A Brooklyn College Professor Weighs in on the Petersen-Overton Controversy

By Published On: February 8, 2011

brooklyn.college.jpg
Brooklyn College

Brooklyn College Professor of Philosophy Emerita Abigail Rosenthal has written a letter to the National Association of Scholars arguing that due process rather than academic freedom is the main issue in the controversial case of Kristofer Petersen-Overton, a 26-year-old pro-Palestinian activist and 2nd year grad student who was hired to teach a course about the Middle East and Arab-Israeli conflict. The Professor writes:

Due process was not followed in the hire. (A second-year student in the PhD program is under-credentialed to teach a graduate course, & his course syllabus, which included a history component, wasn’t cleared with the History Dept.) Due process was also not followed in his firing. I think due process, rather than academic freedom, was the main issue here.

She notes that “it’s probable that the Political Science Dept.’s rush to hire Petersen-Overton was connected to his views” and comments on the one-sided sanctioning of opinion and the hostile atmosphere for Jewish students on campus .

It seems to me that by now the campus has generated a hostile atmosphere for Jewish students & has conveyed the message (via the orientation text, via political theatre on campus, via this now-underscored hire, via the expanded “Israel Apartheid Week”), to students & faculty, that only one political view has official sanction, from the effective faculty & administration.

Read Professor Rosenthal’s letter here.

We expose the anti-Israel lies so you don't have to. But we can't do it without your help. Join the fight -- Donate now
CAMERA logo
Tell the World – Share Now!

More from SNAPSHOTS

  • LA Times’ Joshua Mitnick Casts Palestinian Attackers as Victims

    September 21, 2016

    In his report today on recent Palestinian violence, The Los Angeles Times' Joshua Mitnick obscures the fact that all of the Palestinians killed in the last few days, along with the majority of those killed [...]

  • As Abbas Denies Palestinian Incitement, US State Department Attests to Phenomenon

    September 19, 2016

    On Sunday, Mahmoud Abbas insisted that the latest wave of Palestinian terror attacks against Israelis is a natural consequence of despair. "Don’t trust those who say there are efforts to push them or incite them," [...]

  • Bad Headlines Follow Palestinian Terror

    September 18, 2016

    Update, 4 p.m. EST: Forward, Voice of America Correct Headlines on Palestinian Attacks The spate of terror attacks in Israel over the weekend was accompanied by additional examples of the usual bad headlines depicting the [...]

  • CAMERA Letter Writers Have Impact

    September 17, 2016

    In the weekend WSJ, four letters were published pointing out the hypocrisy and counter-productive nature of the BDS movement that seeks to destroy Israel. All four were written by outstanding CAMERA Letter Writers. To sign [...]

  • UPDATED: Anti-Anti-Israel News

    September 17, 2016

    Last week, two significant anti-Israel programs were blocked within 24 hours of being publicized. The first was a pro- Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) event scheduled to take place on Friday, September 16th on Capitol [...]

  • USA Today Image Blurs Reality on Israeli Counterterror Raids

    September 12, 2016

    A photograph in USA Today’s Aug. 17, 2016 “World In Brief” section showed two Palestinian children peering through a broken glass window but was accompanied by misleading text. The image, credited to AFP photographer Hazem [...]

  • The Washington Post and Baltimore Sun Highlight U.S. Trade Mission to Israel

    September 12, 2016

    The Washington Post’s “Hogan plans trade mission to see Israeli start-ups” (Sept. 8, 2016) provided readers with a look at how Maryland is seeking to learn from the Jewish state’s culture of business innovation. The [...]

  • Threat from Terrorist Groups is the ‘Most Serious since 9/11 Attacks’

    September 12, 2016

    Al-Qaeda head Ayman al-Zawahiri The United States and Europe are confronted with a terrorist threat which is greater than “at any point since the Sept. 11 attacks 15 years ago,” according to a Sept. 9, [...]

  • Rarely Highlighted in the Mainstream Media are Genuine Palestinian Peace-Seekers

    September 12, 2016

    Sheikh Abdullah TamimiOne topic that is rarely covered in the mainstream media are attempts by genuine Palestinian peace-seekers to find a solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Unlike PA leader Mahmoud Abbas, who is usually the [...]

  • Biased Reuters, AFP Captions on Disputed Gaza Death

    September 11, 2016

    UPDATE, 5 pm EST: AFP, Reuters Add IDF’s Account to Captions on Disputed Gaza Death Both Reuters and Agence France Presse, major photo services with thousands of clients across the world, published incomplete, tendentious captions [...]