DePaul University Faculty Condemns Professor Who Expressed Support for Israel
Hill: “I see this as defaming my character, I see this as damaging my reputation. It’s an agenda to shut down free speech.”
The Faculty Council at DePaul University passed a resolution condemning professor of philosophy Jason Hill after he wrote an article in The Federalist in support of Israel and condemned Hamas.
Hill wrote that “Israel has the moral right to annex all of the West Bank (even Area C) for a plethora of reasons.” The article offended Muslim students and some faculty, which caused protests and a demand for censure.
Hill’s Article
Hill didn’t state anything incorrect in his article, especially about the Palestinian Authority (PA):
Since the establishment of the Palestinian Authority in 1994, Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) have enjoyed joint rule by Israeli military government and the Palestinian Authority with around 98 percent of the Palestinians living in areas under jurisdiction of the PA. In such areas, the PA has destroyed the freedom Palestinians enjoyed under Israeli rule and their economy through kleptocracy, corruption, nepotism, and authoritarian forms of governance subject to none of the checks and balances that characterize Israel’s Knesset.
Jewish exceptionalism and the exceptionalist nature of Jewish civilization require an unconditional space for the continued evolution of their civilization. What’s good for Jewish civilization is good for humanity at large. Jewish civilization is an international treasure trove that must be protected.
He stressed that “[N]ot all cultures are created equal” since [S]ome are abysmally inferior and regressive based on their comprehensive philosophy and fundamental principles—or lack thereof—that guide or fail to protect the inalienable rights of their citizens.”
This includes the PA considering its voting record shows that they want the destruction of Israel and have sided with terrorist groups like Hamas.
He’s also correct that “Israel has every right to defeat terrorists.” How many times a day do we hear about attacks from Hamas? People receive candy and treats after terrorists kill Israelis. The PA even rewards family members of terrorists who die after they attack and kill Israelis.
Hill Responds
Hill spoke to The Daily Caller:
Hill told The Daily Caller that he has faced death threats since his article and now needs security when he walks around campus. But in spite of the threats, the philosophy professor says he felt compelled to speak out on his support for Israel, and what he sees as a growing trend of campus anti-Semitism. (RELATED: Liberal Groups Get 160X More Money That Conservatives At University of Oregon)
“I just got sick and tired of the blatant anti-Semitism being tolerated on campus,” Hill told the Caller.
Hill has been disturbed by the increasing hostility toward Israel on the Left, with some left-wing activist groups referring to the Jewish state as an “apartheid” state. Anti-Israel ideology and anti-Semitism have increased on college campuses in recent years. At DePaul, in particular, a Jewish student said in 2014 that she did not feel safe on campus after students voted to divest from Israeli companies.
“I just reached a point where I really got tired of seeing the narrative of Israel as an apartheid state,” Hill said. “I have gone on record speaking out against the unfair attacks on Israel.” (RELATED: Should Rep. Ilhan Omar Apologize For 9/11 Comments?)
Hill also said that the attacks on him represent an orchestrated character assassination and an attempt to silence him.
“I see this as defaming my character, I see this as damaging my reputation,” Hill said. “It’s an agenda to shut down free speech.”
Hill told Tucker Carlson on Fox News Wednesday night that no one will silence him. He made it clear that the censure is because he took “a very positive pro-Israeli stance in a very anti-Semitic culture on college campuses that are pushing for BDS movement and divestment against Israel and I’m a conservative independent who speaks his mind very clearly and will not be silenced.”
This isn’t the first time Hill has expressed his so-called controversial thoughts. Hill lashed out at universities in an op-ed in The Hill in July 2018:
Our universities risk losing their status as learning sites and becoming national security threats. We need to defund them, disband and rebuild them with conservative principles — that is, values advocating individualism, capitalism, Americanism, free speech, self-reliance and the morality of wealth creation.
