"The committee also said it “found no evidence of any statements made by the faculty that could reasonably be construed as anti-Semitic,” and it said no students had received lower grades for holding dissenting viewpoints.
But throughout the 24-page document, a picture emerges of the Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures department as rife with tension and incivility, especially in an increasingly politicized climate after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Numerous students, the report says, felt unable to defend their views in class because they feared attacks from other students or the media. Some graduate student teaching assistants were similarly hesitant to express their views because of pressure from outside organizations critical of the department. This semester, a lecture class taught by Massad frequently suffered hostile interruptions by a group of unregistered students auditing the class.
And in February 2002, the report said, Massad “had good reason to believe” that another faculty member was using students in his class as spies to monitor his statements “as part of a campaign against him.”
No comments:
Post a Comment