tenured: icc guide to faculty on campus and supporting israel

8/12/2019 Tenured: ICC Guide to Faculty on Campus and Supporting Israel

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Defining the

Role of Faculty

in Supporting

Israel on Campus

TENUREDOR TENUOUS:

Published by the Israel on Campus Coalition and

the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise

Prepared by

Mitchell G. Bard, Ph.D.


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TENURED OR TENUOUS:

Defining the Role of Faculty

in Supporting Israel on Campus

Prepared by:Mitchell G. Bard, Ph.D.Chair, Faculty Task ForceIsrael on Campus CoalitionExecutive Director

American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise (AICE)

Research Assistants:

Eric BuksteinIsrael Leadership Fellow

Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life

Avi HeinAmerican-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise (AICE)


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Israel on Campus Coalition 3

May 2004

Dear Colleagues,

On behalf of the nearly thirty member organizations of the Israel on Campus Coalition (ICC), we are pleased to

present this resource guide, Tenured or Tenuous, for use by your organization and constituencies. The guide is

intended to provide background, context and factual materials for student activists, faculty, campus professionals

and the community. Further, the resource guide offers a snapshot of current community and faculty driven

initiatives that may be valuable for different audiences.

In 2003 the ICC created a taskforce to investigate the faculty issue, co-chaired by Dr. Mitchell Bard of the American-

Israeli Cooperative Enterprise and the late Jeffrey Ross of the Anti-Defamation League. The ICC identified the faculty

issue as one of three priority areas (along with Israel study and travel and new student engagement) to advance and

raise on the community agenda, while at the same time recognizing our own limitations as representatives of

student campus organizations in actually resolving the problem. The taskforce, under Dr. Bards leadership, has

consulted with academic experts and professionals from the American Jewish Committee, the Jewish Council for

Public Affairs, the Anti-Defamation League and other organizations and has demonstrated the need for serious

discussion about the issues raised within this resource guide.

This publication raises disturbing issues relating to the state of Israel studies, the prevalence of anti-Israel faculty, the

relative dearth of pro-Israel scholars on campus, and the resulting impact on education about Israel and the campus

environment. We believe the concerns raised here require careful consideration by the Jewish community, working

cooperatively and strategically, in a way that is proactive and can reclaim Israel scholarship. In this regard, the

resource guide provides tangible suggestions for how faculty can support pro-Israel students and proposals for

proactive initiatives aimed at promoting pro-Israel scholarship on campus. Tenured or Tenuous also seeks to inform

discussion among the disparate stakeholders for this issue, which have yet to find a common approach or vehicle to

address many of the concerns raised herein.

The resource guide is divided into nine sections which include historical and definitional information, case studies,

current faculty and community initiatives, and various proposals for proactively meeting this challenge. While the

ICC is not endorsing any one specific organizational approach, we do find merit in offering readers a concise

summary of the activities and approaches of some of our members and the community at large, so that we can

encourage nationwide matchmaking between resources and needs.

We recognize that meeting this challenge will require ongoing communication and coordination. We are hopeful

that this guide will be a useful starting point, subject to future updates and alerts, facilitated by regular ICC

communications and web site resources.

We look forward to hearing your feedback on this ICC publication and how we can best work together on this and

other issues.

Sincerely,

Lisa B. Eisen Wayne L. Firestone

Steering Committee Chair Director


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4 Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS

About the Israel on Campus Coalition and

the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

Israel on Campus Coalition Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

I. Introduction: The Problem of FacultyBy Dr. Mitchell G. Bard, Executive Director, American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise

Chair, ICC Faculty Task Force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

II. The Dynamics of the Campus Culture

By Professor Jonathan Adelman, University of Denver. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

III. Background on Middle Eastern Studies Departments

By Marla Braverman, Editorial staff, Azure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

IV. Background on First Amendment Issues. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

V. Case Studies of Problems and Responses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

VI. Working With Your University Administration.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

VII. Community Programs & Strategies

Israel Scholar Development Fund (ISDF), American-IsraeliCooperative Enterprise (AICE) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

The Bina Intiative, The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24

College Presidents' Petition, American Jewish Committee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25

The Initiative for Israel on Illinois Campuses (IIIC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26

Reforming Title VI of the Higher Education Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26

VIII. Faculty Driven Initiatives

The Israel Studies Project at the Graduate Center of CUNY/AmericanAcademic Association for Israel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28

Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29

International Academic Friends of Israel (IAFI) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29

Campus Watch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30

Hillel Faculty E-mail Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30

Center for Excellence in Middle Eastern Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31


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Table of Contents 5

Brandeis University Summer Institute for Israel Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31

IX. The Role of Faculty in Israel Advocacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32

X. Building Israel Scholarship on Campus

By Dr. Mitchell G. Bard

Maintaining Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34

Strategic Placement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34

National/Regional Approaches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35

Proposals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35

Endowed Chairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35Scholar Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36

Teacher Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36

Visiting Scholars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37

Scholars as Mentors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38

Appendices

Jewish Faculty Associations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39

Israel Studies Centers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39

Endowed Chairs in Israel Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39

Endowed Chairs in Jewish Related Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39

Departments of Jewish Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39

Departments of Holocaust Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40

Fellowship Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43

Other Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43

Israels Biggest Threat On Campus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44By Gary Rosenblatt, Editor and Publisher of The Jewish Week


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6 ICC and AICE

ISRAEL ON CAMPUS COALITION

The Israel on Campus Coalition (ICC) is a partnership of the Charles and Lynn SchustermanFamily Foundation and Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, in cooperation with anetwork of organizations committed to promoting Israel education and advocacy on campus.The nearly thirty organizations currently participating in the ICC are dedicated to workingcollaboratively to assist students in fostering support for Israel on the college campus.

For more information, contact the ICC:

Phone: (202) 449-6587E-mail: [email protected]

The American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise (AICE) is a leading content provider forstudents and organizations interested in Jewish history, culture, and politics and

offers training on how to use this information. AICE publishes:

a) The Jewish Virtual Library, a one-stop shop for answers to any question you mighthave about any subject from anti-Semitism to Zionism;

b) Myths and Facts: A Guide to the Arab-Israeli Conflict;c) One page fact sheets on major issues such as the Palestinian "right of return," the

Bush Plan, and the status of Jerusalem to arm students with background on currentevents;

d) On One Foot: a Middle East Guide for the Perplexed or How to Respond on Your Wayto Class,When Your Best Friend Joins an Anti-Israel Protest, a pocketsize, 75-pagebook providing three short responses to the 52 toughest issues students face alongwith a brief paragraph on the history of each issue.

For more information, contact AICE:

Dr. Mitchell Bard, Executive DirectorPhone: (301) 565-3918E-mail: [email protected]

AMERICAN-ISRAELI COOPERATIVE ENTERPRISE

www.israeloncampuscoalition.org

www.JewishVirtualLibrary.org


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Israel on Campus Coalition Members 7

ISRAEL ON CAMPUS COALITION MEMBERS

Aish HaTorah/Hasbara FellowshipsAlpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity and Foundation(AEPi)

American Israel Public Affairs Committee(AIPAC)

American Jewish Committee (AJC)

American Jewish Congress (AJCongress)

American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise(AICE)

Americans for Peace Now (APN)

Anti-Defamation League (ADL)

Charles and Lynn Schusterman FamilyFoundation

Committee for Accuracy in Middle EastReporting in America (CAMERA)

Conference of Presidents of Major AmericanJewish Organizations

The David Project*

Hamagshimim: The University ZionistMovement Sponsored by Hadassah

Hillel: The Foundation for JewishCampus Life

Israel Program Center

Israel University Consortium

Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA)

Jewish Heritage Programs (JHP)

Jewish National Fund (JNF)

KESHER/Union of American Hebrew

Congregations (UAHC)

KOACH/United Synagogue of ConservativeJudaism (USCJ)

Media Watch International

Stand With Us

Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations ofAmerica (OU)

United Jewish Communities (UJC)

USD/Hagshama of the World ZionistOrganization (WZO)

Zionist Organization of America (ZOA)

*Affiliate member

www.israeloncampuscoalition.org/aboutus/members


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8 Introduction:The Problem of Faculty

I. INTRODUCTION: THE PROBLEM OF FACULTY

The liberty of the scholar within the university to set forth hisconclusions, be they what they may, is conditioned by their being

conclusions gained by a scholar's method and held in a scholar's

spirit; that is to say, they must be the fruits of competent and patient

and sincere inquiry, and they should be set forth with dignity,

courtesy, and temperateness of language. The university teacher, in

giving instructions upon controversial matters, while he is under no

obligation to hide his own opinion...should, if he is fit in dealing with

such subjects, set forth justly...the divergent opinions of other

investigators...and he should, above all, remember that his business is

not to provide his students with ready-made conclusions, but to train

them to think for themselves, and to provide them access to those

materials which they need if they are to think intelligently.

