised Academic Personnel Policy 010,
Academic Freedom and the Policy on Course Content of The Regents of the
University of California, approved June 19, 1970 and amended September 22,
2005:
-- Teaching and scholarship (must) be assessed by reference to the
professional standards that sustain the University's pursuit and
achievement of knowledge.
-- Misuse of the classroom by, for example, allowing it to be used for
political indoctrination...constitutes misuse of the University as an
institution.

We therefore support the university's decision to initiate the review, and we
encourage the Academic Senate to address the following questions:
1. Was Professor Robinson's email an attempt at political
indoctrination of his students? Did he invite student discussion and
critical evaluation of other information and alternative views?
2. Does Professor Robinson have academic expertise regarding the issues in
the email, specifically, the conflict in the Middle East and the life
and
beliefs of Martin Luther King?
3. Did Professor Robinson's email meet standards of scholarly
competence in that the text was factually accurate?

4. Was Professor Robinson's email anti-Semitic? According to both the
U.S. Department of State in its Report on Global anti-Semitism and the
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights in its Public Education Campaign to End
Campus Anti-Semitism:

An important issue is the distinction between legitimate criticism of policies
and practices of the State of Israel, and commentary that assumes an
anti-Semitic character. The demonization of Israel, or vilification of Israeli
leaders, sometimes through comparisons with Nazi leaders, and through the use
of Nazi symbols to caricature them, indicates an anti-Semitic bias rather than
a valid criticism of policy concerning a controversial issue.

Contrary to what a number of academics who should know better have asserted,
academic freedom does not mean that material that is introduced to a
curriculum, class, or academic forum should be protected from collegial and
peer review and discussion, conducted in a civil and constructive manner.
Where peers find scholarship or pedagogy to be substandard, they are entitled,
indeed obligated, to say so. As a leading expert on academic freedom recently
wrote: "The pursuit of truth in universities requires adherence to fundamental
principles of intellectual integrity and responsibility." (Donald Downs,
Academic Freedom: What It Is, What It Isn't, and How to Tell the
Difference,http:www.popecenter.org/inquiry_papers/article.html?id=2164)

We trust that the University of California Academic Senate will uphold its
principles of academic freedom and responsibility.

Scholars for Peace in the Middle East web site: http://www.spme.net

SOURCE Scholars for Peace in the Middle East

Leila Beckwith, Treasurer, lbeckwit@ucla.edu, Tammi Benjamin, Board Member,
tbenjami@ucsc.edu, Samuel Edelman, Exec Dir, +1-530-570-8137,
sedelman@csuchico.edu, all of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East