Posted on 10/30/2004 10:33:29 PM PDT by SmithL
In reaction to a new film on academic bias and harassment of Israel-sympathetic students at Columbia University, the school's president, Lee C. Bollinger, has decided to have the charges raised by the documentary investigated.
The short video, which shows students describing instances of intimidation and hostility by faculty members of the Department of Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures, is the latest in a series of efforts by students and some Columbia community members to get the word out that the school has a problem of anti-Israel bias. They allege that the school's Middle East classes are unbalanced and that faculty members use their positions to promote anti-Zionist activism, discourage free intellectual discourse on the Israeli-Arab conflict, and vilify Israeli students.
"There's a problem. And just because I love Columbia University doesn't mean I should ignore this problem," Ariel Beery, a senior, said at a news conference at which the video was shown. "It chills the academic environment. It stops up free speech. If the administration were to take this seriously, then we as students at Columbia would be in a different place."
The film, called Columbia Unbecoming, was produced by the David Project, a grass-roots organization that seeks to counter anti-Israel bias on college campuses, in the media, and in American communities.
Bollinger said the university takes "very seriously" the allegations detailed in the film. Several months ago, he asked a campus committee to look into charges of anti-Israel bias at the school, and he told the New York Daily News in May that the campus free-speech commission had found no evidence of academic bullying. But in a statement issued this week, Bollinger said that he has asked provost Alan Brinkley, who heads the commission, to look into the specific incidents described in the video.
(Excerpt) Read more at jpost.com ...
This was the same Lee Bollinger who gave Nicholas DiGenova a free pass when DiGenova wished for America to suffer "a million Mogadishus" leading up to the Iraq War - even when the alumni were calling for his head.
Bollinger looking into accusations like this are like Kofi Annan investigating the U.N. for corruption. There's no point - Bollinger's doing it all for show.
These things were reported to him a long time ago, yet it's only when it's going to be out in the public on film that he's going to really 'investigate' it. How can any group that is already tainted by the bias 'investigate' the situation?
Exactly. It's like Dan Rather announcing to get to the bottom of liberal media bias and do something about it once and for all.
Let me guess: The investigating committee will be Noam Chomsky, Joseph Massad, Yassir Arafat, and the chief "rabbi" of Neturei Karta.
Columbia U has a big problem
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