As of Friday, August 17, 2007, a petition to urge Columbia University and Barnard College to deny tenure to an anti-Israel professor has garnered more than 1200 signatures.
United States of America (Press Release) August 17, 2007 --
As of Friday, August 17, 2007, a petition to urge Columbia University and Barnard College to deny tenure to an anti-Israel professor has garnered more than 1200 signatures and, according to Paula Stern, the petition’s creator and a former resident of Teaneck, is expected to continue to grow. Stern, a Barnard graduate, began the petition after many months of writing and research failed to convince Barnard College to stop the tenure process. The petition has been signed by hundreds of current and past Barnard and Columbia students from all over the world.
“The premise of Nadia Abu El Haj's sole book on which her tenure is based is that the ancient Israelite kingdoms are a ‘pure political fabrication,’ invented, not discovered, by dishonest archaeologists. Because such an assertion cannot be proven using evidence, El-Haj ignores almost all actual archaeological evidence, turning instead to repeated and unsubstantiated assertions of fact based on conversations she claims to have had with "student volunteers" at archaeological digs and with ‘archaeologists’ she does not name,” explains Stern.
The petition is the latest effort in the campaign, which has included having experts from around the world review El Haj’s dissertation manuscript, a letter writing campaign and direct attempts to speak to Barnard’s administration.
In one such review, Professor Sondra M. Rubenstein wrote “Since there is no evidence for Arab/Muslim national-cultural continuity in the Land of Israel dating to before the Arab conquest of the seventh century, this young woman demands that we level the playing field by pretending that evidence of Jewish national-cultural continuity does not exist either.” Dr. Rubenstein holds a PhD. in international relations from Columbia University and is currently a distinguished professor at Haifa University.
The online petition (located at http://www.PetitionOnline.com/barnard/) will be presented to the Columbia and Barnard administrations to show that the opinion that El Haj is not worthy of tenure is widespread, international, and growing.
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Background material can be found on www.paulasays.com
“The premise of Nadia Abu El Haj's sole book on which her tenure is based is that the ancient Israelite kingdoms are a ‘pure political fabrication,’ invented, not discovered, by dishonest archaeologists. Because such an assertion cannot be proven using evidence, El-Haj ignores almost all actual archaeological evidence, turning instead to repeated and unsubstantiated assertions of fact based on conversations she claims to have had with "student volunteers" at archaeological digs and with ‘archaeologists’ she does not name,” explains Stern.
The petition is the latest effort in the campaign, which has included having experts from around the world review El Haj’s dissertation manuscript, a letter writing campaign and direct attempts to speak to Barnard’s administration.
In one such review, Professor Sondra M. Rubenstein wrote “Since there is no evidence for Arab/Muslim national-cultural continuity in the Land of Israel dating to before the Arab conquest of the seventh century, this young woman demands that we level the playing field by pretending that evidence of Jewish national-cultural continuity does not exist either.” Dr. Rubenstein holds a PhD. in international relations from Columbia University and is currently a distinguished professor at Haifa University.
The online petition (located at http://www.PetitionOnline.com/barnard/) will be presented to the Columbia and Barnard administrations to show that the opinion that El Haj is not worthy of tenure is widespread, international, and growing.
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Background material can be found on www.paulasays.com
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