NC Hillel Provides Plan to Address Anti-Israel Bias at UNC-Chapel Hill
Group Recommends Six-Step Framework for Jewish Students to Thrive
Chapel Hill, NC – August 26, 2021 – North Carolina (NC) Hillel is urging the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) administration to take concrete steps to foster a positive environment in which Jewish students can live, learn and share their identities free of harassment or intimidation. Last week, Hillel leaders met with senior members of the administration and encouraged them to address concerns about the academic freedom of Jewish and pro-Israel students taking a class on the Middle East conflict taught by a graduate student instructor with significant anti-Israel biases.
Earlier this month, NC Hillel expressed concern in response to a history course called “Conflict Over Israel and Palestine” (HIST 277) taught by a non-PhD graduate student instructor who has made public, extreme and at times antisemitic statements about Israel. The instructor has called those with whom she disagrees “Zionist dirtbags” and other epithets. She denies Israel’s historic reality, asserts that “there is only 1 legitimate side – the oppressed,” and maintains that any position other than hers is morally reprehensible. Students have reported being penalized, scolded, shamed and harassed by the instructor.
Following the meeting, NC Hillel leaders and Mark B. Rotenberg, Hillel International Vice President of University Initiatives and Legal Affairs, sent a letter to the administration explaining that a graduate student who demonstrates such basic disregard for academic restraint and respect for diversity of viewpoints “is not ready to be offered the privilege of teaching in a UNC classroom.”
“There are at least two reasons why UNC must take immediate steps to assure that this instructor is not permitted to teach this course in this manner,” the letter said. “First, the instructor’s public remarks make a mockery of foundational principles of academic freedom. Second, while the College has an interest in offering its graduate students practice teaching opportunities, it has a paramount interest in safeguarding the rights of its undergraduate students to a classroom environment free of bias, intimidation, and enforced orthodoxy of viewpoint, especially on contested political matters such as the Mideast conflict.”
The letter recommended a six-step action plan to help the university protect Jewish students’ rights: 1) Requiring the instructor of HIST 277 to affirm that she invites a diversity of viewpoints, including Zionist perspectives, in her classroom and will respect and encourage disagreements; 2) Requiring the instructor of HIST 277 to affirm that bullying and personal attacks against pro-Israel students will not be tolerated and providing students information about the EOC reporting process to file bias complaints; 3) Assigning an experienced faculty member to play a hands-on role in the class and ensuring diversity of readings including Zionist perspectives; 4) Recording class sessions so there is a record in the event a student complaint is filed; 5) Carefully reviewing student evaluations to determine whether the course was free of harassment, bullying, or intimidation; and 6) Issuing a public statement affirming Jewish and Zionist students’ rights to an academic environment free of intimidation.
NC Hillel also recommended that the university partner with them to participate in Hillel International’s Campus Climate Initiative, which is designed to assist universities across the country to foster a climate of respect for Jewish and all other students.