1915 Declaration of Principles

American Association of University Professors

The plight of pro-Israel students on

college campuses has appropriately receivedincreasing attention in the last two years.Highly publicized incidents, such as the mobthat surrounded pro-Israel students at SanFrancisco State, the shouting down ofBenjamin Netanyahu at Concordia, andcheckpoints and guerrilla theater at schoolssuch as Georgetown and Berkeley havecreated the false impression that suchbehavior is the rule rather than the exceptionon college campuses.

For educators and the professionals whowork on campus, the greatest challenge isnot training students to respond to Israelscritics, but educating them about the historyand politics of the Middle East so they canbecome independent thinkers who love andunderstand Israel, warts and all. This

challenge is not being met because of the

absence of scholars who can imbue thisknowledge and because most of the facultyteaching about the Middle East today arehostile toward Israel.

According to an American Universitystudy, there are 125 Middle East studiesprograms in American institutions, and theDepartment of Education funds 14 MiddleEast centers and nearly 100 studentfellowships (at a cost of $4 million/year).Tens of millions more have been invested in

Middle East studies over the years, withvirtually none of the funding spent oncurricula development on Israel.

The detractors of Israel understand theimportance of the campus, and they haveheavily invested in endowed chairs andMiddle East studies centers that indoctrinate

By Dr. Mitchell G. Bard, Executive Director, AICE / Chair, ICC Faculty Task Force


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Introduction:The Problem of Faculty 9

students, influence debate on and offcampus, shape faculty departments (and, inturn, control hiring to freeze out pro-Israelscholars), define (often shoddy) scholarship inthe field, and establish reputations and/oruse academic affiliations as springboards toinfluence the wider political debate astalking heads on TV, as authors of op-eds,and as sources for journalists.

Here are a few examples of the problem:

1,500 academics signed a petition

warning of a possible impending crime ofhumanity: that Israel would expel largenumbers of Palestinians during the fog ofthe Iraq war.

More than 1,000 academics signed apetition written by the Faculty for Israeli-Palestinian Peace, which criticizes Israelssecurity fence and presence in the territoriesand calls for protecting accessibility toeducational institutions in the West Bankand Gaza Strip.The group also sponsors a

conference,An End to Occupation, A JustPeace in Israel-Palestineaimed atmobilizing the Academia worldwide topromote an end of the Israeli occupation.

Berkeley offered a course entitled, ThePolitics and Poetics of PalestinianResistance, which the instructor said wouldexplore how Israel systematically displaced,killed, and maimed millions of Palestinianpeople.

Swiss academic Tariq Ramadan, agrandson of Muslim Brotherhood founderHassan al-Banna, who was accused by FrenchJews of fomenting anti-Semitism, has beenhired to teach peace studies at Notre Dame.

A professor in Columbias Departmentof Middle East and Asian Languages and

Cultures gave a lecture in which he arguedthat Zionism is a European colonial systembased on racist principles with the goal oferadicating Palestine and that Zionists arethe new Nazis.

Columbia established the Edward Saidchair of Arab Studies, funded in part by theUnited Arab Emirates, and immediately hireda vocal critic of Israel.

At American University, ananthropology professor used a comic book asa text that is in the vein of Der Strmer.Another professor crossed out the wordIsrael on a students exam and wrote in themargin,Zionist entity. A third instructorhanded out maps of the Mideast withoutIsrael on them.

At one southern university, aphilosophy professor teaches a Humanitiescourse entitled,Living under Occupation.

At the University of Chicago, a doctoralstudent in the Middle East Studies programwas discouraged by faculty from studyingmilitant Islamic ideologies and told that thistopic was created by a sensationalist mediaand forwards Zionist interests.

The prevalence of outspoken anti-Israelprofessors and the paucity of pro-Israelscholars is the most insidious danger toIsraels standing on the campus as somefaculty remain for years on campus andshape the campus environment and the

minds of many students.

Scholars for Peace in the Middle East(SPME) succinctly summarized the reportedactivities of some faculty that concern us:

Fraudulently presentingmisinformation as fact.


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10 Introduction:The Problem of Faculty

Intentionally misleading students andabusing the position of authority that thedissemination of such false statementsrepresents.

Legitimizing the precedence ofpolitical goals and personal interests overstandards of truth, accuracy, and scholarship.

Diminishing the credibility ofscholarship and of academia to bothstudents and the general public.

Blurring any meaningful distinction

between opposition to specific Israeli policiesand anti-Semitism and, thus, contributing toanti-Semitism on campus.

Stifling scholarly debate and theexpression of differing opinions.

Anti-Israel teachings in the classroomcreate a hostile learning environment forstudents and place pro-Israel students, inparticular, under great pressure. Professorsmay try to impose their views on studentsand can coerce them by punishing those whodo not agree with them with lower grades orwithholding recommendations. Even ifprofessors do not go to such extremes,students may still be intimidated by the fearof retaliation.

The malignant teachings of anti-Israelscholars spreads like a cancerous growththroughout the academy by way ofpublications and conferences. Thus, forexample, the 2004 meeting of theAssociation of American Geographers offersa panel on ethnic geography that will featurethe presentation of a paper on The Non-Semitic Origins of Contemporary Jews. Theabstract explains:

Zionism (the settler colonialmovement designed to make Palestinethe site of a nation-state for world

Jewry by dispossessing and expellingthe Palestinian people), the State ofIsrael, and their supporters teach threecentral claims:(1) the Jews invented Zionism,(2) the Jews are a Semitic people, and(3) the State of Israel should and willremain an exclusively Jewish state....

The paper concludes thatcontemporary Jews essentiallyrepresent a hodgepodge collection ofnon-Semitic peoples (mostly of Slavo-Turkic origins) who (under the agencyof Zionism) claim a Semitic ancestryand history as a historical explanationand a moral justification for thebrutal conquest of a Semitic landand the horrible dispossession,expulsion, and impersonation of aSemitic people, the Palestinian Arabs(both Muslim and Christian).

The problem extends beyond theclassroom and academic forums. Facultycritical of Israel also tend to be extremelyvocal and active, while pro-Israel facultyusually are reluctant to participate incampus debate. This is certainly not true onall campuses, but it is the case on themajority. For a variety of reasons, includingintimidation, lack of knowledge, politicalcorrectness, and concern for their image onthe campus and in their fields, pro-Israel

faculty are hesitant to engage in public oreven private support for students or to takeon their colleagues. While some anti-Israelfaculty in subjects completely unrelated tothe Middle East will use their classrooms asforums for propaganda, such behavior bypro-Israel faculty is unheard of.


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Introduction:The Problem of Faculty 11

Though Jews comprise a significant shareof academic positions, very few are involvedin teaching about the Middle East, and someof those who do are unsympathetic to Israel.It is possible to point to positive experiencesin institutions that have, for example, strongvisiting scholar programs in which Israeliscan often have an exponential impact in ashort period of time on a particular campus.A handful of influential (Jewish and non-Jewish) U.S. scholars have also been activeand have often had an impact beyond theircampuses. Overall, however, a severe

shortage exists of scholars who are qualifiedto teach about Israel and who have anysympathy for their subject.

The Israel on Campus Coalition, as well asa separate task force of individuals withexperience in academia and working withstudents, are studying the problems withfaculty and proposing possible treatmentsfor what ails the academy. This is a long-termproject and one that is not meant to be apanacea. Certain aspects of the academic

structure and culture, such as the ingrainedanti-Israel bias in Middle East studiesdepartments, and the perception thatacademic freedom is a license to teachalmost anything about Israel, will be difficult,if not impossible, to reverse.

