Tell Us Who Threatens Columbia

The New York Sun ^ | April 26, 2005 | Martin Kramer

[rmlew]

In Professor Joseph Massad's mid-March statement to the ad hoc committee investigating faculty intimidation of students at Columbia University, he listed the support he'd received from various quarters, including petitions and letters. He then added this:

The Middle East Studies Association's Academic Freedom Committee also issued a letter defending my academic freedom, as did the American Association of University Professors, or AAUP, the New York chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU, and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.

I'd seen all of these missives, with a major exception: the letter from the American Association of University Professors. The AAUP has much more weight than any of the other outfits: It's the union of professors, and the prime defender of their academic freedom and tenure rights. It can and does censure universities for infringements. I'd assumed that the AAUP hadn't entered the Columbia fray, so Mr. Massad's reference to an AAUP letter surprised me. I asked the AAUP.

[rmlew]

The AAUP, the AFL-CIO and dozens of other unions and outside groups are pressuring Columbia to protect the leftist orthodoxy.
Regardless of your position on Israel, we need your help.

[rmlew]

Columbia Ping

The Grad Student union, supported by the AFL-CIO,
stands behind the leftist orthodxy under the guise of
"Academic Freedom" and Anti-McCarthyism.
http://www.columbiaacademicfreedom.org/archives/000110.html

This Orwellian inversion of rights is exactly why we
don't need more political unions at Columbia, but do
need a student bill of rights.

You may also find the following editorials and letters
to be of interest.

'New Grievance Policy'
http://www.campus-watch.org/article/id/1992

Parroted Convictions
http://www.campus-watch.org/article/id/1989

Columbia's Anti-Jewish Conspiracy Theorist
http://frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=17808

Columbia: The Awakening
Students accused of 'McCarthyism' have enabled all
students to begin to be heard
http://www.campus-watch.org/article/id/1988

[ckilmer]

anyone who says the evil being done them is McCarthyism these days unwittingly convicts themselves.