From the www.monabaker.com archive (legacy material) Oxford University | Oxford University | 27 October 2003 A University spokesperson said: "The Vice-Chancellor has accepted the recommendation of the Visitatorial Board that Professor Wilkie should be suspended from his academic duties within the University, without pay, for two months. Suspension is the most serious penalty that the University can impose, short of dismissal or removal from office. The decision follows an investigation by the Board of matters surrounding an email which Professor Wilkie sent in response to an enquiry from an Israeli student regarding the possibility of graduate study in his research group.
From the www.monabaker.com archive (legacy material) Danny Kemp | The Scotsman/PA | 27 October 2003 Oxford University today suspended a professor who rejected an Israeli student’s application because of the country’s alleged mistreatment of Palestinians. Professor Andrew Wilkie, Nuffield professor of pathology, was suspended without pay for two months and ordered to undergo equal opportunities training. The academic also resigned as a fellow of Pembroke College after telling Amit Duvshani there was “no way” he would accept someone who had served in the Israeli army.
From the www.monabaker.com archive (legacy material) AP/Haaretz | 27 October 2003 LONDON - An Oxford University professor who refused to hire an Israeli grad student because of Israel's treatment of the Palestinians has been suspended without pay for two months, the university said Monday. In a statement, the university said the suspension of Nuffield Professor of Pathology Andrew Wilkie "reflects that there can be no place for any form of discrimination within the University of Oxford other than on the grounds of merit.
From the www.monabaker.com archive (legacy material) The following letters were published by London Reviews of Books (LRB, Vol. 25 No. 17) in response to Judith Butler's essay 'No, it's not anti-semitic.' On Criticising Israel From Yitzhak Laor Judith Butler's point (LRB, 21 August) can be narrowed to a single question addressed to Israeli and Jewish advocates abroad: where is the line that you will not cross in step with the state of Israel?
From the www.monabaker.com archive (legacy material) Hamid Dabashi | Times Higher Education Supplement | 18 October 2003 Fear of terrorism is fuelling a campaign of hate against Arabs in the US. Columbia University professor Hamid Dabashi describes his personal experience Late in June 2002, I came back to New York from a fortnight's trip to Japan to find my voicemail flooded with racist, obscene and threatening messages. "Hey, Mr Dabashi," bellowed an angry voice, "
From the www.monabaker.com archive (legacy material) Birzeit University News | 9 October 2003 On Wednesday, October 8, 2003, Israeli occupation forces closed off the Ramallah-Birzeit road, prohibiting even pedestrians from crossing the kilometer-long checkpoint situated near the village of Surda. Since the majority of staff and students live in Ramallah, they were denied access to the University. The University was forced to cancel classes and all other activities. At the same time, the Israeli army placed a curfew on Birzeit town from the early hours of the morning until the afternoon, prohibiting all residents of the town from leaving their homes.
From the www.monabaker.com archive (legacy material) Jon Marcus, Boston | Times Higher Education Supplement | 3 October 2003 Websites that monitor university faculty for evidence of alleged bias against the US and Israel have made inroads in government despite their detractors labelling them little more than blacklists that "chill" free discourse. The sites' efforts have resulted in a congressional panel seeking increased oversight of federally funded international studies programmes - which website Campus Watch and its director, Daniel Pipes, say promote an anti-Israel and an anti-US bias.
From the www.monabaker.com archive (legacy material) Mona Baker A summary of this response appeared as a letter in the London Review of Books: http://www.lrb.co.uk/v25/n17/letters.html In a recent article published in the London Review of Books, Judith Butler selectively refers to aspects of a disagreement we had on the Academics for Justice discussion list in December 2002 in order to level a dishonest charge against me that allows her to resolve her own personal anxieties over being a Jew who is highly critical of Israeli policies and at the same time “emotionally invested in Israel” and painfully aware that “No label [other than anti-semite] could be worse for a Jew, who knows that ethically and politically, the position with which it would be unbearable to identify is that of the anti-semite”.
From the www.monabaker.com archive (legacy material) Alexander Cockburn | Counterpunch | 13 August 2003 The distinguished British philosopher Ted Honderich, is threatening to sue the head of the Holocaust museum in Frankfort for calling him an anti-Semite. The director, Micha Brumlik , levelled the charge last week after Honderich's book "After The Terror" was published in Germany in July. Suhrkamp, the jelly-kneed publisher, has said it is taking the book off the market, though in practice this appears to mean Surhkamp won't order a reprinting when the first printing of 3,000 is sold out.
From the www.monabaker.com archive (legacy material) Judy Maltz | Jewish Telegraph | 4 July 2003 AN Oxford professor has apologised for refusing an application by an Israeli student - because of his nationality. Pathology professor Andrew Wilkie issued the apology after the university announced it was launching an inquiry. Amit Duvshani, 28, who had been seeking a place in Wilkie's laboratory to work on his doctoral thesis in molecular biology, submitted a CV which included the fact that he had completed service in the Israel Defence Force.