Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Chicago Professor Fired for Allowing Questions about Judaism and Islam
From a July 17th article on the International Middle East Media Center about the firing of Douglas Giles by Roosevelt University in Chicago:
In these phone calls, she, as department chair, told me to change my World Religions curriculum to exclude certain opinions and facts: Students should not be allowed to ask whatever questions they want in class. Nothing should be mentioned in class, textbooks, or examinations that could possibly open up Judaism to criticism, especially any mention in any context of Zionism. Nothing related to Palestinians or Islamic beliefs about Jerusalem should be mentioned. Discussion of Zionism or the Palestinian issue was "disrespectful to any Jews in the class"
I replied that those restrictions would lead to a biased class. She then made a series of disparaging comments about Palestinians concluding with the following: "I hear you even allowed a Muslim to speak in class." "Yes, of course, I allowed all students to speak, regardless of their religion!" "You shouldn't! What disturbs me is that you act like the Palestinians have a side in this. They don't have a side! They are ANIMALS (emphasis hers) ! They strap bombs to their bodies and blow up women and children! They are NOT CIVILIZED! (emphasis hers)"