Rather than try to fight these endemicstructures, the best strategy is to providealternatives for educating students aboutIsrael. This requires a series of creativemeasures that may include creating

endowed chairs in Israel studies, creating afund to support graduate training in Israelstudies and related fields, training scholars

whose specialities may be in other fields butwho could be taught enough about MiddleEastern affairs to allow them to offer coursesthrough their departments, establishingprograms for visiting Israeli diplomats andother Israeli and American scholars to teachin local colleges, and creating a mentoringprogram whereby scholars establish longer-term relationships with multiple campusesand provide guidance and advocacy trainingin addition to teaching the fundamentalsabout Israel.

Jews understand the importance of theacademy, but they have focused on creatingchairs and centers of Jewish and Holocauststudies while neglecting Israel. Today,approximately 130 departments of Jewishstudies and another 60 in Holocaust studieshave been established. By comparison, onlyfour centers of Israeli studies currently exist.(A fifth was turned into a hostile Middle Eastcenter by anti-Israel faculty.) At least 60chairs in Jewish-related fields have been

endowed, while only five chairs (one for avisiting Israeli) have been specificallyestablished for Israel studies in the UnitedStates. (And one remains unfilled.) Seeappendices for more details.

If the pro-Israel community wants tochange the atmosphere on campus, educatestudents about Israel, and increase theprobability that the American public and itsfuture leaders are knowledgeable andsympathetic toward Israel, it is vital that the

issues described here be addressed. Israelsdetractors have had a big head start, so thereis no time to waste.


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12 The Dynamics of Campus Culture

II. THE DYNAMICS OF CAMPUS CULTURE

Understanding the dynamics of campusculture requires understanding first of all thedynamics of modern universities. ModernAmerican universities are:

Vast, highly complex institutions,including more than 3,000 majoruniversities and colleges that enroll morethan 14 million American students and500,000 foreign students.

Big businesses spending $300 billionon students and managing $80 billion ofendowments for the top ten universities.Fund raising is the top priority for universitypresidents, typically consuming 50% of theirtotal time.

Governed by complex codes ofconduct for more than 500,000 professorsand more than a million administrators andstaff.

Run by administrators, who spendonly a tiny portion of their day on issues such

as the Middle East, and prefer to alloweveryone their say, no matter how distastefuland harmful (free speech).

People often ask why politics on manycampuses seems often to be quite anti-Israel.While conditions vary dramatically fromcampus to campus, a number of factors arein play:

American universities have a longhistory of liberalism and leftism (currentlyanti-Israel) going back to the 1930s.

The majority of faculty memberstoday grew up in the 1960s and 1970s, aperiod of social activism against the war in

Vietnam and other social and politicalcauses.

Many faculty and students today aresharply critical of the United States and itsclose allies such as Israel.

Faculty live in an environment(guaranteed tenured jobs, enclosedcampuses, autonomy and self-governance)quite removed from the harsh realities of the

Middle East. Faculty and students have strong

sympathy for the perceived underdog andvictims (Palestinians) rather than a militarypower (Israel), which is often seen asrepresenting brutality.

Faculty and students have greatersympathy for Third World "oppressed"countries that live in dire poverty(Palestinians) than for successful First Worldcountries (Israel).

In addition, there are several structuralfactors:

Students in college are often goingthrough a phase of rebellion against parentaland societal authority, which can berepresented by countries like Israel and theUnited States.

Middle East study centers and courses

on the region are dominated by MiddleEasterners and others typically sympatheticto the Palestinian cause.

The level of knowledge aboutinternational affairs and the Middle Eastamong students and faculty is abysmally low,making it easier to ignore such factors as the

By Professor Jonathan Adelman, University of Denver


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The Dynamics of Campus Culture 13

2000 Camp David peace offer and theoppression of women and minoritiescommon in the Middle East.

Middle Eastern funding for speakers,centers and activities often is quitesignificant in the anti-Israel movement.

There is some good news.The Israel onCampus Coalition and its constituent parts(such as AIPAC, Aish HaTorah, Hillel, etc.) aremaking progress in reaching and educating

large numbers of students increasinglyinvolved in pro-Israel activity. Furthermore,there is increasing evidence that the manystudent leaders from a variety of groups(e.g. student government, campusnewspapers) are actually pro-Israel. Theremay indeed even be a majority of studentson campus that support Israel. But, it isimportant for us to understand thecomplexities of campus life and act in aneffective manner to make sure that bothsides are heard in this vital issue.


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14 Background on Middle Eastern Studies Departments

III. BACKGROUND ON MIDDLE EASTERN STUDIES

DEPARTMENTS

The real story behind the field of MiddleEastern studies is its consistent failure overthe past three decades to account for themost significant events in the region.Instead, scholars painted a romantic pictureof a region perennially on the verge ofreform and prosperity. As a result, they havefailed to explain the many catastrophicdevelopments which have plagued theMiddle East, such as the Egyptian-Syrian

invasion of Israel in 1973; the Lebanese civilwar that broke out in 1975; the Iranianrevolution in 1978; the Iran-Iraq war of the1980s; Iraqs invasion of Kuwait in 1990; theexplosion of Palestinian violence since 2000;and the rise of Osama Bin Laden and thetragic events of 2001....

[In his book, Ivory Towers on Sand: TheFailure of Middle Eastern Studies in America,Martin] Kramer traces the roots of theproblem to the intrusion of politics into

scholarly research in the wake of the 1967 SixDay War. Until then, most scholars hadpromoted an optimistic theory ofdevelopment for the Middle East, which sawpolitical, social, and economic reform justaround the corner. As Roger Owen, head ofMiddle Eastern studies at Harvard, explainedin 1990: "It was difficult not to becomeexcited by the Nasser project, to see Egyptthrough his eyes, to write about it using thesame highly charged vocabulary of planningand education and social justice for all."

Middle East scholars were thus baffled by theArab refusal, in the months following Israel'sdramatic victory, to admit defeat, sign apeace treaty, and begin the process of selfappraisal essential for progress. Instead ofgrappling with the issues raised by the Arabs'behavior, many scholars simply found it

easier to place blame for the impasse onIsrael.

Kramer points to George Hourani's 1968MESA [Middle Eastern Studies Association]presidential address as the sounding bell forthis new, anti-Israel era in Middle Easternstudies: In his address, entitled Palestine as aProblem of Ethics, Hourani asserted thatthe Arabs claim to a state [in Palestine] isbased on indisputable facts, while the

claims of the Jews to live in and have a statein a part of Palestine present a seriousethical problem. Hourani dismissed Jewishhistorical and religious claims to the land ofIsrael, and pronounced the early Zionistsettlement wholly immoral. Not even theflight of Jews from Nazi tyranny made theZionist immigration legitimate, since itcannot be assumed that if Palestine had notbeen available all other gates out of centralEurope would have been closed to these

individuals. The Jews would have donebetter, Hourani concludes, had they realizedthe suffering that the Zionist enterprisewould inevitably bring in its wake, andrelinquished their desire for statehood.

Like everyone else, Middle East scholarshad their own political preferences. After1967, however, they felt free to use theacademic rostrum to advance them.Hourani's speech, Kramer contends, thusopened the door to a kind of political

partisanship that has remained endemic toMiddle Eastern studies to this day.

It did not take long for the Arab-Israeliconflict to become the hottest subject inMiddle Eastern studies, as well as the favoritetopic of most academic publicationsconcerned with that part of the world.

By Marla Braverman,The Arabist Predicament,Azure 15 (Summer 2003), pp. 176-184.


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Background on Middle Eastern Studies Departments 15

Kramer cites a survey of major articles andbooks on the history of the Middle Eastpublished between 1962 and 1985, showingthat more than a third dealt with someaspect of the Arab-Israeli conflict adisproportionate amount of attention paidto a single issue in a region riddled withwars, religious upheaval, and political andsocial instability. This attention, Kramerconcludes, came at the expense of othercountries and subjects, many of whichsuffered from relative neglect. But in theatmosphere of the 1970s, it became

acceptable to teach one's politicalcommitments, and courses on the Arab-Israeli conflict could always be justified bycomparatively large enrollments. As Israelbegan to play a growing role in the rhetoricof Arab politics, so too did academicpreoccupation with the Jewish state increase.

