University of Minnesota Withdraws Hiring Anti-Israel Professor to Head Holocaust Center
“Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza is quite explicit, open, and unashamed”
If this is happening in Minnesota, perhaps the tide is finally turning.
Campus Reform reports:
University walks back hiring of Holocaust center director who accused Israel of ‘genocide’
The University of Minnesota recently withdrew its decision to hire Raz Segal of Stockton University as its new director for the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies because he previously called Israel’s military actions in Gaza a “textbook case of genocide.”
The move comes in response to an open letter signed by hundreds of faculty at UMN and other schools, who criticized the university’s plan to hire Segal, an outspoken critic of Israel who has voiced support for recent anti-Israel demonstrations across the US.
“This is an outrageous violation of both academic freedom and the integrity of the faculty hiring process,” the faculty members wrote. “These objections to Dr. Segal’s appointment stem from a political disagreement with his academic scholarship, his perspective as a scholar of genocide and his defense of anti-genocide protest.”
Interim UMN president Jeff Ettinger stressed the importance of listening to the opinions of faculty and students in considering potential new hires because of the “community-facing and leadership” responsibilities attached to the role.
“In the past several days, additional members of the University community have come forward to express their interest in providing perspective on the hiring of the posit[i]on of Director of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies,” Ettinger reportedly wrote in a statement. “Because of the community-facing and leadership role the Director holds, [i]t is important that these voices are heard.”
In October of 2023, Segal wrote an op-ed condemning Israel’s responses to the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, which in his view serve to perpetuate the “racist regime of Israeli apartheid.”
“Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza is quite explicit, open, and unashamed,” he wrote.
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Comments
only b/c the spotlight is on the roaches
Did it not occur to anyone BEFORE they hired him that maybe putting a dishonest lunatic in charge would be a bad idea?
Probably not, since it is likely that the people doing the hiring are also dishonest lunatics.
Probably not, since hundreds of faculty agree with the original decision and wrote protesting the decision to reopen the search.
This story as written is muddled. The 2cd and 3rd paragraphs directly contradict each other or have I read them wrong?
It’s muddled but I don’t see any contradiction.
The story is just plain wrong. It claims hundreds of faculty wrote to criticize the university’s plan to hire the antisemite, and that’s why the university backed off. That is the exact opposite of the truth: the criticism came from only two professors and some community groups, the university reopened the hiring process, and then hundreds of faculty wrote to criticize the university for not hiring him.
“If this is happening in Minnesota, perhaps the tide is finally turning.”
The guy’s a Holocaust Center Director.
I think it’s safe to suspect this might be a one-off.
U of MN was a cesspool of antisemitism when I was in law school there in late 70s. The Law School was not nearly as bad as the undergraduate campus, though it had its moments.
This is completely backwards. The pause in hiring the antisemite was in response to objections two professors and several community organizations. The letter by “hundreds of professors from the University and other higher education institutions around the world” was in response to this decision, was in support of hiring him, and criticized the handful of opponents.
Why does a university, particularly a public univ, need a “ Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies”?
so that lefty can see what they did wrong and learn from it
to get it right this time as they are doing it again
Start to worry if there’s a lab requirement.
The sad thing is that this antisemite is an Israeli Jew. A traitor to his people.
In other news, the future U of Minn. “Palestinian and Gaza Studies Center” will hire Bibi Netanyahu as its director.