LDB and Others Write Napolitano about Anti-Israeli class at UC Riverside

Last Fall, after several of our organizations wrote to you expressing our concern about instructors on UC campuses who promote anti-Israel propaganda and boycott, divestment, sanctions (BDS) campaigns in their classrooms, you sent us assurances that the Regents Policy on Course Content, which prohibits misuse of the classroom for political indoctrination, applies to both graduate student instructors and faculty, and you called on UC Chancellors to enforce this important policy.

The one-credit course, entitled “Palestine & Israel: Settler-Colonialism and Apartheid,” is being taught at UCR by Tina Matar, an undergraduate student who is the head of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).  Matar was an author and proponent of the extremely contentious anti-Israel divestment resolution passed by the UCR student senate last April, as well as the leader of a very recent SJP campaign to have an Israeli product, Sabra humus, removed from campus cafeterias. Matar’s class syllabus, reproduced below, strongly suggests that her affiliation with the anti-Zionist SJP group formed the ideological basis for her course curriculum, which was developed under the mentorship of the SJP’s faculty advisor, UCR English Professor David Lloyd, who is also a BDS leader and founder of the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel.

In addition, a preliminary analysis of Matar’s syllabus by Verity Educate  a non-partisan, non-profit organization that provides scholarly analysis of the factual accuracy and objectivity of educational material, demonstrated that “the core academic and educational values of knowledge acquisition and critical thinking have been hijacked by a particular strain of political action, and specifically by a particular politically oriented activist organization.”  Verity Educate’s analysis includes the following: 

• The material presented to students in this course reflects a singular interpretation of the “Palestine-Israel conflict.”  Nearly every text presents Israel as an “occupying” power and deems it morally repugnant and guilty of “settler-colonialism.” No other competing interpretations, arguments, or views are presented through the readings over the course of the semester.
• The course evidences a complete lack of historical information about the “Palestine-Israel conflict.” Despite the stated learning objective, “develop a historical understanding of the conflict in the Middle East,” the course material fails to offer a single work of history that even relates historical events in a chronological format.
• A majority of the texts actively promote a particular political position vis-à-vis the “Palestine-Israel conflict,” specifically the dissolution of the State of Israel and its replacement with a unitary “democratic” state composed of Arabs and non-Arabs…These texts essentially engage in propaganda efforts by presenting students with political agendas and promoting the adoption of a particular conclusion under the guise of exploring other topics. 
• The most prevalent theme of the textual material for this course is that of activism. Many works contain prescriptions for activism.     

(Verity Educate’s full preliminary analysis of the syllabus is attached to this email).

For all of the reasons outlined above, there is little doubt that Matar is using her classroom to politically indoctrinate her students, in flagrant violation of the Regents Policy on Course Content.  Understandably, this course has evoked enormous public concern and numerous calls for UCR Chancellor Wilcox to enforce the Regents Policy on Course Content in this case of blatant political indoctrination.  Chancellor Wilcox, however, has not even acknowledged the Regents Policy.

After 20 of our organizations sent the Chancellor a letter summarizing our grave concerns about both Matar’s course and the curricular review process which approved it, he did not acknowledge receipt of our letter.  And when hundreds of our members and supporters wrote to the Chancellor expressing their outrage that a course which so clearly engages in political indoctrination is allowed to be taught at UCR, he sent the same email to each correspondent, which read in relevant part:  “The syllabus for the course was reviewed by a faculty committee which determined that the course meets University of California standards.”

Clearly, neither Chancellor Wilcox nor the faculty committee which reviewed Matar’s course referred to the Regents Policy on Course Content in evaluating the course’s worthiness to be offered for credit at UCR.  As a result, the individuals charged with upholding the university’s rigorous academic standards determined that a course filled with blatant political propaganda and unbridled calls to political action, taught by an undergraduate activist, “meets University of California standards.”  This is truly an embarrassment for anyone who holds a degree from the University of California.

In light of your previous willingness to affirm the importance of the Regents Policy on Course Content and its application to all classroom instruction at the University of California, we ask that you take the following two steps:

• Issue a clear statement about whether the UCR course “Palestine & Israel: Settler-Colonialism and Apartheid” violates the Regents Policy on Course Content, and what must be done if it is found to be in violation of University policy.
• Issue clear guidelines to all UC Chancellors and academic senate leaders about how to enforce the Regents Policy on Course Content.

We believe that without your guidance, unbridled political expression in UC classrooms will continue to corrupt the University’s academic mission by compromising the quality of teaching, limiting the access of students to vital information about topics of global importance and violating their fundamental right to be educated and not indoctrinated.  In addition, instructors who are permitted to use their classrooms as bully-pulpits for engaging in politically-motivated and directed speech targeting particular individuals or groups for demonization or delegitimization can’t help but create a hostile and discriminatory environment for many UC students.

Thank you for in advance for your attention to this serious matter.  We look forward to hearing from you soon. 

Sincerely,