Eric Cheyfitz is a professor at Cornell University with a very fancy title: Ernest I. White Professor of American Studies and Humane Letters. He’s in the Department of Literatures in English. (FKA The English Department, but that term was considered impolitic post-George Floyd so it was changed in 2021.)
Cheyfitz also is the leading anti-Zionist faculty member on campus, providing the intellectual foundation for the delegitimization of Israel. His faculty bio notes his other departmental affiliation and activism:
Eric Cheyfitz, the Ernest I. White Professor of American Studies and Humane Letters at Cornell University, is a faculty member of the American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program (AIISP)…. His scholarship and teaching focus on the force of settler colonialism on Indigenous peoples and their ongoing resistance in the form of alternative ways of thought and action to the predatory capitalism embedded in settler existence…. His current work focuses on the intersection of settler colonialism in Palestine and Native America… His scholarship is joined by his social action work both in Indian country and on behalf of Palestinian rights. (emphasis added)
So his scholarship and activism are intertwined according to his own faculty bio. That’s extremely common in the Humanities and Social Sciences, but they don’t normally say the quiet part out loud.
I haven’t written much about him before. I generally will only mention other Cornell faculty when they already have put themselves in the news. In fact, I think I’ve only written one mention of him back in 2016 when he was a signatory on a faculty petition opposing Canary Mission, a website that documents anti-Israel activists. Here’s how I described him at the time:
I think that is accurate. He’s an “as a Jew” anti-Israel activist, someone who exploits his Jewish identity in order to attack Israel and Israeli Jews.
The only other times we’ve covered him was when we excerpted news articles at other outlets about him as part of our Quick Take section:
That last linked article referenced a course Cheyfitz taught that was accused by Cornell Law adjunct professor Menachem Z. Rosensaft as being anti-Israel propaganda, not legitimate academics, Why I Object to Professor Eric Cheyfitz’s Course on “Gaza, Indigeneity, Resistance”:
When I first learned last month that Professor Eric Cheyfitz will be offering a course this coming spring entitled “Gaza, Indigeneity, Resistance,” I wrote to Interim President Mike Kotlikoff expressing my concern that it would “promote and inflame political divisiveness at Cornell and encourage antisemitic manifestations against Israeli and Jewish students.”My principal objection to this course is not that it has a decidedly and unabashedly pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel bent. What I find most problematic and unacceptable about it is that it is firmly rooted in shoddy, selectively and inflamingly biased pseudo-scholarship. The course description leaves no doubt that Cheyfitz intends to convey a narrative that casts Palestinians writ large as protagonists while Israelis and, by extension, Jews will be portrayed as villainous antagonists perpetrating “settler colonialism in Palestine/Israel” against a background of “plausible genocide.” Not only is such a narrative historically false — more importantly, it also constitutes antisemitism on steroids, and is likely to incite antisemitic rhetoric and worse against Israeli and Jewish students and faculty at Cornell….Those of us who reject Prof. Cheyfitz’s premises as inflammatory and dangerously misguided have an obligation to make our negative assessment of his Gaza course crystal clear. And I am grateful to Interim President Kotlikoff for expressing his disappointment with Prof. Cheyfitz’s course clearly and unambiguously in his reply to my letter to him.
The revelation that the President had (privately) criticized the course set off a fury among the usual faculty suspects at Cornell and elsewhere, who claimed that even privately expressing concern about Cheyfitz’s course was a violation of Cheyfitz’s academic freedom:
Kotlikoff’s remarks are an egregious threat to bedrock principles of academic freedom, as well as Cornell’s commitment to “any person, any study.” They raise the specter of administrative interference in faculty control over curricular decisions and course instruction. They suggest that, despite repeated disavowals, the leadership of the University not only intends to scrutinize the in-class activities of Cornell faculty but is actively doing so where it is deemed politically desirable. Ultimately, his comments and actions threaten to degrade the quality of education students receive at Cornell and the ability of the University to be a leading center of research and knowledge production.
That Cheyfitz has substantial faculty backers is important to the present controversy which landed Cheyfitz in the news.
On Friday, September 26, Jewish Insider published a story asserting that Cheyfitz was put on leave and is under internal Cornell investigation for allegedly seek to bar an Israeli student from his course, Jewish Cornell prof. suspended for denying Israeli student class entry (emphasis added):
Cornell University placed a professor with a history of anti-Israel activism on leave this week following his attempt to exclude an Israeli student from participating in his course on Gaza, Jewish Insider has learned.A Cornell spokesperson told JI that “a complaint was filed” against Eric Cheyfitz, a professor of American studies and humane letters, “who admitted to actions that violated federal civil rights laws and fell short of the university’s expectations for student interactions.”“Based on the findings of this investigation, the faculty member is not teaching this semester and significant disciplinary action is being recommended,” the spokesperson said. A source familiar with the course told JI that Cheyfitz informed the Israeli student that he was not welcome in the class. Cheyfitz did not respond to a request for comment from JI.Cheyfitz, who is Jewish, was previously involved with Cornell’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter and has served as a faculty advisor to the campus chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace. He began teaching the course, titled “Gaza, Indigeneity, Resistance,” last spring semester.The course description states that the class aims to teach students how to “analyze Indigenous perspectives on political, social, and environmental systems,” in the context of a “global war against an ongoing colonialism,” as well as explore themes such as “Indigeneity,” “Resistance,” “SettlerColonialism,” and “Genocide” in both “international law and Indigenous contexts.”Three weeks after the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks in Israel, Cheyfitz also offered a “teach-in” titled “Gaza, Settler Colonialism, and the Global War Against Indigenous People.”In May, Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff objected to the course. “Cornell courses should provoke thought and present multiple viewpoints, rather than transmit pre-formed views of a complex conflict, and I personally find the course description to represent a radical, factually inaccurate, and biased view of the formation of the State of Israel and the ongoing conflict,” Kotlikoff wrote in an email to faculty member Menachem Rosensaft after he raised concerns about the class.
