Normally, when people think of the University of North Carolina and Duke University, they think of the long-standing basketball rivalry between two schools with a tradition of turning out great basketball teams. Of course, these two institutions are universities dedicated to higher learning, which is supposed to be more important.
My mother, a native of North Carolina, attended UNC for three years. I had a first cousin who graduated from Duke. I have always had a spot in my heart for UNC and the state of North Carolina though I was born and raised in California. It is with sadness and anger that I read of another one of those three day conferences organized by pan-Arab, Israel hating academics from Middle East Studies departments which took place in late March (22-24) at both Duke and UNC, a joint venture organized by UNC’s Center for Middle East and Islamic Studies and the Duke-UNC Consortium for Middle East Studies. The speakers were predictable with their never-ending complaining about the existence of Israel and the state of the Palestinians, with the emphasis on Gaza (which is run by the terror group, Hamas). Even worse, perhaps, shortly afterward, anti-Jewish posters showed up on the campus of UNC.
Amy Rosenthal, a former Duke faculty member, wrote a report on the circus for Algemeiner.
It should hardly be surprising that anti-Jew posters would turn up on campus following these hate-filled events. It was so bad that during the conference, a Palestinian rapper performed with anti-Jewish lyrics, no less, spurring the “academic” audience on with.....
“I cannot be anti-Semitic alone.”
Here is a report from the Jewish News Syndicate on the anti-Jewish posters that showed up on the UNC campus later in April. The reader should also take note of comments in the reader thread by one anti-Semite justifying the posters. I added my own in response.
The situation in our universities (and I say this from first-hand observation having taught part-time at the University of California at Irvine for 18 years) is bad enough when it comes to all the politically correct nonsense that goes on. What is much worse is the atmosphere of tension and harassment that many Jewish students face on campuses across the country thanks to the highly organized and well financed efforts of the pro-Palestinian crowd, including students, faculty and Middle East Studies departments, many of the latter being financed by Saudi Arabia. These departments are as one-sided and dogmatic as are the various ethnic and gender studies departments that waste so much time, money and resources indoctrinating students that they are all victims of an unjust American society where they just don’t stand a chance. In the Middle East Studies departments, you have non-stop condemnation of the West and Israel, which are blamed for all the maladies of the Arab world. Our students need true education, not one-sided indoctrination.
My mother and cousin would be mortified if they were alive to see what has become of UNC and Duke. Maybe these two institutions should stick to doing what they do best-play basketball.