When the term “Western civilization” is equated with racism, cultural superiority and pervasive oppression, and students in my political philosophy class refuse to study the works of John Stuart Mill or John Locke (or any other white thinker) because they consider them white supremacists, there is no lower level of educational hell. The manifest destiny of the humanities and social science professoriat is to have politicized knowledge supersede truth, objectivity, facts and genuine learning.
Students Protest
WE THE STUDENTS DEMAND @DePaulU TO CENSURE PROFESSOR JASON HILL NOW!! We will not stop until our demands are met! #WhatMustBeDone #DePaulDumpHill #HereWeDo pic.twitter.com/kc61I3Qg3E
— SJP DePaul (@SJPDePaul) April 24, 2019
The protesters “demanded that the university formally censure Hill, require him to take ‘racial sensitivity training,’ and him to publicly apologize for writing that Israel has a ‘moral right’ to annex the West Bank because it is territory it won during a war initiated by enemies who believe Israel and Israelis should be wiped from the earth.”
The students presented a petition on Change.org:
We, the students of DePaul University call upon the administration to censure Professor Hill for his heinous statements against marginalized communities. His comments create unsafe and uncomfortable spaces for everyone, especially Palestinian and Muslim students who now all refuse to enroll in a class that is taught by Professor Hill. We are not only seeking censure, but for Professor Hill to commit to racial sensitivity training and to release a public apology for his immoral conduct.
It is imperative for DePaul University to condemn Professor Hill in order to reaffirm and reinstitute our mission. Regardless of whether the DePaul administration takes comprehensive action, we will continue to fight for justice and equality for all marginalized communities on campus.
Student Hadiya Afzal vented that the protesters haven’t called DePaul to fire Hill, but that they want the administration “to say this was unacceptable.” Afzal also whined that she no longer feels safe on “as a Muslim student knowing that someone like this is on our campus” and that her tuition money “is going to the salary of an Islamophobe, of a transphobe, of a very sexist man.”
Faculty Council Condemns Hill
The newspaper tweeted late Wednesday night that the council “passed a resolution” to condemn Hill “by a vote of 21-10-0 with amendments.” It did not provide any details but told people to look “for the full story Friday with the updated resolution’s text” on its website.
The Faculty Council passed a resolution condemning professor Jason Hill today by a vote of 21-10-0 with amendments. Watch out for the full story Friday with the updated resolution’s text at https://t.co/1aMqC65DfO. https://t.co/QfkhyZkYQY
— The DePaulia (@TheDePaulia) May 2, 2019
DePaul President Gabriel Esteban sent out an email to remind the students that the university “supports academic freedom and free speech for tenured faculty.” He explained that faculty has permission “to express a provocative position,” but the university also “aspires to be a community marked by mutual respect, always aware of the potential impact of our words and actions.”
The Faculty Council voted on Wednesday whether to censure Hill. Faculty Council President Scott Paeth explained that the resolution against Hill is “not in any formal sense a motion of censure.” From the school newspaper The DePaulia:
“It’s intended to express our support for the principle of academic freedom generally speaking and particularly in the case of Jason Hill,” Paeth told The DePaulia. “On the other hand, it is intended to express our condemnation of the content of what was written in that article.”
The resolution itself, scheduled to be debated and voted on during the council’s meeting at 4:10 p.m., states that “Faculty Council nevertheless affirms that Professor Hill’s article failed to exercise adequate concern for accuracy, restraint, or respect for the opinions of others[…]As such, this article represents an abuse of his academic freedom.”
Once I find out more information I will provide the update.
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Comments
Do the non-tenured faculty, the students and the staff enjoy freedom and free speech? Seems that Dr. Esteban supports a very narrow version of academic freedom.
At which university have non-tenured staff ever had academic freedom? Isn’t that the whole point of tenure?
Oh to have the power of the offended.
“Faculty Council nevertheless affirms that Professor Hill’s article failed to exercise adequate concern for accuracy, restraint, or respect for the opinions of others[…]As such, this article represents an abuse of his academic freedom.”
