The University of California, Berkeley has suspended a course dedicated to studying Palestine “through the lens of settler colonialism”, sparking international debate about academic freedom. The course at UC Berkeley – entitled Palestine: A Settler Colonial Analysis – faced intense backlash this week from Jewish organizations, which argued that the class was “anti-Israel and antisemitic” and “intended to indoctrinate students to hate the Jewish state”. But pro-Palestine organizations, along with some faculty members at UC Berkeley, have criticized the suspension, arguing that administrators were silencing viewpoints and prioritizing public relations over academic discourse. UC Berkeley dean who violated sexual harassment policies returns to campus Read more“The fact that something is controversial does not mean it’s antisemitic. At UC Berkeley, where student activists launched the Free Speech Movement in the 1960s, a group of Jewish professors have called on administrators to reinstate the course.

Source: The Guardian September 15, 2016 23:18 UTC