Anti-Israel sentiment became thespringboard for a dramatic expansion ofscholars political activism in 1978, whenEdward Said, a professor of English literature

at Columbia University, publishedOrientalism, a sweeping critique of the waysin which Western civilization related to theArab world....With Orientalism, then, Saidsituated the Palestinians in a much widercontext:They were now just the latestvictims of a systematic prejudice againstArabs and Islam in general, employed by theWest to justify its domination of the East. AsSaid explained,Every European, in what hecould say about the Orient, was a racist, an

imperialist, and almost totally ethnocentric.Orientalism signaled a major shift in the

political orientation of Middle Easternscholarship. Now the enemy was not justIsrael, but much of Western civilization, inparticular its political, scholarly, and literaryelites. Frustrated by the region's failure to

conform to Western models of political,social, and economic development, manyMiddle East scholars were all too happy toaccept Saids new paradigm.Middle Easternstudies, Kramer writes,came under a take-no-prisoners assault, which rejected the ideaof objective standards, disguised the vice ofpoliticization as a virtue of commitment, andreplaced proficiency with ideology.Orientalism made it acceptable for scholarsto spell out their own politicalcommitments as a preface to anything theywrote or did, and enshrined an acceptable

hierarchy of political commitments, withPalestine at the top, followed by the Arabnation and the Islamic world.But above all,Kramer believes that Said effectivelydelegitimized Western scholarship on theEast, arguing that all of its practitionerswere, consciously or not, tainted by prejudiceand the desire to keep the Arab peoples in astate of submission.

The rise of the Islamic fundamentalistregime in Iran and the outbreak of religious

civil war in Lebanon turned scholarsattention increasingly toward Islam itself inthe late 1970s. Yet instead of addressing whatappeared to many Westerners to be agathering storm, scholars attempted toreinterpret the region in terms morepalatable to Western tastes.

As for Arab violence, American academicswere quick to point out that focusing on itwould only reinforce stereotypes. Like anymodern, democratic country, the Arab states

had, according to [Georgetown professorJohn] Esposito, already reached theconclusion that violence wascounterproductive, and would no doubtrecede in the years ahead.Thus in the 1990s,most scholars of the Middle East refused toadmit the existence of let alone devote


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16 Background on Middle Eastern Studies Departments

their attention to those Islamicfundamentalist groups that posed the

greatest threat to the United States....

Most telling, however, is the reluctance ofmost MESA scholars to change their tune,regardless of developments in the region.Thus after the first World Trade Centerbombing in 1993, Columbia University historyprofessor Richard Bulliet organized aconference under the auspices of theColumbia University Middle East Institute not to explain the appearance of terrorism inNew York, but instead to confront a new

anti-Semitism against Muslims, fueled by

the propensities of the non-elite newsmedia to over-publicize, hype, and sell

hostility to Islam.When this is juxtaposedwith Joel Beinins response to the 2001 WorldTrade Center attacks, in which he denouncedthe self-appointed guardians of patrioticrectitude who perpetrate hate crimesagainst Muslims and Arabs, one is struck bythe fields propensity to repeat its ownerrors....

Excerpted from a review of MartinKramers book, Ivory Towers on Sand:TheFailure of Middle Eastern Studies in America,

Azure (Summer 2003).


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Background on First Amendment Issues 17

IV. BACKGROUND ON FIRST AMENDMENT ISSUES

One of the most difficult and frustratingaspects of confronting the problem of anti-Israel behavior by faculty is the umbrellamost universities give to their staff under therubric of academic freedom. While mostuniversities would not tolerate facultyteaching utter nonsense in other fields forexample, a physics professor telling studentsthat the earth is flat; they are unwilling totake action against professors who teachequally absurd concepts relating to Israel.Universities also seem to have adopted a zerotolerance approach to faculty attacks on

every minority group except Jews.

The Anti-Defamation League hassummarized these free speech issues inFighting Back A Handbook for Respondingto Anti-Israel Rallies on College and UniversityCampuses:

Faculty speech is almost always protectedfrom discipline by principles of academicfreedom.The ideal of academic freedomdemands that faculty members on universitycampuses be free to develop and espouseoriginal and controversial ideas. Universitiesthat have attempted to silence or removefaculty members for unpopular speech havefaced significant pressure from the academiccommunity not to do so. For these reasons,most universities are reluctant to regulatethe speech of their professors both in andout of the classroom.

The principle of academic freedom andthe rules set forth in a student code ofconduct apply with equal force to student orfaculty speech at political protest rallies.Speech outside the legitimate scope of therally that is profane, threatening, anincitement to violence, or directedspecifically against an individual studentbased on his race, color, nationality, orreligion can be disciplined by the university.

However, speech within the scope of the rallyand directed to a general audience is notpunishable.

If the university decides not to takeaction to enforce its code against a studentor faculty member for hateful speech, somelegal precedent does exist for suing theuniversity for a breach of contract when itrefuses. More generally, colleges anduniversities are required to provide alearning environment that is safe and freefrom hostility for all students. A school

violates its duty to prevent a hostileenvironment when

a hostile environment exists;

the school has notice of the problem;and

it fails to respond adequately toremedy the situation.

Federal law prohibits federally-fundedschools from allowing hostile environments

to persist on campus that harass studentsbased on their race, color, or national origin.Religion (as well as sexual orientation) is notincluded in the groups protected under thefederal law, although some states extend thisprotection to religion.

Victims of such an environment can suefor injunctive relief that is, to force theuniversity to take action or for monetarydamages.

While the law does provide for somerecourse in certain instances where abuse isclear, the reality is that the cloak of academicfreedom is today used to frustrate mostefforts to hold faculty accountable foradhering to any principles of fairness orscholarly integrity. Supporters of Israelshould not seek to censor Israels detractors


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18 Background on First Amendment Issues

or restrict debate, but they should expectfaculty to be held to the same standards ofscholarship when teaching about the MiddleEast that are applied in all other fields.

Fighting Back A Handbook for Respondingto Anti-Israel Rallies on College and UniversityCampuses can be downloaded atwww.adl.org/education/fighting-back-final.pdf.


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Case Studies of Problems and Responses 19

BERKELEY

In 2002, a Berkeley graduate student inthe English department offered a courseentitled,The Politics and Poetics ofPalestinian Resistance, which generated afirestorm of controversy. UC BerkeleyChancellor Robert Berdahl declared a failureof oversight by the English Department inreviewing course descriptions and said theclass would be monitored to ensure that itdoes not exclude or discourage qualified

students from participating. It is imperativethat our classrooms be free of indoctrination indoctrination is not education. Classroomsmust be places in which an openenvironment prevails and where studentsare free to express their views, he said.

The Berkeley Academic Senate, acting

first through its Committee on Courses andsubsequently through its Divisional Council,

reviewed the course section description forThe Politics and Poetics of PalestinianResistance and determined that it met thefacultys pedagogical standards.

The English Department assumedresponsibility for regular observation andmentoring of the graduate studentinstructor leading the course. Thedepartment chair agreed to attend the firstclass and advise students enrolled in thesection of their right to free expression and

to have their work evaluated free ofdiscrimination or harassment. A facultyobserver was also assigned to attend allsessions of the course to ensure opendiscussion, and students were to be asked toevaluate the course and instructor before thesemester midpoint, leaving sufficient time

V. CASE STUDIES OF PROBLEMS AND RESPONSES

Despite the obstacles created by issues of free speech and academic freedom, it is sometimes

possible to bring about changes in the classroom. Often the best approach is a quiet one, butoccasions may require an escalation of pressure to obtain results. While there are no guaranteesof success, students can take the following steps in response to problems with faculty:

Document everything.Take notes on what a professor says and, if possible, tape lectures.

Bring your concerns to the professor. It is possible that making a professor aware ofinaccuracies or insensitivities may be enough to bring about change.

If the professor does not respond, it may be desirable to discuss concerns with thedepartment chair and/or school dean.

Contact the Israel on Campus Coalition Faculty Task Force for guidance

([email protected]).

Inform the director of Hillel and/or other Jewish agency professionals and let thempursue the matter through the appropriate university channels.

Publicize the problem. No university wants bad publicity and embarrassment in thepress, and articles criticizing the behavior of a university can sometimes eitherencourage the university to take action on its own or provoke members of thecommunity and alumni to pressure the administration to address the issue.


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20 Case Studies of Problems and Responses

for any necessary adjustments to be made.

