Student Asks Professor for Letter to Study Abroad in Israel. The Professor's Response is Coming Under Fire.
A professor for the University of Michigan is finding himself embroiled in quite the controversy after allowing his anti-Semitism to show by now writing a recommendation letter for a student who wanted to study abroad in Israel.
The professor originally agreed to pen the letter, then later changed his mind on the matter. Now, John Cheney-Lippold, is being publicly denounced for his actions by students, faculty, activists, and even lawmakers.
Looks like this man made a really, really bad decision.
Cheney-Lippold told the Michigan Daily that his boycott was a personal stance. “I support the boycott because I support solidarity,” he said. “I follow the idea that people who are being discriminated against or people who need help…. I feel compelled to help them. I was following a call by representatives of Palestinian civil society to boycott Israel in a very similar tactical frame as South Africa. The idea is that I support communities who organize themselves and ask for international support to achieve equal rights, freedom and to prevent violations of international law.”
In response to being accused of anti-Semitism, Cheney-Lippold said, “the perennial claim of anti-Semitism I fully deny.” He added: “I have no bad will against the student, and I would have very gladly written a letter for any other graduate program or study abroad.”
He continued: “As a professor, I’m not just a machine writing things for people. I have opinions and even though a letter of recommendation is about the student, a lot of thought goes into them. It’s not a blank check where I’m signing for them to go to any place they want, it is a dialogue. It’s what the University is about, talking through differences and really figuring out where each other stands, not expecting something or assuming something, but really trying to get into what is the key difference.”
In a statement on their website, Michigan said “the university has consistently opposed any boycott of Israeli institutions of higher education,” adding, “injecting personal politics into a decision regarding support for our students is counter to our values and expectations as an institution.”
Advertisement - story continues below“No academic department or any other unit at the University of Michigan has taken a stance that departs from this long-held university position.”
Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, took to Twitter to deliver his critique of the professor and his boycott, calling his actions unacceptable.
“A student striving to learn and further their education should never be a victim of personal bias,” he wrote. “The University needs to publicly clarify it opposes the academic boycott of Israel.”
The radical left in this country, which has found a home on the campuses of our universities and colleges, has a real chip on its shoulder when it comes to the nation of Israel.
While much of this probably has something to do with the roots of progressivism being similar to those grounded in racist ideologies like Nazism, a good chunk of the anti-Israel sentiment in America is due to a clouded view of Israel as a colonialist nation who is evicting the Palestinians from land that they think rightfully belongs to them.
This isn’t the truth, at all, but facts have never gotten in the way of liberal thinking in the past, so why start now?
The land was rightfully Israel’s, and that’s why they returned to it. Maybe one day the left will get a clue.
Source: Daily Wire