I can’t tell if the course as to which Cheyfitz allegedly sought to bar the Israeli student is the same course that caused the controversy earlier this year.
I was asked by the NY Post to comment, and I focused on the need not only for an investigation by Cornell, but also called for an investigation by the Departments of Justice and Education.
Cornell law professor demands civil rights probe after Israeli student allegedly excluded from course on Gaza (emphasis added):
A prominent Cornell law professor is demanding a civil rights investigation into allegations that one of his colleagues attempted to exclude an Israeli student from a course on the Gaza Strip.Earlier this week, Cornell University confirmed that it suspended Eric Cheyfitz, a professor of American studies and humane letters, “who admitted to actions that violated federal civil rights laws and fell short of the university’s expectations for student interactions,” per a spokesperson for the Ivy League School.Specifically, Cheyfitz, who is Jewish and a well-known anti-Israel activist on campus, allegedly told an Israeli student that they were not welcome in his course on Gaza, prompting a complaint, according to a report from Jewish Insider.“If it is true that he removed a student from a course because the student was Israeli, that is an extremely serious civil rights violation,” William Jacobson, a law professor who runs the Equal Protection Project, a legal watchdog that targets colleges and universities for discrimination, told The Post.“No faculty member has the right to negatively treat a student based on national origin,” he added. “That’s a very clear, bright line. Everybody understands that it’s something you don’t do. So if he did it, it’s extremely serious.”So far, Jacobson is keeping his powder dry on filing a complaint until more information emerges. His watchdog group has gone after over 120 schools, including for national origin discrimination….Jacobson argued that Cheyfitz’s alleged discrimination warrants a more aggressive civil rights probe from the federal government.“I think in addition to whatever investigation and steps Cornell takes, the US Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division and the US Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, need to do an independent investigation,” he contended.“Given how much has gone on at Cornell after October 7, given the heavy criticisms of the administration, both the prior president and the current president, I think it will be beneficial to everybody to have an independent investigation.”Jacobson pointed to the lengthy history of the Justice Department conducting similar civil rights probes in the past.“This should not be swept under the rug,” he stressed. “This is something that I think is extremely serious and requires both a thorough investigation, but also an independent investigation, so that the community has confidence.” ….https://twitter.com/echeyfitz/status/1711038198271430943…. Cheyfitz has been very outspoken about his views on Israel. A day after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack that massacred 1,200 Israelis, he declared on social media that “Israel started this war.”
There’s no doubt in my mind that outside intervention by DOJ Civil Rights and DoEd OCR, is needed. I’ve reached no conclusion as to what should happen to Cheyfitz because all the facts are not known, we only know what had been reported, that he allegedly “admitted to actions that violated federal civil rights laws.”
This is not a free speech or academic freedom issue. He’s not being investigated and possibly punished for his viewpoints but for his possibly unlawful conduct towards a student.
Outide involvement is needed because Cornell will be under pressure to let Cheyfitz off easy because he has so many supporters among the vocal activist faculty and anti-Israel student groups.
The community is entitled to know whether the most prominent anti-Zionist faculty member violated the civil rights laws and Cornell policy by engaging in national origin discrimination against an Israeli student.
Sunlight is needed.
The Nation magazine is claiming this is anti-Palestinian bias and that Cheyfitz denies the allegation:
Dr. Eric Cheyfitz, a professor of American studies at Cornell, said the university has canceled the two classes he was set to teach this semester. It comes as the provost is recommending that he be suspended for two semesters without pay on the grounds that he violated federal antidiscrimination laws, The Nation has learned.Cheyfitz’s lawyer, Luna Droubi, said it’s the latest turn in months of investigations—carried out by different university bodies—into whether Cheyfitz, 84, told a graduate student last semester to drop a class he was teaching about Gaza because the student is Israeli. Cheyfitz, who is Jewish and whose daughter and grandchildren live in Israel, denies the allegation.
The article, however, includes this on-the-record statement from Cornell.
“The seriousness of this faculty member’s admitted actions while performing his teaching responsibilities warranted reassignment until Cornell can complete the disciplinary process,” wrote university spokesperson Rebecca Valli in a statement.
That’s a pretty strong statement, consistent with what Cornell told Jewish Insider and the NY Post. It’s extraordinary, actually, universities (and companies) routinely refuse to comment on employment matters, so for Cornell to go on record with the media as to Cheyfitz’s alleged admission likely means that Cornell thinks it has the goods on him.
The Nation outs the student’s identity despite his request for anonymity because of his fear for his safety – and not surprisingly the thrust of the article and Cheyfitz’s apparent defense is that the student is to blame for being disruptive. It also quotes an unnamed Cornell Faculty Senate member about the confidential investigation in a way favorable to Cheyfitz – which is exactly what I predicted that faculty would rally around him.
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