I don’t know, @Gator88NE , and I’m not defending the class, but @CCDD14 's characterization of the syllabus was demonstrably false.
@Pizzagirl: I took a quick look at UCB’s [Event Calendar](http://events.berkeley.edu/?view=quick&timeframe=month&date=2016-11-01&tab=all_events) and actually couldn’t see any Palestinian-themed events. Maybe they’ll be added later?
It’s interesting this “need to present balanced views” isn’t called for nearly as often or with as much vehemence in other academic fields such as Economics which is so heavily dominated by the Chicago School or similar Economic libertarian perspectives that alternative economic theories such as Keynesianism is practically ignored or given short shrift.
One good example of this is Prof. Gregory Mankiw’s econ textbooks used in many intro/intermediate Econ courses throughout the US.
There are also specialized theory classes in various fields such as a Marxist theory course in poli-sci which goes into great depth covering Marxism to the point it would be absurd to attempt to provide “balance” not only because of balance reasons, but also because it is assumed students taking such courses have had enough prior education and initiative to have the background on other competing political theories or to seek out such information without insisting on expending time from that Marxist theory…or any other specialized theory course be spent covering it.
You have literally zero idea what you are talking about when it comes to economics. Please stop.
FYI, I used his textbooks in an undergrad econ class and still have them on a bookshelf.
His textbooks have a definite pro-Chicago school theory bias. Considering Milton Friedman and his fellow travellers were quite dismissive of Keynesianism, it’s not too surprising that Prof. Mankiw would exhibit some of that bias in his own books.
pizzagirl - of course not! and I am certain you have gay friends…
Just interesting to me -how lately, as my gay son has found, free speech- in the context of the classroom, somehow usually devolves into an admonishment of lgbt … inclusive of images of hell and slurs… those special snowflakes looking for safe spaces… 
How can Berkley balance or should Berkley provide balanced views?? Now that is the question of modern day university it seems …
There are two Arab-focused (not necessarily specifically Palestinian) student groups that are not overtly political (Arab Student Union, Arab Recruitment and Retention Center) and a group called the Olive Tree Initiative which “aims to engage w/ the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through the lens of multi-perspective, experiential education. Not a partisan or activism-based group, we hope to provide a safe space for all students to learn about and discuss conflict resolution.”
In addition, there is the overtly political and partisan Students for Justice in Palestine. Other overtly political and partisan organizations on the Israeli - Palestinian conflict include Tikvah and J Street U.
I personally don’t have a problem with UCB suspending this class, but I also don’t have a problem with universities uninviting speakers and creating safe spaces. It seems like many people are also okay with the former, but not with the latter, but I can’t really tell.
Well, runswimyoga, given that I don’t believe in hell, it would be mighty hard for me to think that gays will be condemned to it. I’m sorry if you were offended. It was truly a hypothetical. If you look at the totality of my posts, it’s overwhelmingly clear that I’ve been a supporter of gay marriage from day one.
Ok, I see you have edited your post.
Sorry, but I’ll take my own experiences with Prof. Mankiw’s Econ textbooks in the Econ class I took and the words of dozens of HS/college classmates who were Econ majors and/or Econ PhD students/faculty over your casual assertion.
Of the Econ grad students/faculty, some recounted being told by their undergrad advisors that if they wanted to emphasize or focus on economic theories outside the Chicago School which has become the effective orthodoxy within most US Econ departments without being marginalized without much faculty support or to find a “balance”, they may need to consider switching to areas like Public Policy or do their graduate work abroad in areas like Western Europe where the Chicago School oisn’t nearly as predominant within Econ departments.
If the Chicago School believers wanted to throw the Keynesians into the sea, then you might have a point.
According to Econ majors/grad students and a few Econ Profs I’ve known, the Chicago School orthodoxy has become so predominant in most US Econ departments that those who wish to focus on other economic theories like Keynesianism have effectively been marginalized to the point of near-exile in most US Econ departments. Hence the advice some Econ grad student friends and faculty received from undergrad advisors and other Econ faculty at conferences to go into Public Policy or to do their Econ graduate work abroad rather than in the US to find “more balanced” departments.
Where, specifically? I learned about both schools of economics as an Econ major at Northwestern. My D learned about both as an Econ major at Wellesley, and my S learned about both as an Econ minor at Northwestern. There were academic debates over the merits of each, of course, but neither was “marginalized.”
^^ I mean literally throw them into the sea, not marginalize them by shunning them at academic conference breakfasts.
From what I’ve gathered, the exclusion is much more than merely being excluded from academic conference breakfasts.
One example is the blatant imbalance in intro/intermediate econ textbooks like the ones I used for the Econ class I took and which my Western European educated instructor felt was so imbalanced he felt the need to go out of his way to point out/critique the imbalance and provide more in depth instruction in Keynesianism than what was present in the textbook or other sections of that very course at the elite U. I should mention Mankiw’s Intro/Intermediate Econ textbooks were the standard across all sections of this and more advanced courses in the intro-intermediate Econ series at this elite U.
HS classmates who took Econ classes or were Econ majors were actually surprised and a bit envious I had an instructor willing to go much further than their Econ Profs did.
Unfortunately for future students at that elite U, my econ instructor got hired with tenure and a promotion at the Econ department of a Western European U not too long after I took his course.
Perhaps the economics related posts should be split into its own thread?
^ ^
Was using my econ texbook and class experience and those of Econ majors at undergrad/grad/faculty levels to illustrate the point that the issue of “lack of balance” isn’t limited to more politically controversial courses like the suspended one on Palestinian Decolonization in OP.
Berkeley Resumes Palestine Course