Hat tip to Investigative Project on Terrorism
Once in a blue moon, good news comes out of academia (once in every two blue moons in California). We have been following the story of a group of California State University faculty to pressure CSU Chancellor Charles Reed to not resume student study programs in Israel. That movement was led by a nutty professor at CSU Northridge named David Klein, who initiated a petition letter, signed by some 80 like-minded activist professors and the usual student suspects from Students for Justice in Palestine and the Muslim Student Association.
Chancellor Reed has made his decision, and it is the right decision. The Investigative Project on Terrorism has the report.
http://www.investigativeproject.org/3410/csu-reinstates-israel-study-abroad-program
I applaud Chancellor Reed for not caving in to the activist faculty who work for him. However, this is just one small victory in the war that exists on university campuses, both in the US and Canada to delegitimize the only truly democratic state in the Middle East, a state whicb is besieged by a sea of dictatorships and human rights violators who will not accept Israel because it is a Jewish state.
Is it not legitimate to ask why, on college campuses, the major issue of political contention is attacking this tiny country on behalf of its enemies-enemies who preach hatred, destruction, and violence?
Sounds like the right decision. Now, I wonder if the counter-band of the usual idiots will lay off another useful educational program, the Olive Tree Initiative.
ReplyDeleteOh, wait, maybe Gary didn't mean that an even-handed non-ideological policy should guide such decisions, only that he's happy the chancellor, on whatever grounds, made a decision on which Gary ideologically agrees with the outcome.