Cornell Under Increased Scrutiny Because of Anti-Israel Summer Program
“Given the trend on campus of increasingly aggressive anti-Israel activism, it is not totally surprising that the website for a Cornell-related program was used to push political propaganda.”
It’s stunning that this is even happening. Professor Jacobson is quoted in the article.
The College Fix reports:
Cornell-related summer program’s anti-Israel rhetoric draws scrutiny
Cornell University, already grappling with backlash from recent antisemitic incidents, is under renewed scrutiny after a summer program held on campus featured an anti-Israel statement on its website.
The website, which was recently taken down, noted that the Philosophy of Law Undergraduate Summer School, or PLUSS, “unequivocally and irrevocably condemns the advancing, unchecked Zionist violence against Palestinians by the state of Israel.”
Calling Israel “a settler colonial state” created after World War II “against the wishes of the native Arab people,” the PLUSS website blamed Israel for “traumatiz[ing] generations of Palestinians” and “causing political instability and violence in South West Asia and North Africa.”
“Palestinians living in their homeland and scattered across the diaspora have been suffering for decades,” the program’s statement continued, “and will continue to do so until the settler colonial state of Israel is disbanded and condemned by members of the international community.”
PLUSS concluded its statement by arguing “anti-Zionism is not equivalent to nor consistent with anti-Semitism” and that “to stand with Palestine is to stand for justice.”
Bianca Waked, the Cornell PhD candidate who founded the program in 2019 and has since served as its director, has not responded to The College Fix’s inquiry regarding the statement and whether the website was shut down voluntarily or by Cornell administrators.
According to its website, PLUSS is “a week-long summer program which exposes students to rigorous philosophical work by under appreciated philosophers in addition to supporting students from under resourced institutions in their philosophy graduate school applications.”
Cornell Law School Professor William Jacobson told The College Fix in an email, “Given the trend on campus of increasingly aggressive anti-Israel activism, it is not totally surprising that the website for a Cornell-related program was used to push political propaganda.”
Jacobson, however, noted the issue at hand is not one of free expression, but rather “a matter of abuse of power over a resource that should be non-political and welcoming to all students.”
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Comments
Don’t be a schmuck.
They.are telling you that they have contempt for you.
Fine. Get on with life
One door closes, another door opens.
Just withdraw. You’ll be fine.
Btw you’re not a coward for walking away from this Qatar-funded Hamas Learning Center ; you’re just sane.
Since your downvoter didn’t explain his objections to your comment, I have to guess. I’m guessing he thinks students should stay and fight for reform.
Although I respect both positions, I’m almost certain reform is impossible. Cornell is too dependent on tainted funding, and has too many tenured leftists and leftist administrators.
Nice campus. Beautifully maintained. Some beautiful and well constructed buildings. Very pretty for six months of the year. Many decent employees. Some decent faculty.
It’s a shame.
Those who would encourage an 18-year-old to enroll “and then advocate for Israel” … don’t know what they are saying.
The 24/7/365 pressure is real and relentless
It would be like encouraging someone to jump into shark-infested waters, and then “advocate for vegetarianism.”
What if they want to become doctors?
Instead of telling people who aren’t leftists surrender our society to the left lets make sure to start nominating politicians who will throw the libertarian monster under the bus and get back to using government power?
From the “taken down” website:
——–
The Philosophy of Law Undergraduate Summer School 2022 is generously funded and sponsored by the following organizations:
American Philosophical Association
Cornell University’s Africana Studies and Research Center
Cornell Program on Ethics and Public Life
Cornell Law School
Cornell University’s Sage School of Philosophy
——–
PLUSS is funded by Cornell departments. So why was the website taken down?
Based on what I see and hear, this “go or stay” dilemma applies to more than the Jewish student population. Yes, the Jewish students are most directly affected, but a white, Christian heterosexual male student is also in the line of fire. The campus craziness, where every affinity group (deliberately created by Martha) hates every other “community” of “historically-marginalized” and oppressed people, and they all hate the white Christian heterosexual males, has become so embedded into the Cornell culture that it sucks the oxygen out of everyday living and studying. Is Cornell a lost cause? Many think so.