I’ve been working on a theory that JHS is Hunt, but from the evil universe…
@JHS Clearly the class ""espouses a single political viewpoint and/or appears to offer a forum for political organizing rather than an opportunity for the kind of open academic inquiry that Berkeley is known for.”
Or at least Berkeley thinks it may, which is why it’s under review.
The final presentation (30% of the grade!) fairly well illustrates that point. The presentation must champion decolonization and none of this two-state solution nonsense…
So… Is this a free speech issue or not?
Seems like this course is taught on the same basis as Oberlin’s “Experimental College(EXCO)” courses offered by students and Oberlin College community members teaching courses not offered by the faculty.
In that case, so long as the course has a faculty sponsor and no glaring issues, such courses are usually approved.
Keep in mind that there are other courses/subjects which are taught with what many would consider to be a one-sided bias.
For instance, one common complaint I’ve heard from HS classmates and college classmates…including those who hold pro-free market views on economics is how many Econ Profs(Prof. Mankiw of Harvard) and even entire Econ departments(UChicago) either practically ignore or give extremely short shrift to different Economic theories such as Keynesianism.
Some found they learned more about Keynesianism from Profs in other social science fields like Poli-Sci/History and/or from more applied fields like Public Policy.
Some of them were surprised the summer Econ class I took at an elite college covered Keynesianism in some reasonable depth despite the fact our text was authored by pro-Chicago school oriented Prof. Mankiw. Then again, the instructor was mostly educated in Western Europe and felt he needed to compensate for the excessive pro-Chicago school orientation at the elite college’s Econ department and many US Economics departments. He also didn’t stay very long in that department as he’s now an Econ Prof at a Western European U.
In this respect, I don’t see that course syllabus as being very different beyond being more straightforward and less “diplomatic” in how it exhibits this one-sidedness.
Moreover, from my observation such stridently one-sided courses tend to have students who are very self-selecting like Economics*. Vast majority tend to be true believers or “fellow-travelers/sympathizers” of the course’s one-sided bias. Those who disagreed with the course/field’s insistent orthodoxy tend to opt out of taking such courses.
- Most Econ majors I knew....especially from my HS/college years tend to be enthusiastic fans of Milton Friedman or other free market libertarians like Ludwig Von Mises or Friedrich Hayek.
Sorry, @Hunt …
@JHS I do not believe that your linguistical analysis proved that current Palestinians are the same people as the old biblical tribe.
Based on all recent events at UCB I suspect you could skip a rally at your own risk
And make sure you do not write a review of “90 Minutes at Entebbe” or something
As you know, dstark, free speech is inhibited when the government prohibits or punishes speech. The govt (in the form of UCB here) is not prohibiting this man from holding these views or speaking them in his private life; they just aren’t obligated to “host” and pay him in a college classroom to air / teach those views.
A somewhat but not fully analogous situation is that of Prof Arthur Butz, a noted Holocaust denier, who is a prof of EECS at Northwestern. The university cannot prevent him from holding those views in his private life, but they can and have (successfully) told him to keep a lid on it in the context of his classroom teaching. They can require that his classroom scope stay confined to EECS and not his views on Holocaust history (which, in fairness, by all accounts the guy has adhered to). I feel pretty confident given how you’ve talked about free speech in other discussions that you wouldn’t be arguing that he should have the latitude of the classroom to preach Holocaust denial.
It’s more likely to be one considering UCB is a public university and thus, an effective arm of the government and the student teaching the course and faculty sponsor could argue UCB’s suspension of the course is an effective suppression of free speech and academic freedom for both of them…especially the student.
Whether their arguments will be validated if it goes to the court/judges in a potential lawsuit…who knows.
I am not a big fan of Holocaust denial speech. 
I am not a fan of Mankiw’s ten principles of economics because some of them are false.
What is taught in these schools?
No wonder our economy is so screwed up.
http://www.swlearning.com/economics/mankiw/principles2e/principles.html
So free speech issues are not relevant at private schools like Yale or the Univ of Chicago?
