[News] Israel lobby descends on UC- Santa Barbara - Faculty Protest

[Anti-Imperialist News]

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<http://sb4af.wordpress.com/2009/05/20/faculty-members-protest-investigation-of-sociology-professor/>Faculty 
members protest investigation of sociology professor

http://sb4af.wordpress.com/
UC-Santa Barbara professors circulate petition to 
halt proceedings against William I. Robinson and reject “outside pressures”

Date: May 19, 2009
Contact: Alba Peña-Leon, (626) 665-9212, alba at umail.ucsb.edu.

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. ­ A group of about 20 
professors at the University of California at 
Santa Barbara have launched a campus-wide 
petition to get professors, department chairs and 
deans to join them in protesting the Academic 
Senate’s investigation of sociology professor William I. Robinson.

The petition, sent on May 16 to faculty 
throughout the university, says the Senate 
Charges Committee has directly violated 
Robinson’s rights by mishandling student complaints against him.

“These procedural improprieties have already 
produced a substantive injustice with respect to 
Professor Robinson,” reads the petition. 
“Moreover, we are concerned that external 
pressures may have influenced the way this case is managed.”

The case against Robinson began when he 
introduced materials critical of Israel in a 
course on global affairs last January.

The materials included a photo essay that 
Robinson forwarded to students from the Internet 
juxtaposing images of Israeli abuse against 
Palestinians with Nazi abuses during the 
holocaust. Two students took offense at the 
images and withdrew from the course, prompting 
pro-Israel groups to pressure the university to 
pursue charges of “anti-Semitism” against Robinson.

Those groups, which continue to pressure 
university officials as the case drags on, 
include the Anti-Defamation League, the Israel 
advocacy group Stand With Us, and the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles.

The faculty petition calls on the Academic Senate 
to explain its actions in the Robinson case, make 
public all communications that Senate leaders and 
university administrators have had with external 
organizations or individuals, immediately correct 
procedural mistakes, conduct inquiries into why 
those mistakes were made, and take disciplinary 
action if necessary against those responsible.

It also requests clarification of how student 
complaints about course content and materials are 
handled, and it asks the Senate to reaffirm the 
importance of academic freedom at UCSB.

The petition will be sent to Senate Chair Joel 
Michaelson before the next Senate meeting on June 
6, said Nancy Gallagher, history professor and 
chair of the Middle East Studies Program.

“The administration has said to trust the system, 
but this process has stretched on with so many 
irregularities that it breeds distrust, and the 
professor has already been seriously damaged, as 
has the university itself,” Gallagher said. “I 
thought this case would immediately be dropped 
for lack of any legitimate cause, but it wasn’t, 
and frankly the campus is beginning to look like 
a laughing stock, or a place where one wouldn’t want to be.”

Gallagher said the student complaints should have 
been referred back down to the department level from the start.

“It should have gone straight to the chair of the 
department, but instead it went straight to the 
charges officer, and on that ground alone it 
should be dropped,” she said. “It sets a bad 
precedent. What if people decide they don’t like 
evolution being taught? Can they also censor the professor this easily?”

Lisa Hajjar, chair of UCSB’s Law and Society 
Program and an authority on the principles and 
practices of academic freedom, said students 
often get upset by material presented in classes 
because the educational process deliberately aims 
to challenge beliefs and generate debate.

“Contentious material is a legitimate and 
important part of the educational process,” 
Hajjar  said. “The intent is to provoke 
reactions, not shield students from things that might upset them in class.”

Academic freedom is a right enjoyed by faculty, not by students, Hajjar said.

“They are not on equal footing,” she said. 
“Students can’t dictate course material because 
they are not qualified to make those 
determinations. The professors have earned 
freedom in the classroom because they are experts 
in their field. In this case, bringing charges 
for disseminating relevant materials makes no sense.”

Emeritus professor of sociology Dick Flacks said 
the investigation against Robinson sends a 
profoundly intimidating message to all other professors.

“It has a chilling effect on what you can say in 
class,” Flacks said. “It says that if students 
don’t like what you’re presenting they can get 
you brought up on charges. That stops effective teaching dead in its tracks.”

Flacks said he expects Robinson to be exonerated 
by the Academic Senate, but at this point, that’s not enough.

“It’s the very fact that charges were brought 
that has upset people so much,” Flacks said. “We 
want an inquiry into why these charges were 
brought and an investigation of the outside 
pressures that may have influenced this case. We 
want to clarify how these kinds of grievances 
should be handled to avoid more situations like this in the future.”

For detailed information about the Robinson case, 
visit the Committee to Defend Academic Freedom 
Web site at www.sb4af.wordpress.com.

For media inquiries, call Alba Peña-Leon at (626) 665-9212.
*****************************************************
<http://sb4af.wordpress.com/2009/05/18/israel-lobby-descends-on-uc-santa-barbara/>http://sb4af.wordpress.com/2009/05/18/israel-lobby-descends-on-uc-santa-barbara/

BREAKING NEWS: Israel lobby descends on UC- Santa Barbara
Investigation of sociology professor is frontline 
in nationwide campaign to silence criticism against Israel on college campuses

Please Distribute Widely
May 18, 2009
Contacts: Alba Pena-Leon, (626) 665-9212, 
<mailto:alba at umail.ucsb.edu>alba at umail.ucsb.edu.