Some opinions and those holding those opinions have no merit. Opinions are not created equal.
Professor Jason Hill’s comments are accurate and have merit.
My question: Could he sue the school for libel-defamation?
I would think so.
In addition, I don’t know how Catholic courts work, but surely there is some Catholic judicial body where he could sue the university as well as (or instead of) in the civil courts? If this were Yeshivah University he could certainly sue it before the Beth Din of America; do canon law courts not work like that?
Odd. On DePaul’s website they self-identify as “the largest Catholic university in the U.S. and private institution in Chicago.”
I don’t think those words mean what the ‘faculty council’ thinks they mean…
Catholic universities are not what they used to be. But then neither is the Papacy these days. Wouldn’t be surprised if the cock doesn’t crow three times every morning there.
So, all cultures are equal? That would appear to elevate Germany circa 1933 to 1945, Soviet Union, Pol Pot and Mao while denigrating USA, Britain, Australia etc… Sounds about right.
So who is the board that oversee’s DePaul? Name them and get them to take a position. They are OK with this BS or not. They can make it right if they want to.
Maybe DePaul should start another crusade to wrest the holy land from the Jews … I mean Israelis.
Finally a brave person at a university.
There are a few – Prof Jacobson, for one.
This. The USA was founded on the principle that it is self-evident that all people are created equal. It follows directly that all races of people are created equal; that’s a truism. But all cultures are absolutely not equal, and it is perverse to insist that they are.
How can you tell that being anti-Israel trumps everything else in the minds of today’s intersectionality leftists?
1) Professor Hill is black.
2) Professor Hill is gay.
3) Professor Hill is an immigrant (from Jamaica).
Usually, these three things alone make you an absolute rock star to the intersectionality fans.
But just add one more thing … one thing the overwhelming majority of Americans agree upon:
4) Pro-Israel
And now not only are you no longer a rock star, you are public enemy #1 to the hate-addled groupies.
Antisemitism takes precedence over everything the left pretends to believe in.
The AAUP is supposed to back academic freedom for professors like Hill. But they oppose academic freedom and freedom of speech for those who don’t have the proper left-wing political opinions. In Hill’s case, the AAUP blog says, “it’s important to pay attention to a case like this where a professor has expressed deeply offensive and stupid ideas”, and “the conservative professor is the one who advocates repression of academic freedom on a massive scale.”
The AAUP blog is titled “In Defense of Jason Hill …..”, but it accuses Hill of “stupid ideas” and “advocates repression of academic freedom” and doesn’t defend him at all.
https://academeblog.org/2019/04/23/in-defense-of-jason-hill-and-his-critics/
The AAUP blog says that the faculty and student activists aren’t calling for censoring of Hill, implying that the censure motion of the Faculty Council isn’t an attempt to censor his work. Nonsense. The wording of the faculty motion is clearly meant to intimidate:
The faculty motion says Hill had better
“seriously reconsider his positions on these issues, to take cognizance of the perspectives of other scholars on these issues, as well as the real harm his words have caused to students and other members of our community, and to refrain from abusing his freedom as a scholar in writing on controversial issues in the future.”
In other words, there is no academic freedom unless it follows the party line.
And he’d better change his opinions or shut up, or he’s in big trouble.
And the AAUP won’t back him either. That shows that the AAUP, like the ACLU, has abandoned its original principles to become just another left-wing political group.
What has long been evident that America’s universities and colleges–in addition to grossly overcharging for offering an increasingly inferior product–are in the forefront of an attack against not only Israel but the United States and western civilization generally. The time thus is long past when they are deprived of their privileged status of freedom from the taxation that all
other individuals and corporations pay since they no longer serve any public service.
The students expressing support for terrorist organizations should be made to go live under those organizations.
Maybe Professor Hill should offer a Summer class called “Life in the Occupied Territories” to let the students see first hand what life is like for locals who live under the PA and Hamas.