Or because these schools benefit from government support, free speech issues are relevant.
Is anybody here condemning what UC Berkeley did because of free speech issues?
Of course my linguistic analysis doesn’t prove that Palestinians are the same people as the old biblical tribe. It only proves that current Israelis (and Arabs) call them by the same name. That association is part of everyday life on all sides.
Today’s Macedonians may or may not be related by blood to Alexander the Great and his people, but no one complains too much when they are proud of their history. Ditto today’s Egyptians and the Pharaohs and pyramids. We don’t usually make a big deal about continuous genetic purity. Ethnic groups don’t generally remain pure when they are living cheek-by-jowl and occasionally raiding each other’s villages for wives, or migrating to avoid famine. By the same token, I would be surprised if I were a “pure” genetic descendant of the Hebrews who entered Canaan with Joshua, even if on analysis I am 99% Eastern European Jewish. But I sure feel connected to them.
Dstark, free speech does not mean I am owed a platform for my speech. I can stand on a street corner and pass out leaflets for XYZ but that doesn’t mean my local public u (or private u) is obligated to provide me with a forum (classroom or lecture hall) and/or pay me for it.
So if a professor says go wear any Halloween costume you want even if the costume is offensive, and the school says to the professor to go find another job, this isn’t a free speech issue because the professor doesn’t have free speech in his setting?
@dstark see my post #4. The university controls what is taught in the class room. The professor is free, outside of class to pontificate on Halloween costumes, but he can’t make it a subject of his statics class.
This is NOT a free speech issue. It’s a question of the university approving or not approving the class. They make the call, not the professor or students.
Dstark. The govt wasn’t involved at all as a player in the Yale Christakis controversy. As a private university, Yale could theoretically ban the wearing of any Halloween costumes (the same way a religious school could ban pants on women or beards on men) and it would pass constitutional muster.
Dstark, I feel like your opinions change with the wind. Sometimes you’re all pro free speech and other times you aren’t.
Do we all agree that UCB has a right to review syllabi / course content and ask for revisions before a class is taught, to ensure some degree of academic merit and rigor and non-partisanship? Or is that “censoring free speech”?
Pizzagirl, ok.
Gator88NE, I have talked to a few professors. They tell me once the classroom door closes, they can teach what they want in that classroom as long as it relates to the subject matter.
JHS, Miller’s words may not have been well chosen but the point he was trying to make is that the ancient Philistines originated in the Aegean and practiced customs that were quite different and distinct from their Middle Eastern neighbors. Very little is known about the Philistines but a very recent excavation in Ashkelon has uncovered a Philistine cemetery. From what I have read, much of what we have thought about the Philistines is about to be turned on its head. It sounds fascinating. I encourage everyone to read more about it.
As to the linguistic connection, as I understood it and from the article above, the region in which the “Sea People” or Peleset lived was a major port area, including Ashdod, Ekron, Gath, and Gaza (currently Southern Israel). The region became known in the Hebrew Bible as the land of the "Palestu " the origin of the modern term “Palestine.”
So no, Philistine is not the same as Palestine and unless we are going to count years of intermarriage and conversions, Philistine is not the same as modern day Palestinian any more than modern day Jews equate themselves with the tribe.
@Pizzagirl, I said the student at Yale did not look at her situation as a free speech issue.
I have written I don’t know where I draw the line on some of these issues. I am never all free speech because situations matter.
I don’t think anybody really is for all free speech so we are just discussing where to draw the lines.
I read through that syllabus and I am very sad. This could have been a wonderful class and a vehicle to expand knowledge. It could have invited different speakers with opposing viewpoints and taught how to understand different perspectives and to look carefully at all the facts presented.
Instead, it’s nothing more than a predefined agenda and a vehicle for indoctrination of impressionable students who really want to understand the Israel-Palestine conflict.
It underscores to me why careful scholarship is so important and why a student-led class by students and professors with an agenda can close rather than open minds.