Conservative thinkers need not apply

[Cheyenne]

By MILLIE LAPIDARIO
and WENDY LEE
Contributing Writers
Friday, May 10, 2002
UC Berkeley administrators are reviewing how an English course focusing on the plight of Palestinians received approval for next fall even though it discourages conservative students from enrolling.

The English R1A reading and comprehension course, titled "The Politics and Poetics of Palestinian Resistance," states in its course description that "conservative thinkers are encouraged to seek other sections" -- a violation of the university's Faculty Code of Conduct.

According to the course description, the class "takes as its starting point the right of Palestinians to fight for their own self-determination."

"The brutal Israeli military occupation of Palestine, an occupation that has been ongoing since 1948, has systematically displaced, killed and maimed millions of Palestinian people," the course description reads. "And yet from under the brutal weight of the occupation, Palestinians have produced their own culture and poetry of resistance."

The class is taught by graduate student Snehal Shingavi, also a leader of the recently reinstated student group Students for Justice in Palestine. The group had been suspended last month for disrupting classes in their five-hour siege of a campus building.

University administrators are reviewing the course proposal and working to ensure that all course descriptions adhere to the faculty code.

The English department plans to revise the description to ensure open access to the course, which fulfills part of the university's reading and composition requirement. The department chair is expected to closely supervise the course, according to a campus spokesperson.

"It is not appropriate for an academic class to discourage or exclude anyone from attending on political grounds," Chancellor Robert Berdahl said in an interview with The Daily Californian. "That is very objectionable. The discourse cannot be constrained by the political perspective of an instructor."

But Shingavi denied the statement is meant to exclude anybody, saying that his definition of "conservative thinkers" referred to those that are "limited or narrow in scope."

"Students are encouraged to take my class irrespective of their political convictions," he said, although he declined to comment on what action he would take if a student in his course did not believe in Palestinian sovereignty.

The course will only explore varying pro-Palestinian arguments rather than the debate between Palestinian sovereignty and Israeli occupation, Shingavi said.

"If you can't accept that Palestinians have the right to self-determination, it is impossible to read resistance poetry," Shingavi said. "Instructors should have the right to teach the material that they want and should have control over the discussion."

Critics of the course said its description, along with its reading list,
demonstrate that Shingavi intends to limit political debate in favor of the Palestinian cause.

"I think this is yet another example of political indoctrination taking precedence over debates and discussion," said Israel Action Committee President Randy Barnes. "This is just one more reason Cal is the laughing stock of the country."

But Shingavi's supporters said the course would offer precisely what its opponents claim it stiflesÑacademic freedom.

"It's very hard to get the Palestinian narrative point of view anywhere in the country," said Students for Justice in Palestine member Will Youmans. "(The controversy) has nothing to do with the superceded bias of the class. It has to do with the views being presented, which is clearly a form of censorship."

Some students also praised the course for recognizing the academic legitimacy of Palestinian literature.

Sophomore Jessica Heyman, an English major, said the course will offer a "different perspective" in comparison to most English courses that focus on American and European literature.

The English department chair, who could not be reached, will be supervising this course to ensure it fits the Faculty Code of Conduct, particularly the rule of "no discrimination, including harassment against a student on political grounds."

Shingavi maintained his course is an unnecessary target of controversy and said the university does not hold other "controversial" courses, including those "pro-Israeli" to the same level of scrutiny as it has to his course.

 

[Cheyenne]

Item A:
The class is taught by graduate student Snehal Shingavi, also a leader of the recently reinstated student group Students for Justice in Palestine. The group had been suspended last month for disrupting classes in their five-hour siege of a campus building.


Item B:
Shingavi maintained his course is an unnecessary target of controversy and said the university does not hold other "controversial" courses, including those "pro-Israeli" to the same level of scrutiny as it has to his course.

I'm thinking item A might have something to do with item B.

 

[SINthysist]

Hey, I paid my tuition to get the very best education...

Then you get there, and it's grad students.

Sorta makes you feel like a refund is due...

 

[DannyBoyUK]

Here in England, the political scene is such that Conservative thinkers is rather a tautology.

 

[Cheyenne]

Hey, I paid my tuition to get the very best education...

Then you get there, and it's grad students.

Sorta makes you feel like a refund is due...

But Berkeley is normally a good school, even if it is a left coast institution.

 

[YogiBare]

Any course that rejects the open exchange of ideas and the debate engendered by opposing opinion is antithetical to the notion of "academia."

The guy should do his Palestinian poetry thing as a club, not a course.

 

[EthiopianPrince]

I was trapped in plenty of classes at Hopkins where the professor taught from a conservative perspective, and if one disagreed, one should expect their grade to suffer. Although that Berkeley class is ridiculous, anyone who has been to college knows that the best way to get a good grade in most classes is to parrot the professor's biases.

