University of North Carolina (UNC)-Chapel Hill is sticking with an anti-Israel class despite Jewish and pro-Israel groups alleging that doing so would violate their agreement with the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR).
On August 20, the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) National President Morton Klein and Center for Law and Justice Director Susan Tuchman sent a letter to UNC arguing that according to the agreement the university had signed in 2019, UNC is required to “take all steps reasonably designed to ensure that students enrolled in the University are not subjected to a hostile environment and to respond to allegations of anti-Semitic harassment.” But holding the class “The Conflict over ‘Israel/Palestine’” would violate this, as the instructor, Kylie Broderick, “has openly promoted false and antisemitic lies about Israel,” Klein and Tuchman alleged. As evidence, Klein and Tuchman pointed to Broderick’s tweets calling for the university to boycott Israel and viewing all of Israel as “occupied Palestinian territory.” Additionally, Broderick has tweeted that “there is only 1 legitimate side – the oppressed – versus imperialist propaganda. I don’t want to ever encourage [students] that there is reason to take on good faith the oppressive ideologies of American and Western Imperialism, Zionists & autocrats.”
“Jewish, pro-Israel and other students are at risk if the course on ‘Israel/Palestine’ continues to be taught by an instructor who openly declares that she has zero tolerance for views that do not demonize Israel or deny Israel’s very right to exist,” Klein and Tuchman wrote.
Jewish on Campus made similar allegations; StandWithUs did not allege that the agreement was broken but did urge the university to monitor and record Broderick’s classes and make them available to the public.
In a response to the Journal’s request for comment, Terry Rhodes, Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences at UNC-Chapel Hill, said in a statement, “The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill strives to create a place where every member of our community feels safe and respected and can thrive in an environment free from racism, sexism, antisemitism, Islamophobia and all other forms of prohibited discrimination and harassment. Instructors uphold this commitment through course designs, mentoring and departmental review.” He added that the university provides “extra structural support” classes with “controversial” content, which can include recording the classes, requiring the instructor to grade assignments without knowing the identity of the students, providing EOC (Equal Opportunity and Compliance) resources and guest speakers.
“We are deeply committed to academic freedom, and academic freedom requires academic responsibility,” Rhodes said. “We emphasize and value open and inclusive classroom discussions and strive to teach different perspectives on a variety of topics.”
He also noted that the university will be offering a class called “Confronting Antisemitism” in the spring of 2022, which he said “broadly examines antisemitism throughout history as well as modern times and on campuses across the country.”
Jewish groups weighed in.
“This instructor has been very open about her belief that Israel has no right to exist,” Tuchman said in a statement to the Journal. “She’s also made it crystal clear that her anti-Israel views are the only views that are legitimate and acceptable. Given the evidence from the instructor herself, it’s impossible to understand how UNC could conclude that she would be an appropriate teacher about Israel and its history, and that she would create a classroom environment that is open and welcoming of views that aren’t completely hateful and hostile to Israel.”
StandWithUs CEO and Co-Founder Roz Rothstein said in a statement to the Journal, “We appreciate UNC’s stated commitment to ensuring an environment free from antisemitism. Given the prior antisemitic statements of this instructor, however, including her unequivocal position that the Israel-Palestine conflict has only one side, which includes a complete denial of the right of Jewish self-determination in Israel, the University must treat this course with special attention to prevent itself from becoming complicit in this type of hateful antisemitic indoctrination within its classrooms.
“We have offered several concrete suggestions to UNC, and we urge UNC to enact these protective measures immediately for the protection of its Jewish and other pro-Israel students and the entire campus community. “
Broderick and OCR did not respond to the Journal’s requests for comment.
