Silencing Professors at UCSD

(YNet)On Feb.29, 2012 the University of California at San Diego (UCSD) student government defeated for the third year running a pro-Palestinian resolution calling on the University system to divest from US companies that supply Israel’s defense forces. The Associated Students of UCSD (ASUCSD) heard public debate on a resolution brought forth by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) calling for UC to divest from General Electric and Northrop Grumman because they supply components of Apache Helicopters sold to Israel, which then uses them to “violate” Palestinian human rights and expand the “occupation.”
UCSD University Professor Shlomo Dubnov of the Music department, who heads the campus chapter of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, spoke out against the divestment. Consequently, on March 2, leaders of the pro-Palestinian students sent a letter of complaint to faculty, administration and members of the UCSD Campus Climate Council “to address the hostile campus climate being created for students of color and students from underserved and underrepresented communities.”
Five student organizations also made claims against UCSD professors and staff who spoke against the resolution, stating that “while we understand that it is a public meeting, for them to refer to themselves in their position as ‘UCSD staff’ or ‘UCSD professor’ is uncalled for. They used their positions as University employees to verbally attack students and to even erase the existence of many individuals in the room.”
This new tactic of silencing professors who are pro-Israel through claims of intimidation and legal threats is of great concern, not only to the individuals who might be forced to think twice before speaking out but to the universities themselves. Academic freedom has already been manipulated to mean that anti-Israel ideologues have nearly complete license to propagandize in the classroom. Now efforts to exercise free speech and push back are being criminalized as “intimidation.”(MORE)