 

[juicygirl]

This class could be fine and political agenda's are very common in the class room from the left and the right. I'm at a Catholic U, I really know this firsthand. The guy who is teaching the class sounds like an asshole, or arsehole, but he may have one point that is valid. If he gets students who reject the notion of Palestinian nationalism or culture, and they are very noisy and tend to interupt, as some conservatives can do (I know lefties do it too), then nothing will get done and there will be no free exchange of ideas. I would reccomend that the students buy the books and read them on their own. The way the class is likely to come out is not very encouraging.

 

[Demian]

Wounded Knee

I wonder if Ishmael will one day atone with Isaac and build something on the Temple mount that will restore upon this Earth an Entity that christians can only claim to know

peace
Demian

 

[Weird Harold]

I don't understand

Any course that rejects the open exchange of ideas and the debate engendered by opposing opinion is antithetical to the notion of "academia."

The guy should do his Palestinian poetry thing as a club, not a course.

Why this is a course in the English department?

How does studying poetry written in Arabic further the understanding of English? Politics aside, why isn't this course in the Poli-Sci curriculim?

 

[Cheyenne]

Re: I don't understand

Why this is a course in the English department?

How does studying poetry written in Arabic further the understanding of English? Politics aside, why isn't this course in the Poli-Sci curriculim?

My guess is because the graduate student who came up with the course is in the English Department, but I don't know that. It sounds like he had an agenda and had to come up with a course to make it fit into his department. Can grad students on one area teach courses in others? I never had such cross-over teachers in college so I don't think so.

 

[Weird Harold]

Re: Re: I don't understand

My guess is because the graduate student who came up with the course is in the English Department, but I don't know that.

That still doesn't explain why the twits in charge of the curiculim approved the course proposal.

 

[Cheyenne]

That still doesn't explain why the twits in charge of the curiculim approved the course proposal.

I think that was the point of the article.

UC Berkeley administrators are reviewing how it received approval even though it discourages conservative students from enrolling which is a violation of the university's Faculty Code of Conduct.

 

[JazzManJim]

If he gets students who reject the notion of Palestinian nationalism or culture, and they are very noisy and tend to interupt, as some conservatives can do (I know lefties do it too), then nothing will get done and there will be no free exchange of ideas

Oddly enough, it's this logical fallacy right out there in the open with this Grad Student I find most egregious. I think it stinks that no one in the college has called him on this bullshit.

Basically, he's going to teach Mr X's poetry. He says that you can't adequately study Mr X's poetry unless you agree with Mr X's stance on Palestinian nationalism.

That's complete bullshit. You don't have to agree with, or even understand, Mr X's nationalism standpoint to study his poetry. All You have to do is to know what his stance is, and know that it's very important to him.

See, if this guy's train of logic is true, then the only poets I could possibly understand are the male poets who think like me. There aren't too many of those.

 

[Harbinger]

One of the earmarks of shabby thinking is the refusal to allow dissent. Everybody knows that, and if you don't agree, me and my friends will shout you down until you shut the fuck up.

 

[Problem Child]

I saw this guy on Hardball, and he was a total numbskull. Chris Matthews tore him a new ass.

Whomever said that parroting the teachers bias to get a good grade is not completely right. Sure, that might work in a few case, but by and large I tended to get better grades if I spoke up and participated, no matter what my viewpoint. I think by and large I had some damn good professors and they welcomed dissent and debate, not mindless agreement with their point of view.

And no, I didn't go to Berzerkley.

 

[Cheyenne]

Update:

UC Berkeley: A Safe Harbor For Hate
By Rory Miller
May 13, 2002
http://www.frontpagemag.com


SINCE 9-11 the American public - and not just long suffering conservative college students -- has increasingly aware of the oppressive presence of the academic left. Recently attention was drawn to one of the basic freshmen reading courses required at UC Berkeley, which is titled "The Politics and Poetics of Palestinian Resistance" and is taught by English instructor Snehal Shingavi. The course description concludes with the following caveat: "Conservative thinkers are encouraged to seek other sections." The conversion of the once liberal university into a political base for the radical left has been proceeding apace for many years. Recently, voices have arisen to challenge the campus totalitarians, both from within the academy and without. Hoping to quash the voices of dissent inside, the left has become both bolder and heavier handed.