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- Noam Chomsky is no 
newcomer to harassment by pro-Israel organizations.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) once compiled a 
150-page dossier on the famous author and 
linguistics professor, apparently to find 
information it could use against him, Chomsky 
said in an interview in late April.

An ADL insider sent Chomsky the file, which 
included conversations, correspondence and other 
materials. Chomsky said it read like an FBI file.

"It's hard to nail this stuff down in a court of 
law, but it's clear they essentially have spies 
in classrooms who take notes and send them to the 
ADL and other organizations," Chomsky said. "The 
groups then compile dossiers they can use to 
condemn, attack or remove faculty members. 
They're like J. Edgar Hoover's files. It's kind of gutter stuff."

Such covert tactics have yet to emerge publicly 
at the University of California at Santa Barbara. 
But the effort to discredit and censor criticism 
of Israeli policies has taken a potentially ominous turn.

The ADL and the Israel advocacy group "Stand With 
Us" are leading an aggressive, direct campaign to 
pressure UCSB administrators and faculty to 
investigate and discipline sociology professor 
William I. Robinson for having introduced 
materials critical of Israel in a course on global affairs.

The materials included a photo essay that 
Robinson forwarded to students from the Internet 
juxtaposing images of Israeli abuse against 
Palestinians with Nazi abuses during the 
holocaust. Two students took offense at the 
images and withdrew from the course, prompting 
the ADL to pressure the university to pursue 
charges of "anti-Semitism" against Robinson.

The pressure campaign includes face-to-face 
meetings with university officials and faculty, 
use of Internet-based media to influence public 
opinion, and a formidable letter-writing effort 
that relies particularly on UCSB donors, some of 
whom have threatened to withdraw their support for the university.

Some meetings -- such as an hour-long encounter 
between ADL National Director Abraham Foxman and 
UCSB officials and faculty -- may have seriously 
violated university policies. The Foxman meeting 
generated concern that pressure by the Israel 
lobby may have influenced the Academic Senate in 
its decision to open a formal investigation against Robinson.
Other meetings are only now coming to light.

Aaron Ettenberg, a UCSB psychology professor and 
member of the Academic Senate's Charges Advisory 
Committee, has confirmed that he met with Rabbi 
Arthur Gross-Schaefer prior to the committee's 
recommendation to investigate Robinson.

Gross-Schaefer is interim director of the local 
chapter of Hillel, an organization that works 
with Jewish communities on college campuses. 
Hillel met with the two students who withdrew 
from Robinson's class before those students filed 
their grievances against Robinson.

Both Gross-Schaefer and Ettenberg told Anthony 
Fenton -- a reporter based in Vancouver who 
writes for the "Asia Times Online" and "The 
Dominion" of Canada -- that they had met and discussed the Robinson case.

"I really didn't discuss that with him very 
much," Gross-Schaefer told Fenton in a telephone 
interview. "We see each other socially, it wasn't 
any meeting or anything in particular. . . It 
wasn't. . .set up to discuss that at all actually."

Ettenberg told Fenton he is "just friends" with Gross Schaefer.

"I can't say anything at this point," he said. "I 
didn't have a meeting with him formally to 
discuss any of these kinds of things."

Whether formal or not, that they met and 
discussed the Robinson case may constitute a 
serious breach of Academic Senate procedures for 
dealing with student complaints.

In a public statement on May 4, Robert Potter -- 
professor emeritus of the Department of Theater 
and Dance and former chair of the Academic Senate 
Committee on Privilege and Tenure -- expressed 
deep concern about the "campaign of accusations" against Robinson.

"This orchestrated attempt by outside agencies to 
pressure the university into disciplining a 
faculty member over the content of a course is an 
entirely improper attack on academic freedom," 
Potter said. "The campus community should express 
concern over this very troubling sequence of events."

Members of the California Scholars for Academic 
Freedom, which includes nearly 140 academics at 
20 institutions, say the campaign at UCSB 
reflects a major escalation by the Israel lobby 
to silence criticism at universities in California and elsewhere.

Mark Levine, a Jewish professor of Middle Eastern 
Studies at UC-Irvine, said pro-Israel groups 
have, in effect, created a "large machine" to 
attack Israel critics on college campuses.

"That's why this case is so important," Levine 
said. "These are powerful, organized groups in 
the Jewish community who use fear and 
intimidation to try to make sure Israel doesn't 
get criticized. They go after anyone, even more 
so when the critics are Jews, because they fear 
that if we can criticize them, then everyone can."

Sondra Hale, a UCLA professor and founder and 
coordinator of the California Scholars, said the 
Robinson case stands out because the Israel 
lobby's pressure tactics have been so public.

"A lot of incidents at other campuses have been 
more subtle types of pressure, but this case is 
very straightforward," Hale said. "The evidence 
is right there. It's very clear cut."

For detailed information about the Robinson case, 
visit the Committee to Defend Academic Freedom 
Web site at<http://www.sb4af.wordpress.com>www.sb4af.wordpress.com.

For media inquiries, call Alba Pena-Leon at (626) 665-9212.





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