Changes were also made to the originalcourse section description. In particular, thestatement Conservative thinkers areencouraged to seek other sections wasdeleted. Nevertheless, the course was stillallowed to be taught by an instructor whodescribed the course as examining Thebrutal Israeli military occupation ofPalestine, an occupation that has beenongoing since 1948, has systematicallydisplaced, killed, and maimed millions ofPalestinian people.

UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN

A Palestinian graduate student inphilosophy at the University of Wisconsin,Madison was teaching an introductoryPhilosophy class entitled, ContemporaryMoral Issues. The course description said six

weeks would be spent on the treatment ofthe Palestinians. Questions to be examinedincluded: Was it ethical for Israel to go towar? Is the occupation morally justified? Isthe creation of Israel morally just? Thesyllabus did not include any readings thatmight represent a different point of viewfrom that of the instructor.

To further his cause, the graduatestudent invited two Jewish graduatestudents, who were active in a left-wing

Israel group, to teach two days of the class.These graduate students were not trained inPhilosophy, but in Art and History. Bothaccepted the invitation but were deeplyupset with the experience after theinstructor told them he would not stand forthem teach his students any Zionistapologetics.The Jewish students asked to

speak with faculty in the department and tohave the class reviewed and the teachermonitored.

After several interventions by Hillel staffwith a variety of faculty, a senior philosophyprofessor was assigned to monitor the classby sitting in on lectures and reviewing thesyllabus and reading materials.

UNIVERSITY OF IOWA

At the University of Iowa, there is neithera Middle East Studies nor a Jewish Studiesdepartment. Yet there are courses on MiddleEast issues in numerous departments,including political science, history, geography,and global studies. One of these courses,Understanding the Middle East, has beencoordinated for the past three or four yearsby a geography professor, cross-listed amongseveral departments, and taught mostly by a

succession of guest lecturers. The professorhas a longstanding interest in the region, hasspent time in Jordan and (to a much smallerextent) Israel, and is well known in the localcommunity as an activist in favor ofreconciliation. People in the pro-Israelcommunity have accused him of being pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli, although he doesnot see himself that way.

The University of Iowa Hillel Director aformer faculty member in the political

science department was invited by theinstructor of Understanding the MiddleEast to speak to the class when the coursewas first offered. In the past three years, theyhave developed a routine whereby the HillelDirector speaks twice early in thesemester, where he focuses on basic tenets ofJudaism, a topic the students invariably


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Case Studies of Problems and Responses 21

know nothing of, and then later in thesemester, when he discusses the politics ofthe conflict.

The effect of this arrangement is twofold:first, because the course does not beginaddressing the conflict until the HillelDirector (and other specialists) have spokenon background topics, the students are betterprepared to understand the context againstwhich the conflict has developed; second, thestudents and instructors see that supporters

of Israel are not necessarily knee-jerkpolitical activists but are often well-informedand thoughtful.To the extent that thestudents enter the course expecting to learnwhy Israel is the regional bully andoppressor, these accomplishments are verysignificant. And the goodwill generated bythis level of cooperation gives Hillelcredibility on campus, even when Jewishstudents take unpopular or controversialpolitical positions.


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22 Working With Your Universitys Administration

VI. WORKING WITH YOUR

UNIVERSITYS ADMINISTRATION

Excerpted from The Handbook for Pro-Israel Activists,compiled by theJewish Community Relations Council of San Francisco.

Background

Cultivating relationships with yourschools administration is stronglyencouraged and should not be overlooked.Establishing relationships with deans, facultyand even the president of the university inquiet times is extremely valuable in times oftension on campus.

Relationships with whom?

University administrators are extremelybusy people. Yet, you are fully a part of theconstituency they serve and oversee.Consequently, administrators are willing tomeet and work with students. At the sametime, any meetings should be coordinatedwith Hillel and should include representativeleadership rather than individuals comingone by one.

Some of the administrators you shouldtry to get to know are:

President of the university

Provost

Vice-Provosts for Student Affairs andCampus Relations

Dean of students

Department chairs (particularly ofMiddle East studies, Jewish studiesand/or Religious studies, History,Political Science, Law, Philosophy)

Various directors and advisors ofstudent institutions such as student

government, director of the studentcenter, director of room scheduling,and the editor of the studentnewspaper

Campus police chief

Dont wait for a crisis to establishthese relationships!

Establishing a relationship with anadministrator during a crisis is not nearly asbeneficial as already having such arelationship developed in times of quiet. Theestablishment of trust is essential to a goodrelationship with the administration; youneed to be seen as someone who is reliable,trustworthy and rational.

In times of crisis:

The administration at all levels can andshould play a role in harboring andmaintaining a positive atmosphere oncampus. But, sometimes various campusgroups prefer to shake things up as ameans of bringing attention to their cause.A crisis can be created if an extremistspeaker is invited to campus, or if a series ofanti-Israel or anti-Jewish events are planned.

An example:

Several years ago at San Francisco State

University, the Student Union Governing

Board allocated funds for the creation of a

permanent Malcolm X mural, to be placed on

the outside edifice at a location known as the


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24 Community Programs and Strategies

VII. COMMUNITY PROGRAMS AND STRATEGIES

Israel Scholar Development Fund (ISDF) American-Israeli CooperativeEnterprise (AICE)

To address the critical need to developnew scholars and place established Israelscholars on campus, AICE has created the

Israel Scholar Development Fund. This fundwill:

Identify U.S. and Israeli scholars whocould be placed in visiting professorships.

Offer universities matching funds tohire a visiting scholar.

Brief scholars on issues, provide themmedia training, and encourage them toeducate the public through public lecturesand media appearances.

Identify students who want tobecome Israel/Middle East scholars and offerthem scholarships for graduate study.

Develop a strategic plan forpromoting Israel studies that would involveidentifying institutions that could andshould have pro-Israel scholars.

Advise philanthropists on wherepositions should be created to havethe greatest impact, and how to do itso their intentions are not frustrated(e.g., an anti-Israel scholar is choseninstead of a pro-Israel one).

For more information, please contactDr. Mitchell Bard, AICE Executive Director([email protected]).

Bina InitiativeThe University of North Carolina, ChapelHill

The Bina Initiative: Exploring Israel is anopportunity for Jewish faculty and studentsat the University of North Carolina at Chapel

Hill to think deeply about Israel and issuesrelating to Israel on campus. The goal of thisprogram is to create a close-knit group ofstudents and faculty with a sophisticatedunderstanding of how they feel about Israeland how Israel factors into their Jewishidentities.

The Bina Initiative fosters an ongoing,open dialogue in a safe and pluralisticenvironment.

Participants are immersed in an

intensive 11-session education and discussionforum about the many facets of Israel.Discussion topics include: politics, culture,history, current events and religion.

The sessions included: guest speakers,films, articles, short stories, music, poetry andself-reflection.

Participants challenge theirassumptions, defining and refining theirrelationship with Israel.

All participants are equal, learningfrom and teaching one another.

The Bina Initiative was also developedto create close interactions between studentsand faculty, giving both groups a chance to

Problems with faculty are not new, but they have been largely neglected, as reflected by thepaucity of programs we could identify. A handful of communities and organizations have madeefforts to address problems at local campuses in a systematic way. Here are a few examples:


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Community Programs and Strategies 25

talk with one another and developrelationships.

For more information, please contactOr Mars, North Carolina Hillel ExecutiveDirector ([email protected]).

College Presidents PetitionThe American Jewish Committee

Hundreds of college and universitypresidents across the country are signingonto a statement decrying intimidation oncampuses. The statement was initiated byseveral current and former college presidentsin the wake of a series of incidents oncampuses in which Jewish students weretargeted.

The original letter distributed topresidents came from James O. Freedman,former president of Dartmouth College; H.Patrick Swygert, president of Howard

University; Stephen Joel Trachtenberg,president of George Washington University;Frank H.T. Rhodes, president emeritus ofCornell University;Theodore M. Hesburgh,president emeritus of the University of NotreDame; and Jehuda Reinharz, president ofBrandeis University.

The American Jewish Committee isfacilitating distribution of the letter, whichsays:

For more information, please contactKenneth Bandler ([email protected]).

