N.Y. officials fire left-wing professor: Witch-hunt at Columbia

- by Jonah Birch

NEW YORK�S state government has escalated the attack on left-wing professors at Columbia University. The New York Department of Education (DOE) fired Professor Rashid Khalidi from a program that the DOE runs jointly with Columbia to help public school teachers discuss the situation in the Middle East with students.

Khalidi, a respected historian and director of Columbia�s Middle East Institute, hhas been targeted for his political views. He was fired just one day after the New York Sun, a right-wing tabloid, published an article blasting Khalidi for describing Israel as a �racist� state.

In a statement announcing Khalidi�s firing, DOE Chancellor Joel Klein made it clear that the Sun article played a direct role in the decision to fire Khalidi. �Considering his past statements,� read a statement from Klein�s office, �Rashid Khalidi should not have been included in a program that provided professional development for DOE teachers, and he won't be participating in the future.

Khalidi�s firing comes at a time when there has been intense right-wing pressure on professors in Columbia�s Middle Eastern and Asian Languages and Cultures (MEALAC) department. Just last week, in a speech at Columbia, U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, a Democrat from Brooklyn, reiterated his demand that the university fire Professor Joseph Massad--another focal point of the right-wing assaults because of his criticisms of Israel.

Columbia President Lee Bollinger criticized the DOE�s decision to fire Khalidi, calling it �a very, very serious matter.� But while Bollinger�s defense of Khalidi is welcome, he and other Columbia administrators remained largely silent about the attacks on Columbia�s left-wing professors and MEALAC to begin with.

At a discussion with students sponsored by the Columbia chaplain�s office last week, Provost Alan Brinkley denied that there was anything political about the university�s current investigation of MEALAC professors--a statement belied by the fact that the inquiry was launched amid an uproar orchestrated by right-wing and pro-Israel groups.

Brinkley also made it clear that the administration would not issue any statements defending the MEALAC professors--despite the intense harassment they have suffered. For example, in November, Massad received an e-mail from Professor of Medicine Moshe Rubin that read, �Go back to Arab land where Jew hating is condoned. Get the hell out of America. You are a disgrace and a pathetic typical Arab liar.�

Asked why the administration wasn�t investigating Rubin, Brinkley said that while he personally abhorred Rubin�s racism, the e-mail was a �private correspondence,� and was thus outside of the administration�s jurisdiction.

The right-wing attacks have sparked a wave of anger among Columbia students. The same day that Congressman Weiner spoke on campus, students from a range of campus groups came together to form a new coalition called Stop McCarthyism at Columbia (SMAC).

The day after its founding, SMAC distributed a flyer announcing, �We have come together to defend the professors at MEALAC and others from attacks by well-funded right-wing organizations, media outlets and pro-Israel activists, who are intent on silencing criticism of Israel and U.S. foreign policy. The attacks on Columbia professors are part of a nationwide assault on academic dissent that will lead to a new McCarthyism if left unchallenged.�

Meanwhile, the Columbia Antiwar Coalition is planning a debate with student supporters of the right-wing attacks on MEALAC, scheduled for March 9. And graduate students from the MEALAC and Anthropology departments are planning a teach-in on Palestine for later in the month.

The firing of Khalidi shows that we can�t rely on the Columbia administration or anyone else to protect left-wing voices on our campus. As Khalidi put it, �The sooner there's an organized response to these people who have absolutely no scruples about twisting the truth, the better.�

CAN is an endorser of the Week of Campus Resistance .