Former Mullah Regime Official Now Oberlin “Professor of Peace” Put On Indefinite Leave
Professor Mohammad Jafer Mahallati has been under fire for his alleged complicity in Iranian crimes against humanity and anti-Israel hostility on campus.
After years of protests calling on the school to fire him, Oberlin College has finally placed Professor Mohammad Jafer Mahallati on “indefinite administrative leave.”
The so-called “Professor of Peace” has a history of supporting Hamas and calling for the destruction of Israel.
Mahalatti’s ouster comes in the middle of a federal investigation of antisemitism at Oberlin based on charges brought by 1986 alumna Melissa Landa, whose story we covered here. Landa is president of the Oberlin Chapter of Alums for Campus Fairness, a non-profit group that fights antisemitism at the school. She filed her complaint against Oberlin with the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) back in 2019. On September 29, the OCR announced it is looking into her charges under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI).
The tenured professor’s removal also comes in the wake of a nationwide surge in campus antisemitism emboldened by the October 7 Hamas massacre.
Since then, the DOE has stepped up its response to allegations of antisemitism at universities nationwide.
On November 7th, it re-affirmed that Title VI protection will extend to campus antisemitism in the wake of the Israel-Hamas conflict. And on November 16th, it announced that Cooper Union, Cornell, Columbia, UPenn, and Wellesley would join Oberlin on the list of schools under Title VI investigation for antisemitism.
The OCR probe could cost Oberlin millions of dollars in federal funding.
Mahallati, who began teaching at Oberlin 2007, probably never should have been hired in the first place. He has long been under fire from all sides, not only for his alleged role in promoting the culture of antisemitism at the leftist liberal school, but also for his alleged complicity in crimes against humanity committed by Iran.
Those crimes date back to Mahallati’s earlier service as Iran’s former ambassador to the UN from 1987 to 1989. During that time, he allegedly advocated for the 1989 fatwa (decree) to assassinate the US and British writer Salman Rushdie. He was also accused of helping cover up the 1988 Iranian government murder of several thousand political prisoners.
Legal Insurrection reported on the controversy over Mahallati’s role in the Iranian regime crimes here:
- Iranian Dissidents Charge Oberlin College with Whitewashing Professor’s Alleged Complicity in Crimes Against Humanity
- Oberlin Prof Under Fire For Allegedly Supporting Fatwa Against Salman Rushdie Issues Denial
- Protest At Oberlin College Over Professor Accused Of Helping Cover Up Iranian Mass Executions While U.N. Ambassador
- Oberlin College’s ‘Professor of Peace’ Accused By Iranian Opposition of Covering Up Regime Crimes Against Humanity (Update: Prof. Responds)
The Alliance Against Islamic Regime of Iran Apologists (AAIRIA) organization, an advocacy group for families of the massacre victims, hailed Mahallati’s administrative leave as “a pivotal development in their campaign” for his removal:
It was also during his term at the U.N. in 1989 that Mahallati praised the first Palestinian intifada — violence against innocent Israelis that began in December 1987 and that continued for five years — as “the heroic uprising of Palestinians.”
More recently, at Oberlin, Mahallati allegedly assigned anti-Israel readings to his students. In an interview with Fox News, Landa said that Mahallati told his students that Israel is an illegitimate apartheid state. He taught them to “glorify Hamas,” she said, and he called for the elimination of the Jewish State.
Mahallati’s checkered past also includes charges of alleged creepy sexual misconduct brought by one of his students while he was an adjunct professor at Columbia University in 1997. Those charges recently resurfaced, according to the NY Post, but their role, if any, in Mahallati’s removal has yet to be acknowledged by the school. In a statement to the Post, Oberlin College spokeswoman Andrea Simakis said, “We take all allegations of sexual harassment and abuse extremely seriously. … We would not hire a faculty member who we knew to have a history of sexual harassment of a student, colleague or staff member.” The Post says that “it is unclear exactly when the college learned of the 1990s claims against Mahallati.”
Simakis told Legal Insurrection that the 71-year-old professor was placed on leave on November 28th. She declined to comment on the reasons for the school’s decision, which remain unclear—though he certainly gave them plenty to choose from.
Professor Mahalatti did not respond to a request for comment sent to his Oberlin email address.
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
A question that needs to be answered is how racists like this have survived in these institutions for so long.
Similarly, how the Dhimmi-crats who hire these reprobates, in the first place, don’t come under fairly deserved criticism and scrutiny for these indefensible hiring decisions.
What’s entertaining is seeing the Democrat left being forced to fire these professors, suspend these administrators, arrest these students, and so on, despite the fact that they clearly don’t want to, and despite all the ass-coverage they get from the MSM.
They don’t just survive, they thrive
They don’t just thrive, they rise to the top like cream.
Deport him to Iran.
Is there a trebuchet big enough to fling his terrorism supporting carcass back to the mullahs?
Molester of Piece.
I guess they couldn’t find a cartel head that was willing to be “Professor of Peace” so they hired a terrorist sympathizer, if not actual Muslim Brotherhood leader to be such.
Islamofascist is “professor of peace” ??
Oberlin winning olympic medal for mental gymnastics.
I doubt that Oberlin suddenly saw the light on this antisemite. Rather than a moral awakening, Oberlin saw the risk of losing federal dollars based on the Title IX investigation.
Don’t be surprised that when you lie down with dogs you get up with fleas. Invite an Islamist into your home and watch it quickly become a hate filled prison.