Hundreds of University of Pennsylvania alumni sent a letter to the Ivy League’s interim president, Larry Jameson, on Tuesday, demanding that eight professors who spouted anti-Semitic “hate speech” be punished.
The group named each of the eight lecturers, identified in the 22-page memo as “professors,” for their alleged involvement in anti-Israel sentiment in the months since the Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel by Hamas. requested an individual investigation.
The signatories claim that nearly all of the professors have left behind evidence in their digital papers of either support for Hamas-adjacent discourse or praise for Israel amid ongoing wars in the Middle East.
Some professors also participated in physical gatherings at the school, alumni said.
For example, political science professor Anne Norton shared a series of controversial posts and retweets, including supporting one that claimed Jews are best at “playing the victim.”
The widely publicized debacle cost Ms. Norton funding from financial financier Henry Jackson and his wife, Stacey, who had supported her since 2018 through a presidential professorship.
When contacted by the Post last month, Norton asked to see the alumni’s letter before commenting. She did not immediately respond when she tried to follow up with a final draft of the letter on Tuesday.
Huda Fakhreddin, an associate professor of Arabic literature, was also criticized for claiming against X, “Israel is anti-Semitic, anti-human, anti-children, anti-life!” He also compared Gaza to a Nazi concentration camp.
British professor Ania Loumba was criticized for taking part in a pro-Palestinian rally on campus, and Mohamed Alghamdi, assistant professor of clinical pathology and laboratory medicine, was arrested after tearing up a hostage poster.
Loomba, who, like Norton, is on leave for the spring 2023 semester, did not immediately return a request to see the letter for further information from The Post on Tuesday.
Dwayne Booth, a lecturer at the Annenberg School of Communication, created and shared a series of cartoons protesting the Gaza counterattack, which many considered anti-Semitic.
One painting shows Israeli and American leaders drinking Gazan blood and asking, “Who invited the anti-Semites?” while gazing at a dove holding an olive branch, a symbol of peace. The situation was described.
Outrage over Booth’s caricatures inspired interim President Jameson. make a statement In February, he called the cartoons “reprehensible” but supported academic freedom for educators.
“As a political cartoonist, and having done extensive research into the function and history of satirical and explanatory art for over 30 years, I can confirm that my work criticizes the Israeli state’s attacks on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. “I can. Nothing I do outside of the classroom is ‘hate speech,’ but it may be upsetting to people who don’t agree with me,” Booth told the Post when asked about the alumni letter. Ta.
“Furthermore, in having taught approximately 1,000 students over the past 10 years, I have never received any accusations from any student, teaching assistant, or colleague with whom I have interacted that would support such baseless and inflammatory claims. “It has never been done,” Booth added. .
After Booth himself saw the alumni’s letter, he said he praised the alumni’s problematic comments to “thousands of readers…many of whom were Jewish.”
Professor Fatemeh Shams, who was accused of saying in the letter that “Israelis” deserved the October 7 terrorist attack, also dismissed the allegations as “patently unfounded and false”. He said they were “nothing but defamation and defamation.” ”
“Targeting professors exercising their fundamental right to academic freedom through letters and lawsuits like this is an example of hate speech, racism, sexism, and Islamophobia,” Shams wrote.
“We hope that graduates of our institutions will devote their resources and efforts to defending academic freedom rather than perpetuating a culture of hatred, censorship, and unwarranted surveillance of educators who are committed to fostering independent critical thinking. I hope you turn around,” she added.
However, the feelings of the graduates were clearly different.
“Freedom of speech is paramount, but there is a fine line between it and hate speech,” the alumni signatories asserted.
The former students addressed the letter to Dr Jameson, who took over as interim president when Liz McGill resigned in December. It comes days after she told a parliamentary committee that her calls for the slaughter of Jewish students may not be hate speech and that it “depends on the context.” ”
“True leadership, from the top to the bottom, means being able to differentiate between the two and maintain that distinction no matter the outcome. We haven’t seen anything like that yet at Penn,” it said in a statement sent Tuesday. The letter states:
Alumni say administrators defended hate speech allegations under the umbrella of “free speech” while faculty violated the university’s faculty handbook and professional standards by inciting anti-Semitic rhetoric. He claimed to have given permission.
The graduates demanded that the “professors” be subject to seven different punishments, including being required to record their classes, relocating their offices outside of the UP Pencil building, and not being allowed to serve in any advisory role.
Alumni argued that all proposed discipline is consistent with what is written in the faculty handbook.
Last year, a disciplinary committee suspended Penn State Carey Law Professor Amy Wax from the University of Pennsylvania for a year, fired her designated committee chair, and imposed other disciplinary sanctions on her for years of anti-Black bias. was punished.
The backlash Ms. Wax received for her comments, including claiming she had never seen a black student graduate in the top quarter of her class, was a clear sign that other professors would be similarly reprimanded. The graduates argued that this had set a precedent.
Wax requested a copy of the letter to the alumni association before commenting last month. He did not immediately respond to The Post’s follow-up request on Tuesday.
The University of Pennsylvania also did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the letter.
