Intimidation or Academic Freedom?

There is an interesting article in New York magazine here detailing the aftermath of a documentary produced at Columbia University by a group of it's students (and an organization known as the David Project), in which 14 individuals detail what they describe as intimidation and anti-Semitism (anti-Zionism) by professors from the department of Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures. The documentary, entitled Columbia Unbecoming, has far reaching implications (it has even been seen by Israel’s minister for Jerusalem and Diaspora Affairs.)

Though the article goes into great details about the allegations made by the students in the documentary, it must be admitted that aside from one particular incident (described by Tomy Schoenfeld), what the students describe is biased and confrontational but certainly no more than that. Students at the University level should be exposed to dissenting and alternative viewpoints that often do not coincide with the popular normative explanatory model. A professor is free to develop a course that caters to a particular bias (i.e. a view of the Middle East conflict from a pro-Arab perspective), as long as said bias is implicitly explained as such and critical dissent by an individual within the course does not negatively affect the performance of said student. Higher-education is meant to breed critical thinkers who can use the skills they develop at the university setting to rationally asses the merits of an argument based upon logic and reason (while understanding the role bias plays in any individual's position), it is not a breeding ground for autbots who simply mimic the viewpoints that they were indoctrinated with while attending class.

There is an ill-defined line within higher-education that separates intellectual intimidation and a ritual stifling of ideas from academic bias and the free expression of minority ideologies. I am sympatheitc to the plight of the individuals who describe their experiences in the documentary , however that the line was breached by the professors in this particular case is not clearly established by the allegations as described by the article.

For an alternative viewpoint on the article click here then here.