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<font size=4 color="#990000"><b>JUST OUT: TWENTY STUDENTS SIGN PETITION
STATING THAT CLAIM AGAINST MASSAD IS FALSE</b></font><font size=3>
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<font face="arial" size=2>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 <b>the signers were in the class at the time,
</b>
that<b> the alleged incident never happened, </b>and that <b>the Ad Hoc
Grievance Committee's findings regarding the event are
incorrect</b>.<br>
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, <b>twenty-three</b> students who were verifiably present
during
the class in question have now come out to deny the charge and
exonerate Dr. Massad.<br>
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.<br>
<br><br>
<b><u>The Letter:<br>
<br><br>
</u></b>
President Bollinger, Provost Brinkley, Vice-President Dirks:<br>
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.<br>
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:<br>
- 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.<br>
- That these accusations by Deena Shanker are unequivocally false
and that the findings of the Ad Hoc Committee pertaining to them
are incorrect.<br>
- 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.<br>
- 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.<br>
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.”<br>
<br>
Sincerely,<br><br>
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<br>
<br>
<br><br></font><x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
</ul><font size=3 color="#FF0000">The Freedom Archives<br>
522 Valencia Street<br>
San Francisco, CA 94110<br>
(415) 863-9977<br>
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<a href="http://www.freedomarchives.org/" eudora="autourl">
www.freedomarchives.org</a></font></body>
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