In the current period of worldwide politicalturmoil that threatens to damage one of ourcountrys greatest treasures colleges anduniversities we commit ourselves to academicintegrity in two ways. We will maintainacademic standards in the classroom and wewill sustain an intimidation-free campus. Thesetwo concepts are at the core of our profession.

Our classrooms will be open to all students,and classroom discussions must be based onsound ideas. Our campus debates will beconducted without threats, taunts, orintimidation.We will take appropriate steps to

insure these standards. In doing so, we upholdthe best of American democratic principles.

We are concerned that recent examples ofclassroom and on-campus debate have crossedthe line into intimidation and hatred, neither ofwhich have any place on university campuses.

In the past few months, students who areJewish or supporters of Israels right to exist Zionists have received death threats andthreats of violence. Property connected to Jewish

organizations has been defaced or destroyed.Posters and websites displaying libelousinformation or images have been widelycirculated, creating an atmosphere ofintimidation.

These practices and others, directed againstany person, group or cause, will not be toleratedon campuses. All instances will be investigatedand acted upon so that the campus will remaindevoted to ideas based on rationalconsideration.

We call on the American public and allmembers of the academic community to join us.


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26 Community Programs and Strategies

The Initiative for Israel on

Illinois Campuses (IIIC)

This initiative to work with universityadministrators and faculty in Illinois is apartnership of the Jewish CommunityRelations Council of the Jewish United Fundof Metropolitan Chicago and the Hillels ofIllinois. The IIIC has done the following withuniversity faculty:

Building on existing relationships, key

individual faculty members alreadydemonstrating a willingness to be activewere urged to become more involved inproviding support and resources for theactivities of the IIIC. They were also urged tohelp discover and motivate other like-mindedfaculty.

In summer 2003, the IIIC convened ameeting of leading faculty activists fromarea campuses to discuss and strategizetogether. They expressed the desire to be

networked togetherto be able to drawupon faculty strengths available on othercampuses.They also discussed resourcesthat the community could provide to facultymembers.

The IIIC organized a day-longconference to advance the aforementionedgoals.

The IIIC is currently exploring afaculty mission to Israel. They are hoping

that lead faculty members on campus willidentify junior members to whom they willoffer themselves as a mentor in an attemptto move that individual into their own realmof activism.

For more information, please contactSarah Friedman, Initiative for Israel on IllinoisCampuses Coordinator ([email protected]).

Reforming Title VI

of the Higher Education Act

Title VI of the Higher Education Act(http://www.ed.gov/policy/highered/leg/hea98/sec601.html), originally passed in 1958,provides support for programs at collegesand universities which work to advanceknowledge of world regions, encourage thestudy of foreign language, and trainAmericans to have the internationalexpertise and understanding to fulfill

pressing national security needs. As such,Title VI has helped fund Middle Easternstudies programs on many college campusesacross the country.

In recent years, Title VI has come underscrutiny for supporting extreme and one-sided criticisms of American foreign policy.Many community organizations, includingAmerican Jewish Congress and the AmericanJewish Committee, are supportingamendments to Title VI, through the

International Studies in Higher Education Act(HR 3077 - http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d108:h.r.03077:), to:

Reflect the current internationalclimate, especially noting the effects ofSeptember 11, 2001 on the importance ofinternational education; and

Clarify support for linking theseprograms with overseas institutions ofhigher education that promote research and

training abroad for Americans.

The primary goal of the bills supportersis not to dictate a particular point of viewbut to guarantee that tax dollars do not fundan exclusively anti-American and anti-Israelviewpoint.


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28 Faculty Driven Initiatives

VII. FACULTY DRIVEN INITIATIVES

The Israel Studies Project at theGraduate Center of CUNY/AmericanAcademic Association for Israel

The Israel Studies Project at the GraduateCenter of The City University of New York andthe American Academic Association for Israel,a 501(c)(3) set up to help support the IsraelStudies Project's activities, were establishedto promote a more positive understanding ofIsrael among America's professors.

The Israel Studies Project is based on the

assumption that if professors are givenacademically sound material on Israel'shistory and current situation, most willdevelop a much more supportiveappreciation of Israel than they now seem tohave.The best way to reach professors isthrough their academic colleagues, and theonly way to influence them is by usingmaterials that meet scholarly standards.

The Israel Studies Project has begun itswork on several tracks. It is developing a

network of "key contacts" on major campusesthrough whom a wider group of professorscan be reached and involved in various kindsof activities. Which activities are undertakenon each campus must depend on theparticular character of that campus and onthe recources available there. Colleagues atmore than 80 universities have agreed toserve as key contacts for the Project, andthe number grows regularly.

The Project is conducting a series of

regional one-day conferences. Academics in aparticular area are invited to come togetherto hear papers analyzing various aspects of atopic of current importance and to discussgeneral issues. The conferences alreadyconducted include: (1) The Jewish State andthe Democratic Tradition at CUNY's

Graduate Center in New York,(2) Israel Confronts Diversity at SanFrancisco State University, and(3) The Holy Land: Its History and Its Peoplesat Princeton University in co-sponsorshipwith Princetons Woodrow Wilson School ofPublic and International Affairs.A fourth conference, on Zionism, is beingplanned in co-sponsorship with the QueensCollege Center for Jewish Studies, forNovember 2004. Each conference will resultin the publication of a 60-70 pageconference report, including the papers

and an introductory summary of thematerial. These booklets, designed to beacademically solid but short enough to getread, will be disseminated by our keycontacts and others to those professors whoshould see them. They can become the focusof faculty discussion groups and seminarsand thus bring a more accurate picture ofIsrael into the academic community. They canalso be distributed by other organizations tostudents, community leaders, and otherswho should have the best information

available on topics that are becomingimportant in public discourse about Israel.

The Project is also developing a modularcurricular guide for teaching Israel. Theteaching guide can be used by professorswho might introduce a unit about Israel intheir courses or put together a series oflectures or mini-courses, for credit or not, tohelp students understand Israel better. It canalso be used in adult education and maycome to serve as a basis for teacher training

programs in state departments of education.Other projects to reach and involveprofessors are undertaken as fundingbecomes available.

For more information, please contact theIsrael Studies Project ([email protected]).


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Faculty Driven Initiatives 29

Scholars for Peace in the Middle East

(www.spme.net)

Scholars for Peace in the Middle East is a501(c)(3), charitable, educational, not-for-profit,big-tent,grassroots, independent,faculty-driven organization of more than 550members, with Chapters forming on many ofthe more than 200 campuses worldwideadvocating for Israel's right to live in peacewith its neighbors with safe and secureborders and addressing issues of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel teachings,expressions, behaviors and events in collegeclassrooms and on campus.

SPME was formed to address theincreasing number of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic incidents on campus. SPME Networkmembers come from diverse academicdisciplines, faith groups, political ideologies,ethnic backgrounds, gender orientations andnational origins. Yet all SPME members arefor peace, prosperity and security for Israeland its neighbors who wish to live in peace.

SPME has formed task forces to examineissues of:

1) anti-Semitic or anti-Israel biases in themandatory multicultural religious and ethnicteachings on campus and in the community;

2) working to maintain "intimidationfree" campuses;

3) dealing with academic integrity withrespect to fabricating and falsifying datawhen discussing the Middle East;

4) Responding to anti-Israel and anti-Semitic incidents on campus as they arise,especially in classrooms and university-sponsored events.

SPME has created 16 chapters, a facultyforum, and a speakers bureau. The group

provides free consulting services to studentsand faculty and works on a peer-to-peerbasis, often quietly behind the scenes, in aneffort to resolve problems.

For more information, please contactSPME ([email protected]).

International Academic Friends ofIsrael (www.iafi-israel.org)

International Academic Friends of Israel(IAFI) is a not-for-profit organization devotedto promoting and supporting the free andopen exchange of ideas and information inthe international academic community. IAFIsmission is to foster productive interactionsbetween academics regardless of race,religion, nationality, or political preference.

IAFI seeks to ensure that Israeli academicsand scientists are included and accepted in

global academic and scientific circles andthat their accomplishments in theirrespective fields are internationally heralded.IAFI also supports the exchange of ideaswithin the international community to helpovercome divisions and prejudices and tolead toward peace in the Middle East.

IAFI operates under the direction of aninternational board comprising leadingacademics and scientists and othersupporters of its mission.