U.C. Berkeley postures as a haven of free speech and tolerance, but like other so-called liberal campuses across the nation, it is far from that. The unstated rule in effect on the campus is that one is free to speak and to be as extreme as one wishes, but only so long as one speaks from the left. When the student newspaper, the Daily Californian, endorsed Ward Connerly's statewide Proposition 209, which banned racial preferences in California, the entire press run of over 23,000 copies was stolen. Nobody was punished for the criminal act. More recently, the Daily Cal had its press run stolen twice-once for running David Horowitz's advertisement "10 Reasons why Reparations for Slavery Are A Bad Idea -- And Racist Too," and again for running an ad by the Ayn Rand Institute calling for a United States attack on Iran. This year, the California Patriot, a monthly conservative magazine, had all 4,000 issues stolen due to an article critical of the separatist Chicano group MEChA, whose radical agenda is "self-determination" for La Raza (the "race") meaning that Mexico should reclaim the Southwest. This was the agenda of Germany, exposed in the famous Zimmerman memorandum that provoked America's entry into the First World War. MEChA which is funded by university fees and poses as a "civil rights" group.

Freedom of the press isn't the only First Amendment freedom to be traduced on campus. Even more disturbing is the silencing of any voices that offer an alternative to the leftist party line. Since 2000, no less than four speakers have had their speeches houted down or cancelled since they ran afoul of the radical left. t should be noted that liberals who are not sufficiently leftist are as likely as conservatives to face this persecution (without any disciplinary response from the UC Administration). Secretary of State, Madeline Albright, was the official commencement speaker for 2000 (a honor normally denied conservative figures, but on at least one occasion bestowed on a student radical at Berkeley). Albright was forced to endure being called a racist and murderer before the entire graduating class by the University Medalist, whose award is similar to that of valedictorian.

This is the sort of campus environment that allows the scheduling of courses such as Snehal's exercise in pro-Palestinian propaganda (which is unique only in the baldness of its catalogue description).

The people responsible for acts of violence against speakers and publications are a small core group of far left activists who proclaim themselves "revolutionary Marxists" on their websites and who latch onto different causes as opportunities present themselves to further their more general goal of aiding America's enemies and destroying its democracy. The activist career of Snehal Shingavi illustrates their agendas.

Snehal is, in fact, the spokesman or leader of many different left-wing causes and extremist groups. He has been a union agitator and involved in the "anti-sweatshop" crusade for example, while his base of operations is as the Berkeley leader of the International Socialist Organization (ISO), a Trostkyite splinter which describes itself as "Leninist" and advocates violent revolution in the United States. Its website, under the heading "Revolution, not Reform" explains "The structures of the present government -- the Congress, the army, the police and the judiciary -- cannot be taken over and used by the working class. They grew up under capitalism and are designed to protect the ruling class against workers." In other words, American democracy is a sham, and only violent revolution can bring about the triumph of the socialist cause.

Even in the face of the terrorist attacks on September 11, Snehal's anti-American passions could not be contained. That evening, Snehal and other campus radicals hosted a candlelight vigil on Sproul Plaza, the traditional heart of U.C. Berkeley student life, which was advertised as a "memorial vigil." The bait and switch was that this was really an anti-America manifestation whose speakers proclaimed that the United States was the world's greatest terrorist regime, and expressed the wish that George Bush had been in the World Trade Center at the time of the attack. The 9-11 terrorist bombings were hailed as the "first blow against American capitalism." I was there to heart it. During the open microphone period, I called for a military response against the terrorists and was booed off the stage. Another student spoke of his friend who was presumed dead in the owers and was laughed at and mocked when he described his riend as a stockbroker. Towards the end of the evening, the presidents of both the campus Republicans and Democrats held up an American flag and recited the Pledge of Allegiance. They were booed and heckled by the anti-American crowd.

When students and faculty held a real memorial service six days later, Snehal was on hand to disturb the solemnity with a large neon poster that read, "Don't let them turn tragedy into an excuse for war." Such was his disgust with the United States that he could not even allow students an hour's worth of peace to mourn.

Like the rest of the hard left, Snehal has adopted the Palestinians as his latest cause and currently is a leader of the campus club Students for Justice in Palestine. Though the group hides under the claim that it is only anti-Zionist rather than anti-Semitic, an examination of its actions shows otherwise. It is an open supporter of the terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah whose explicit agendas are the destruction of the Jewish state, and it regularly appropriates the images of the Holocaust to harass the campus Jewish community. This year, Snehal and his cohorts in Students for Justice in Palestine advertised a demonstration on campus to be held on Holocaust Remembrance Day with flyers that featured large photos of Polish Jews being herded by Nazis juxtaposed with a photo of an Israeli soldier warily watching several kaffiyeh wearing Palestinians. The caption read, "Do not let it happen again."

