Chancellor Larry N. Vanderhoef November 6, 2006
University of California, Davis

Dear Chancellor Vanderhoef:

We write to express our deep concern about the content and implications of the panel, “Cycles of Violence in the Long Hot Summer of 2006: Israel, Palestine and Lebanon” that took place on the UC Davis campus October 18, 2006. This event was co-sponsored by the Department of Political Science, the Program in Middle East/South Asia Studies, the Program in Jewish Studies and the Institute for Governmental Affairs. The panel missed an important opportunity to present a balanced, scholarly program to the UC Davis community, most importantly to our students, and promote dialogue and improve understanding of a complex issue. Rather, all speakers were unreservedly critical of Israel.

While we do not wish to give a detailed description of all comments, a few examples are instructive. Dr. Zeina Zaatari introduced her talk with reference to Israel’s creation as a hostile act and continued with a paean to Hezbollah for 30 minutes. She was followed by Dr. Zeev Maoz, who spent his time criticizing the Israeli government. The concluding speaker was Dr. Beshara Doumani who stated that Israel had committed war crimes in Lebanon and Gaza. There was no effort by either Dr. Zaatari or Dr. Doumani to present scholarly talks backed by meaningful analysis. Although presented as an educational event, the panel was basically political propaganda that presented a single anti-Israel perspective without any context or counterpoint. The event lacked academic integrity and was an alarming example of a cynical use of academic freedom.

In July, 2006, the US Commission on Civil rights issued a report on anti-Semitism on American college campuses. They found a direct link between unbalanced anti-Zionist rhetoric in classrooms and at campus events, and hostility towards Jewish students. The USCCR recommended: “University leadership should ensure that students are protected from actions that could engender a hostile environment in violation of federal law… (and) that all academic departments maintain academic standards, respect intellectual diversity and ensure that the rights of all students are fully protected.”

Clearly the October 18 panel violated these principles. While we strongly support the academic freedom of all faculty members, with this freedom comes the need for faculty and administrators to act with academic integrity and responsibility. A recent op ed. in the UC Davis student newspaper, The California Aggie, signed by several Jewish student leaders, highlights these concerns. The students wrote, “While this event was advertised to the campus as an academic forum, it lacked the qualities of fairness and balance, which are vital to academic integrity…It is our deep concern that events such as “Cycles of Violence” may be the beginning of an institutionalized anti-Israel sentiment on campus, which puts all Jewish students at risk.”

Unfortunately, on university campuses and elsewhere, the issue of falsified, fabricated and politicized information, often masquerading as scholarship, specifically in regard to the Middle East, has become a serious and important issue. We would like to avoid at UC Davis what is happening on other academic campuses. Intimidation has occurred against Jewish students and faculty and other university members sympathetic to Israel and the Jewish people at San Francisco State University, UC Santa Cruz, UC Berkeley, Columbia University, Duke University and other campuses throughout the world.

The above concerns, as well as prior events, have led us to form a chapter of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME). The SPME mission statement reads, “Our mission is to inform, motivate, and encourage faculty to use their academic skills and disciplines on campus, in classrooms, and in academic publications to develop effective responses to the ideological distortions, including anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist slanders that poison debate and work against peace. SPME welcomes scholars from all disciplines, faiths groups and nationalities who share our desire for peace and our commitment to academic integrity and honest debate.”

We would like to meet with you at your convenience to discuss your plans to ensure that there is a diversity of legitimate scholarly opinion regarding Israel and Zionism in the presentation of these subjects in the classroom and at events at UC Davis.

Sincerely,

Moshe Rosenberg, D.Sc.
Professor and Specialist, Dairy Technology and Engineering
Head, UC Davis Chapter Scholars for Peace in the Middle East

David Siegel M.D., M.P.H.
Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Medicine

Michael J. Singer Ph.D.
Professor of Soil Science