To achieve its goals, IAFI:

Hosts and supports internationalscientific meetings in Israel;

Brings Israeli and global academic andscientific leaders together in other forums


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30 Faculty Driven Initiatives

Promotes worldwide understandingand appreciation of Israeli scientific and

academic achievements; and

Creates research fellowships in theU.S. for Israeli and Palestinian students.

Through its network of internationalacademics, IAFI has communicated withthousands of supporters of academicfreedom and has obtained immediateproactive support for petitions opposingdivestiture in Israeli companies as well asthose opposing severance of academic

communication with Israeli scientists. IAFIalso has cosponsored international scientificmeetings in Israel, including the firstconvened since the start of the seconduprising.

For more information, please contact IAFI([email protected]).

Campus Watch(www.campus-watch.org)

Campus Watch, a project of the MiddleEast Forum, reviews and critiques MiddleEast studies in North America, with an aim toimproving them. The project mainlyaddresses five problems: analytical failures,the mixing of politics with scholarship,intolerance of alternative views, apologetics,and the abuse of power over students.Campus Watch fully respects the freedom ofspeech of those it debates while insisting onits own freedom to comment on their wordsand deeds. Campus Watch:

Gathers information on Middle Eaststudies from public and private sources andmakes this information available on itswebsite, www.Campus-Watch.org.

Produces analyses of institutions,individual scholars, topics, events, and trends.

Makes its views known through themedia newspaper op-eds, radiointerviews, and television interviews.

Invites student complaints of abuse,investigates their claims, and (whenwarranted) makes these known.

Campus Watch seeks to have aninfluence over the future course of MiddleEast studies through two main avenues:

Engage in an informed, serious, andconstructive critique that will spur professorsto make improvements.

Alert university stakeholders(administrators, alumni, trustees, regents,parents of students, state/provincial andfederal legislators) to the problems in MiddleEast studies and encourage them to addressexisting problems.

For more information, please contact Campus

Watch ([email protected]).

Hillel-Faculty E-mail Community

HF: Hillel-Faculty is an e-letter([email protected]) for Jewish professors, collegestaff members, and doctoral students whoseJewish self-identity and academic interestsrange across the spectrum. HF collects and

shares reactions from its 1,600 members onissues facing them as Jews on campus.


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Faculty Driven Initiatives 31

Center for Excellencein Middle Eastern Studies

Founded in 2004, the Center forExcellence in Middle Eastern Studiesdevelops programs to counterbalance theanti-American, biased atmosphere thatpervades many college campuses today. TheCenter for Excellence is building a network ofdedicated university alumni to focus on thisissue at their alma maters. These alumni willestablish and build relationships with

student leaders, faculty and universityadministrators to maintain standards ofacademic excellence, truthfulness andobjectivity.

The centers focus on issues in the MiddleEast includes current events, the region'shistory, views of the United States,opportunities for peace, democracy, andminority and women's rights. The programsthe Center for Excellence will sponsor includea speaker's series that will be deployed in

collaboration with its partners on selectcampuses nationwide. The programs willseek to reduce the perceived legitimacy ofextremists, provide a safe haven for studentand scholarly debate, and create new rolemodels for students.

For more information, please contact RichSorkin at (650) 570-6107 ([email protected]).

Brandeis UniversitySummer Institute for Israel Studies

(www.brandeis.edu/departments/nejs/news/summerinstitute.html)

Brandeis University is establishing aSummer Institute for Israel Studies with thesupport of the American Jewish Committee.The seminar is designed to assist faculty incolleges and universities in North America inthe design of new courses in Israel Studiesthey are interested in introducing into the

curriculum of their home campuses.

Under the guidance of distinguishedscholars, each seminar in this newlyemerging field will explore a significantissue with a view to developing a sense forcurrent research on central issues andfamiliarity with classic scholarship. Theseminar includes an overview of Zionistthought but primarily focuses on the social,political and economic history of the State ofIsrael including settlement, immigration,

nation-building, cultural studies includingliterature available in English translation,ethnic and religious/secular divides, Arab-Jewish relations within Israel and betweenIsrael and states in the region, andinternational relations. At the conclusion ofthe seminar each participant will present asyllabus suitable for introduction on thehome campus.

For more information, please contactProfessor Ilan Troen ([email protected]).


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32 The Role of Faculty in Israel Advocacy

IX. THE ROLE OF FACULTY IN ISRAEL ADVOCACY

General Faculty

Regardless of religious affiliation, ethnicbackground, or academic discipline, facultymembers have, or should have, acommitment to truth and honesty. Facultycan demonstrate this commitment:

1. On their own campuses, by:

a. Making sure that issues such as theharassment of Jews on campus, or the use of

funds by school departments or studentgroups to pursue anti-Israel or anti-Semiticagendas, are raised and processed throughthe proper channels.

b. Speaking out if campus anti-Israelactivism crosses the line into anti-Semitism.

c. Speaking out and working to helpprevent and/or defeat divestment petitionsand related activities on campus.

d. Serving as mentors to pro-Israelstudents.

e. Showing support for studentprograms by attending events andparticipating in discussions.

f. Providing a social environment whereJewish students may share coffee or aShabbat meal and discuss their concerns andother topics of interest.

g. Privately and publicly advising

students on how to deal with instructorswhose class lectures and syllabi on the Arab-Israeli conflict may lack balance and beunfairly slanted against Israel.

h. Providing insight on how best toadvocate directly with the instructor to addappropriate material and, if discussion fails,

proceed to launch a complaint about theclass to appropriate academic officers andoffices.

i. Serving as a role model to students,other faculty and administrators, inspiringthe entire campus community to publiclysupport Israel, and demonstrating to allstudents and members of the academiccommunity the importance of standing upagainst the conventional wisdom, evenamong academics.

j. Encouraging students and colleaguesto fight the casual bigotry that occurs in toomany classrooms, wherein professors andstudents cast aspersions on Israel or Zionismeven when not at all related to the classsubject matter.

k. Insuring that freedom of speech withacademic integrity and without fabricationand falsification for all is maintained as avalue of central importance in the university.

l. Working with administrators ondeveloping contingency plans in the eventthat protests do get out of control, makingsure that every campus security force andadministration has an emergency plan bothfor protecting students if threatened withviolence and for responding to such threatsaggressively and effectively.

2. In the academic community,including organizations of academics, by:

a. Organizing nationally andinternationally to address issues of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel attitudes andbehaviors on campus and to advocate forIsrael's right to exist within safe and secureborders at peace with her neighbors.

b. Speaking out against boycotts of


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The Role of Faculty in Israel Advocacy 33

Israeli applicants for academic appointmentsor student admissions and of manuscriptsubmissions from Israeli academicinstitutions.

c. Participating in the preparation ofstatements supporting academic freedomand opposing the exclusion of Israelis.

d. Providing information on anti-Israelor anti-Semitic behavior observed in facultyand department settings.

Specialists

Faculty with specific expertise on Israel,the Middle East, Judaism, anti-Semitism, orrelated topics also contribute:

1. On their own campuses, by:

a. Helping students who engage in pro-Israel advocacy campaigns to considermultiple tactics to spread their message

accurately, persuasively and withoutstridency.

b. Supervising (and helping to developsupervisory criteria for) graduate assistantswho teach course sections or lead classdiscussions to make sure that their teachingis balanced, to the point, and accurate.

c. Encouraging colleagues toward fealtyto established historical fact (bearing inmind that the historical narrative is itself

often subject to dispute).d. Ensuring that appropriately qualified

individuals from other institutions are

invited to participate in academicconferences or events on campus. Theseinclude academic and apolitical events aswell as discussions focusing on the politics ofthe Middle East.

e. Opposing, when necessary, invitationsto speakers who lack appropriatequalifications, especially those implicated inor advocating terrorism.

f. Responding, when necessary, to falseand hostile presentations.

g. Organizing events and conferenceswithin the academic framework.

h. Developing relationships and regularcommunication with Jewish communitybodies on (i.e., Hillel) and off (e.g., ICC, ADL,AIPAC, JCRC) campus.

2. In the academic community,including organizations of academics, by:

a. Providing information about falseand hostile speakers.

b. Reviewing textbooks used in coursesrelated to the Middle East to assess theiracademic merits.

c. Encouraging and/or organizingtraining sessions to prepare teachers (e.g.,high school) for teaching courses on theMiddle East.

d. Reviewing existing training programsfor balance and accuracy.

e. Serving on committees that reviewgrant proposals or oversee other aspects ofacademic life that may impinge on Israel.


