Cornell Course on Gaza Becomes Center of Controversy
This is going to become an issue at other schools as well. Teaching about this subject is going to be difficult.
The Jerusalem Post reports:
Cornell’s handling of a new course on Gaza could preview campus Israel battles under TrumpThree weeks after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack in Israel, a Jewish professor at Cornell University named Eric Cheyfitz offered a “teach-in” titled “Gaza, Settler Colonialism, and the Global War Against Indigenous People.”Just before the teach-in, the school’s Jewish provost called him and asked if he wanted extra security.Like other scholars of settler colonialism, Cheyfitz has long viewed Israel since its founding as a colonizer of indigenous Palestinian land, an argument that has gained increasing prominence in pro-Palestinian activism and that supporters of Israel reject. Now, Cheyfitz is turning that teach-in into a full-on course titled “Gaza, Indigeneity, Resistance,” which he’ll teach next term.And that same provost, who has since become Cornell’s interim president, is opposed to the idea.“I share your concerns and am extremely disappointed with the [school] curriculum committee’s decision to offer the course and the course’s apparent lack of openness and objectivity,” Michael Kotlikoff, the interim president, wrote on Thursday to another Jewish member of the faculty, Menachem Rosensaft, who had complained about Cheyfitz’s course.The apparent shift in Kotlikoff’s thinking comes after a year in which administrators have been inundated with legal and political pressure — including calls from donors, activists, and students — to protect Jewish and Israeli students. After the Hamas attacks, the start of the Gaza war, and the intense university protests around the issue, administrators have felt pressure to be more assertive in monitoring the campus environment around Israel.The classroom itself is shaping up as the next front in these clashes, particularly after the election. At Columbia University, prominent Palestinian-American professor Joseph Massad — who has faced scrutiny for appearing to paint Hamas in a positive light and calling images of the attack “awesome” — has also attracted criticism for a course he’s offering on the history of Zionism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY