Summary
A Palestinian-American professor at Columbia University targeted from 2004, in The Palestine Exception to Free Speech: A Movement Under Attack in the US, by Campus Watch, Hillel and the Anti-Defamation League after a David Project film featured Columbia students accusing him of anti-Israel bias and antisemitism; a university investigation found the allegations meritless, and he eventually received tenure after a lengthy, contentious process (PDF p.32-33).
Details
- Massad, on the investigating committee’s report: “The committee’s report was forced to acknowledge that I have been the target of a political campaign by actors inside and outside the university, as well as by registered and unregistered students inside and outside my classroom. It affirms that during the Spring of 2002, I was spied upon by at least one other professor on campus, that my class was disrupted by registered students and unregistered auditors, and that individuals and organizations outside the university targeted me, my class, and my teaching.” (PDF p.32)
- Faculty outside his department recruited students to initiate complaints against him, and journalists misquoted his words in speeches they admitted not having attended; the AAUP, the New York Civil Liberties Union and supporters defended him (PDF p.32).
- In a 2004 interview on the tactics used against him, Massad said: “These are the same old trends and they continue.” (PDF p.32)
Related pages
The Palestine Exception to Free Speech: A Movement Under Attack in the US, Columbia University, Academic freedom, Rashid Khalidi