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34 Building Israel Scholarship on Campus

X. PROPOSALS FOR RECLAIMING MIDDLE EAST

SCHOLARSHIP

Maintaining Control

One of the most important issues inintroducing new scholars to the academy ismaintaining control over their selection.Without control, there is little to preventanti-Israel faculty from vetoing pro-Israelscholars and hiring hostile professors. AtBerkeley, for example, an endowment for a

visiting Israeli professor was usurped by anti-Israel faculty to frustrate the intention of thedonor. Critics of Israel may also suggest, forexample, that Israel is part of the Middle Eastand therefore Israel Studies should be underMiddle Eastern Studies.This is exactly whathappened at Denver University where theIsrael Studies Center was co-opted to becomean anti-Israel Middle East Center headed by afar-left Israeli.

Any effort to create an endowed or

visiting faculty position should involvecareful and creative negotiations tomaximize control over the appointment. Thismight be accomplished, for example, byspecifying who is on a selection committee.Generally, however, the best chance forachieving a satisfactory result is to work withpeople and institutions with whom you havea relationship and level of trust.

Strategic Placement

Though students on every campus couldbenefit from pro-Israel scholars on thefaculty, scarce resources require a morestrategic approach to creating a nationwide

academic presence. Donors may necessarilyfavor their own local institutions and almamaters, but we can still encourage them tofocus on building programs at colleges thatare most important because of the numberof students they educate, the prestige oftheir programs, and/or their geographiclocation. Given the cost of some of theprograms suggested here (e.g., $750,000-$3million for endowed chairs), it is not possible

to make a difference everywhere at once.Broadly, the most important regions

would include: New England, New York,Washington, D.C., California, Florida, Illinoisand Texas. Resources will be strategicallyfocused on the nations premier institutions.

National / Regional Approaches

This is the model for the American-IsraeliCooperative Enterprises new Israel Scholar

Development Fund (ISDF). One benefit of theISDF is to centralize fundraising and makedecisions more strategic. For example, thefund will develop a database of major donorsand key alumni from around the country,assisting schools to solicit those with whomthey have associations and encouragingdonors to invest in colleges with specificneeds (e.g., Ivy League schools will have manypotential funders, but some of the moneymight be more effectively directed

elsewhere). The ISDF will also have prominentfaculty advisors and negotiators familiarwith the processes involved in universityhiring who will work to protect donorsinterests.

In parallel with efforts on a national level,regional and local agencies should raise

By Dr. Mitchell G. Bard


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Building Israel Scholarship on Campus 35

awareness of the needs of local campuses,solicit funds, and channel them in the mostefficacious direction. This may be donethrough regional Israel on Campus Coalitionsand/or Federations. In Washington, D.C., forexample, the ICC of Greater Washington isworking with local campuses to ascertaintheir needs, educate local philanthropists,and encourage donors to invest in Israel-related programs.

Turf may become an issue. For example, aphilanthropist who lives in city X might be analumnus of a school in city Y who could besolicited to donate money to their almamater, but the local authorities may be upsetthat their donor is not supporting the localcampuses. The ISDF can work to minimizethis friction and offer professional advice tolocal communities interested in fundingscholarships and faculty positions.

Proposals

Endowed Chairs

The creation of chairs and Israel studiescenters have the greatest potential for long-term influence on the course of scholarship,the development of new talent, and supportfor pro-Israel students. On the other hand,one potential danger is that the endowedprofessor may change their views over timeor simply become unproductive, and theuniversity is then stuck with that person.

Worse, if the endowment is not negotiatedcarefully, it could support the hiring of ananti-Israel professor. In addition, if the chairsare outside typical areas for the study ofMiddle East affairs, such as political scienceand Middle Eastern studies, the courses maynot attract the broad range of students who

need to be educated about Israel.

Typically, the approach used for creatingchairs has been to focus on the institutionand the field of study, but one alternative isto build the chairs around scholars and tolimit the endowment to their tenure or somefixed period. The idea is to exert greatercontrol over the appointment process toprevent the chair from being abused. Few, ifany universities, however, will allow donorsto choose scholars for them. Universitiesstrongly resist strings attached to donations

and have established bureaucratic processesfor academic appointments that are difficult,if not impossible, to circumvent. In additionto university procedures, affirmative actionguidelines may also create obstacles toappointments of specific individuals topermanent chairs.

Another possibility is to hire faculty forIsrael-related courses through Jewish studiesdepartments to give a presumably moresympathetic academic committee controlover the selection and avoid problems thatmay arise by going through morecontroversial departments.This could alsopartially prevent the study of Israel frombeing ghettoizedand separated fromrelated topics. On the other hand, if it wereplaced in Jewish studies, the Israel-relatedcourses may be seen as Jewishand lessentheir appeal to the broader studentpopulation.

Unfortunately, a tradeoff will usually benecessary between placing Israel studies in anatural academic niche such as history,political science or Middle Eastern studies,and isolating the field to increase the degreeof control over appointments for teachingpositions.


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36 Building Israel Scholarship on Campus

Scholar Development

Today, there is both a shocking lack ofjobs for pro-Israel scholars and a depressinglyshallow pool of talent to fill those fewpositions. There is also little incentive for newscholars to enter a field that is hostile totheir work and offers few opportunities foremployment or advancement. Thisperpetuates the shortage of scholars.Thesituation has persisted so long that, in theshort run, it may not be possible to findqualified candidates for all the endowed

chairs that should be established.To address this problem, it is vital to

identify exceptional students interested inpursuing advanced degrees in Israel-relatedstudies and provide funding for them toreceive graduate training in approvedprograms (or perhaps in specific regionalcenters such as NYU, Brandeis, Emory, andUCLA) with the proviso that they enter arelated professional or academic field at theconclusion of their studies. Postdoctoral

fellowships are also needed for thosecompleting their degrees. By directing thesestudents to departments with endowedchairs, it will also be possible to create Israelstudies hubs where prominent scholars canserve as mentors to multiple graduatestudents.

AICEs Israel Scholar Development Fund isplanning to provide partial scholarships forgraduate students. Given the cost ofgraduate education, particularly at major

private universities, additional resources willbe needed for scholarships and postdoctoralfellowships.

In addition, enrichment programs forgraduate students could be created thatmight be held during the summer (e.g., in aplace such as the Aspen Institute or Wye

Plantation, or in Israel itself) to train them toteach about Israel.

Teacher Training

Besides preparing new scholars, there isan immediate need to train current scholarswhose specialities may be in other fields, butwho could be taught enough about MiddleEastern affairs to allow them to offer coursesthrough their departments. The NationalEndowment for the Humanities (NEH) offers

summer seminars that train scholars in otherfields and similar seminars could becreated to train multi-disciplinary collegefaculty to teach courses about Israel andrelated Middle East topics (e.g., Islamicstudies, Palestinian history, the Arab-Israeliconflict). The program will also supportoutreach programs for high school teachers to begin to create a large cadre of educatorsat all levels. It may also be advantageous toprovide training for people in unrelatedfields.

Some efforts are already underway tobegin this process. Brandeis is planning tooffer a teacher training program thissummer, and American University hasproposed a similar project.

Visiting Scholars

Israel has a great pool of talent that couldalso be tapped for the benefit of Americanstudents. In particular, many Israelis havelong, distinguished careers in public servicewho would make terrific teachers for short-term assignments, and would no doubt bewelcomed by many institutions that wouldsee the benefit of having people with real-world experience on their faculties. Many


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Building Israel Scholarship on Campus 37

former Israeli ambassadors and otherdiplomats involved, for example, in variouspeace negotiations, could become part of avisiting diplomacy program. (The Israel Officeof Academic Affairs is interested in helping tofacilitate in this exchange.) This effort wouldbe in addition to the promotion ofconventional programs, and possibly chairs,established for visiting scholars from Israeliuniversities and possibly prominent

journalists.

Visiting scholar programs do not have to

be limited to Israelis. Some U.S. scholars maybe willing to spend stints as visitors andthese positions may provide opportunitiesfor young scholars. This may also be a way toencourage prominen

tenured: icc guide to faculty on campus and supporting israel

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