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<h2><b>Two stories follow<br><br>
<a href="http://sb4af.wordpress.com/2009/05/20/faculty-members-protest-investigation-of-sociology-professor/">
Faculty members protest investigation of sociology
professor</a></b></h2><font size=3>
<a href="http://sb4af.wordpress.com/" eudora="autourl">
http://sb4af.wordpress.com/<br>
</a><i>UC-Santa Barbara professors circulate petition to halt proceedings
against William I. Robinson and reject “outside pressures”<br><br>
</i>Date: May 19, 2009<br>
Contact: Alba Peña-Leon, (626) 665-9212, alba@umail.ucsb.edu.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
“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.”<br><br>
The case against Robinson began when he introduced materials critical of
Israel in a course on global affairs last January.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
“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.”<br><br>
Gallagher said the student complaints should have been referred back down
to the department level from the start.<br><br>
“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?”<br><br>
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.<br><br>
“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.”<br><br>
Academic freedom is a right enjoyed by faculty, not by students, Hajjar
said.<br><br>
“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.”<br><br>
Emeritus professor of sociology Dick Flacks said the investigation
against Robinson sends a profoundly intimidating message to all other
professors.<br><br>
“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.”<br><br>
Flacks said he expects Robinson to be exonerated by the Academic Senate,
but at this point, that’s not enough.<br><br>
“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.”<br><br>
For detailed information about the Robinson case, visit the Committee to
Defend Academic Freedom Web site at
<a href="http://www.sb4af.wordpress.com/" eudora="autourl">
www.sb4af.wordpress.com</a>.<br><br>
For media inquiries, call Alba Peña-Leon at (626) 665-9212.<br>
*****************************************************<br>
<a href="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/</a>
<br><br>
BREAKING NEWS: Israel lobby descends on UC- Santa Barbara<br>
Investigation of sociology professor is frontline in nationwide campaign
to silence criticism against Israel on college campuses<br><br>
Please Distribute Widely<br>
May 18, 2009<br>
Contacts: Alba Pena-Leon, (626) 665-9212,
<a href="mailto:alba@umail.ucsb.edu">alba@umail.ucsb.edu</a>.<br><br>
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- Noam Chomsky is no newcomer to harassment by
pro-Israel organizations.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
An ADL insider sent Chomsky the file, which included conversations,
correspondence and other materials. Chomsky said it read like an FBI
file.<br><br>
"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."<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br>
Other meetings are only now coming to light.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
"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."<br><br>
Ettenberg told Fenton he is "just friends" with Gross
Schaefer.<br><br>
"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."<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
"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."<br><br>
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.<br><br>
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.<br><br>
"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."<br><br>
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.<br><br>
"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."<br><br>
For detailed information about the Robinson case, visit the Committee to
Defend Academic Freedom Web site
at<a href="http://www.sb4af.wordpress.com">www.sb4af.wordpress.com</a>
.<br><br>
For media inquiries, call Alba Pena-Leon at (626) 665-9212. <br><br>
<br><br>
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