Stanford University in California has suspended a lecturer over allegations of him targeting students for their identities amid the ongoing war between Israel and Palestine-based militant group Hamas, reported Bloomberg on Saturday.
The lecturer, whose identity has not been revealed, allegedly branded Jewish students as “colonisers” and made them stand in a corner.
Co-presidents of Stanford’s Israeli Student Association told the San Francisco Chronicle that the lecturer opened his freshman classes on October 10, saying that the lesson would be colonialism.
He also blamed the war between Israel and Hamas on “Zionists” and reportedly justified the killing of more than 1,300 Israelis by Hamas militants on October 7, saying it was part of the resistance by Palestinians.
“He asked how many Jews died in the Holocaust,” Cohen said. “When someone said 6 million, he said, ‘Yes. Only 6 million.’”
Rabbi Dov Greenberg, director of the Chabad Stanford Jewish Center, said he spoke to three students in one of the classes, who corroborated the accounts.
“The teacher told the Jewish students to take their belongings, stand in a corner,” Greenberg told Jewish news outlet Forward. “(The teacher told them) This is what Israel does to the Palestinians.”
He said that the lecturer also dubbed Hamas as a “legitimate representation of the Palestinian people” and claimed that they were not a militant group, but freedom fighters.
Greenberg added that students were afraid to speak up in class out of fear that they would be penalised grade-wise by the lecturer.
“He’s saying Israel is worse than the Nazis and Hamas is innocent. This is what Jewish students face at Stanford and other places. They are feeling isolated, under attack and threatened,” Greenberg told Forward.
‘Cause for serious concern’
In a statement, Stanford University said that the allegations against the lecturer were a cause for serious concern.
“Academic freedom does not permit the identity-based targeting of students,” the university said on October 11. “The instructor in this course is not currently teaching while the university works to ascertain the facts of the situation.”
The university also added that it has received complaints about banners, signs, and chalking on campus that express views that could be offensive to many.
“Again, it is important to remember that controversial and even offensive speech is allowed except when it crosses the line into certain illegal categories such as threats or harassment for which the threshold is quite high. Unlawful threats and harassment will not be tolerated,” the university pointed out.
The university added that it has received concerns about the safety of Jewish and Palestinian students, faculty and staff members.
“We have heard from Jewish students, faculty, and staff concerned about rising antisemitism. We have heard from Palestinian students who have received threatening emails and phone calls,” it said. “We want to make clear that Stanford stands unequivocally against hatred on the basis of religion, race, ethnicity, national origin, and other categories.”
Several other university campuses including Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania, have also come under criticism for their responses to the attack by Hamas on Israel.
Students there have staged protests and vigils in the aftermath of the violence, which has killed over 2,000 Palestinians and 1,300 Israelis.
Over 30 Harvard student groups have signed a statement of solidarity with Palestine last week, saying that the responsibility for the violence falls on Israel, according to Bloomberg. The letter has sparked criticism from many peers and alumni of the prestigious institute.
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