[News] Columbia Professor Massad, charges refuted

[News at freedomarchives.org]

JUST OUT: TWENTY STUDENTS SIGN PETITION STATING THAT CLAIM AGAINST MASSAD 
IS FALSE

Censoring Thought has obtained a letter, included below, signed by twenty 
former students of Professor Joseph Massad, stating that the claims made by 
Deena Shanker that Professor Massad told her to leave his class if she was 
going to deny Israeli atrocities are unequivocally false.  The letter, sent 
to the Columbia administration, states in clear terms that the signers were 
in the class at the time,  that the alleged incident never happened, and 
that the Ad Hoc Grievance Committee's findings regarding the event are 
incorrect.
Though the Ad Hoc Grievance Committee did not solicit the testimony of 
these students (many of whom have graduated and some of whom are abroad), 
and was faced with competing claims by three students (only two of whom 
were actually registered and another who was allegedly visiting for the 
day) against a professor and three other students, it oddly found Shanker's 
claim "credible." With the release of this letter, twenty-three students 
who were verifiably present during the class in question have now come out 
to deny the charge and exonerate Dr. Massad.
We at Censoring Thought hope this will also clear his name and prevent any 
further attacks upon his character or his career. We also encourage the 
Columbia University administration to take more vigorous steps to defend 
its faculty against the persistent harassment and intimidation that has 
culminated in these baseless charges.


The Letter:


President Bollinger, Provost Brinkley, Vice-President Dirks:
We the undersigned are deeply disturbed by the baseless accusations by 
Deena Shanker that Professor Joseph Massad acted inappropriately in a 
classroom discussion by raising his voice to her and telling her to leave 
his classroom.  Unfortunately, this allegation has been affirmed by the 
report of the ad hoc committee, which deems it "credible," and by President 
Bollinger's public statements of 1 April 2005 on WNYC radio.
We thus write to you in order to set the record straight and to exonerate 
Professor Massad from these unjust indictments. In order to correct these 
highly damaging factual errors, we avow the following:
- That each of us was present during the Spring 2002 class  referred to by 
Deena Shanker in her accusations and by the Ad  Hoc Committee in its report.
- That these accusations by Deena Shanker are unequivocally false  and that 
the findings of the Ad Hoc Committee pertaining to them  are incorrect.
- That Professor Massad did not in any way order or even suggest  to any 
student that she should leave his class, nor did he raise his  voice to the 
student or react "heatedly" to her claims regarding the  actions of the 
Israeli Defense Forces.
- That Professor Massad consistently treated his students with  respect and 
always adhered to a policy of encouraging students  to participate in the 
class actively in classroom discussion and to  think critically about the 
course materials.
In light of our testimony, we call upon you to acknowledge these facts and 
defend Professor Joseph Massad against these erroneous charges and the 
finding that Shanker's claim is "credible."

Sincerely,

Khalil Al-Salem, CC 2003 Charlotte Anne Wurzburg Watts, CC 2004 Alison 
Winfield, GS 2005 Graham Moore, CC 2003 Peter Herger, CC 2003 Alden Young, 
CC 2004 Nihal Godiwala, CC 2002 Benjamin Joseph Bishop, GSAS 2001-2002 
Fabian Chrobog, CC 2002 Michelle Kagan, BC 2004 Madiha R. Tahir, BC 2003 
Katherine Logan M. McBride, BC 2005 Jill Pasquarella, BC 2004 Mary 
Catherine Ford, GS 2008 Danielle Friedman [Visiting Student], Brown 2004 
Nadim El Gabbani, CC 2003 Alfredo Zaragoza, GS 2004 K. Cyrus Habib, CC 2003 
Wasim Salfiti, CC 2003 Layal Bulbul, CC 2005




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