During that demonstration, in spite of the howls from Jewish onlookers, one of the speakers said the Kaddish, the traditional Jewish prayer of mourning, for the Palestinians who had been killed by the Israeli army. Students for Justice in Palestine members, many (including Snehal, who is not Palestinian) wearing the kaffiyeh in the style of the terrorists, then proceeded to take over Wheeler Hall, one of the major academic buildings on campus. Snehal was quoted describing building occupations as positive and claiming that the protesters were using "critical thinking tools" to encourage economic divestment from Israel (which they regularly and falsely describe as an "apartheid" state). This year's occupation led to the arrest of 79 protesters including one who was charged with felony assault on a police officer and to the temporary banning of Students for Justice in Palestine as a student group (within a month the UC Administration had rescinded the ban). At a follow-up rally protesting the arrests, Hatem Bazian, a lecturer in the Middle East Studies department and member of Students for Justice in Palestine stated, to the approval of the crowd, "If you want to know where the pressure on the university [i.e., to prosecute the trespassers who were arrested] is coming from, look at the Jewish names on the school buildings." (UC Berkeley is a state institution whose main buildings are Sproul Hall, Dwinelle Hall and Wheeler Auditorium.)

Around the same time as these events, Jews in Berkeley were the targets of a rash of anti-Semitic attacks. Two orthodox Jews were set upon and beaten, the Hillel center had a brick thrown through its window, and several synagogues received bomb threats. Flyers comparing the Israeli army to the KKK appeared around campus, and several had "kill Jews" scrawled on them. he conditions were serious enough that many Jewish students removed their yarmulkes so that they would not be the next targets. The UC Administration, which is normally hypersensitive to the least slight against ethnic groups, sat on its hands. At the ame time it removed its ban from the criminal trespassers, tudents for Justice in Palestine, and reinstated the group as a student organization.

Final exams begin next week at Berkeley, and students will depart for whatever summer adventures await them. Some will graduate, and others will return in the fall, where they will find "English instructor" Snehal Shingavi, his arms full of copies of the ISO's newspaper The Socialist Worker along with flyers supporting the latest round of Palestinian terrorism, or perhaps some entirely new anti-American cause. Snehal will be tending to the revolutionary business at hand, while rushing off to teach his "English" section and indoctrinate the unsuspecting freshman who sign up for "The Politics and Poetics of Palestinian Resistance."

---------

Rory Miller is graduating this month from the University of
California Berkeley and will attend UCLA Law School in the fall.
He writes for the California Patriot magazine at Berkeley and
maintains a news/commentary site at http://angryclam.blogspot.com

 

[hopfen]

Diversity of Thought

Interesting URL....

http://www.diversityofthought.com/

 

[deliciously_naughty]

Ummmm....guys????? We're talking about U.C. BERKLEY
Home to student protests, exceptionally liberal poltics and home (at least in heart) of the freedom of speech movement. Duh...if anyone would offer a course in Palestinian literature, it would be them.

To all those wondering why it belongs in the english department...that would be because a more apt name is "literature department". Let's not be snobs about what literature is appropriate or not. We take american, british, french, and russian lit courses in the English department. Why not Palestinian?

I would also like to stand up for all those graduate students out there. We teach those undergrad courses that profs don't WANT to teach b/c they're generally full of snot nosed, know it all freshman. And because we need professional experience so we can get jobs when we finish our doctorates. We also don't teach courses we're not qualified to teach. If it happens, well...whoever is doing the hiring isn't doing their job. And I've had horrible profs and great grad students as well as the reverse. Only having your MA as opposed to a PhD doesn't make you less qualified...only younger.

What's with the right wing contingent on this board? For people with such open minds about sex...you certainly have closed minds about the rest of the world and what's going on in it.

 

[deliciously_naughty]

One last thought

Cheyenne

For someone who uses a symbol of freedom and tolerance as their av you don't come across as a very tolerant person. You may want to think that one through. Just a suggestion.

 

[IA951]

Cheyenne

I agree with you on this one.

It's downright disgusting that these America haters are allowed to shit all over everything you hold dear.
Spit in your face and tell you that there is not a damn thing you can do about it.

Diversity is perversity people.

 

[Cheyenne]

Re: One last thought

Cheyenne

For someone who uses a symbol of freedom and tolerance as their av you don't come across as a very tolerant person. You may want to think that one through. Just a suggestion.

Thanks, newbie. Check it again, I posted the article for discussion a few months ago. You're a little late in getting to the thread.

 

[deliciously_naughty]

Just b/c I'm just making a comment now doesn't make my comment less valid. And you didn't address a damn thing I said...and calling me a newbie as your way of dealing with an opposing viewpoint just makes you a bitch

have a nice day

 

[IA951]

Just b/c I'm just making a comment now doesn't make my comment less valid. And you didn't address a damn thing I said...and calling me a newbie as your way of dealing with an opposing viewpoint just makes you a bitch

have a nice day

I smell a cat fight....

 

[Marquis]

Sub23 for the record, I agree with you that Cheyenne's response to you was inappropriate. However I would like to know what you found in her original posts to show she was intolerant.

I would also like to know why you think the people on this forum have shown close-mindedness or conservatism on this issue. Peoples political polarization of this issue never ceases to amaze me.

and IA951 I would love to know what you meant when you said diversity is perversity.