September 2009
After months of controversy, UCSB has terminated the
investigation against global studies and sociology professor William Robinson.
Since January, Robinson — who came under fire for
forwarding online material to his students that compared Israeli soldiers to
Nazis — has been the focal point of a highly publicized debate on academic
freedom. The affair ended on June 24, however, when UCSB officials announced
they had dismissed the case and cleared Robinson of all charges.
According to UCSB Executive Vice Chancellor Gene
Lucas, the Academic Senate Charges Committee found no cause to discipline
Robinson.
“The Committee did not find probable cause to
undertake disciplinary action in this matter,” Lucas wrote in a letter to
Robinson on June 24. “I have accepted the findings of the Charges Committee.
Accordingly, this matter is now terminated.”
The case against Robinson arose when two of his
students dropped his class (SOC130, the Sociology of Globalization) after
receiving the material from the course list server, which included a statement
written by Robinson as well as a forwarded Internet photo essay. “Gaza is
Israel’s Warsaw—a vast concentration camp that confined and blockaded
Palestinians,” Robinson wrote. “… We are witness to a slow-motion process of
genocide.”
The two students filed complaints with UCSB stating
that Robinson had unfairly pushed anti-Semitic material on them. An ad hoc
committee was then formed to investigate the professor on the grounds of faculty
misconduct and abusing academic freedom by feeding his students propaganda.
Although the case has been swept under the carpet by
the university, almost everyone who took part in the entangled argument has a
sour outlook on the events.
Professor Robinson declined to comment, but
according to a press release from the Committee to Defend Academic Freedom at
UCSB — a student group formed in support of Robinson — he may be filing
grievances with the university for the manner in which they handled his case.
Daniel Olmos, a sociology graduate student and CDAF
member, said the whole ordeal has had a chilling effect on UCSB. He said the
case has raised concerns within the academic community about the influence of
pro-Israel groups such as StandWithUs and the Anti-Defamation League.
“We’re happy that this case is dropped,” Olmos said.
“However, what we’d like is for the university to ensure that we can trust the
process, and that this is a safe campus for discussion. I guarantee [that] other
TAs and other professors are concerned about what they are going to put on their
syllabi because they are asking themselves, ‘Am I going to get attacked by the
Israeli lobby?”
Two days before the case was dropped, SWU — an
international nonprofit Israel education organization — delivered a petition to
the UCSB administration that had 6,000 signatures stating public support for the
case. After hearing UCSB’s decision, SWU International Director Roz Rothstein
said the university bungled the investigation.
“We are surprised and disappointed that UCSB chose
not to uphold their standards for professional conduct, and that it has blurred
the lines between responsible education and the peddling of propaganda,”
Rothstein said in a press release. “It is unfortunate that students will
continue to be victims of partisan indoctrination and misinformation.”
Some groups, such as Scholars for Peace in the
Middle East, have stated that Robinson should not be punished for what he
forwarded to his students, but reprimanded for his ignorance. An international
academic collective made up of over 28,000 academics, researchers and
professionals from around the world, SPME released a statement last Monday, June
29 voicing concerns about Robinson.
“…Professor William Robinson committed no infraction
worthy of further charges or sanctions,” the release said. “Nevertheless, we
feel obligated, as faculty colleagues, to point out that… a tenured professor
chose to draw such exploitive analogies and to impose them on his students
raises serious questions about his judgment and the value of his teaching.
Concern for academic freedom does not justify or erase what is clearly and
profoundly flawed pedagogy.”
However, the Foundation for Individual Rights in
Education — a nonprofit education organization based in Philadelphia — called
the investigation of Robinson an egregious violation of the First Amendment and
academic freedom standards in a letter to Chancellor Henry T. Yang on June 10.
Meanwhile, Cyndi Silverman, regional director of the
ADL, said she hopes the university ultimately learns a lesson from this saga.
“I think it’s unfortunate that there wasn’t some
kind of recognition of what [Robinson] had done wrong,” Silverman said. “I think
that the students need some kind of a program on campus to help them understand
what is academic freedom, and how it can be violated by faculty members
espousing their own political agendas.” Olmos said the CDAF expects the
university administration to review the Academic Senate’s investigation
procedures and to hold an educational conference about academic freedom for
students next year. Additionally, Olmos said, the CDAF believes that a number of
people unduly politicized the university investigation when it was underway and
that the university needs to identify and discipline those individuals.
Daily Nexus, Issue 40, Vol 89, July 15, 2009. http://www.dailynexus.com/article.php?a=19191.
Help us maintain freedom in teaching, research and scholarship by joining SAFS or making a donation.
