I've written about this before here and here. Semitism.net also has a great recent post about it.
A pro-Israel organization called the David Project made a "documentary" called "Columbia Unbecoming." It was supposed to demonstrate the intimidation and anti-Jewish attitudes that Jewish students face from Arab professors in the Middle Eastern and Asian Languages and Culture department (MEALAC) at Columbia University.
With the New York Sun and New York Daily News fanning the flames, the issue recently made it in the New York Times. Stephen Schwartz wrote a good column on the controversy in the Columbia Spectator.
The vast majority of students have had no problems with Professor Massad and would likely support granting him tenure. An extremely vocal minority of students with strong biases, a Zionist group based in Boston, and the New York Daily News should not be influencing the University’s tenure decisions. The reviews submitted by students at the end of the semester are a much more valid basis upon which to make tenure decisions. Bollinger has an obligation to stand up for Columbia professors and should never have opened a public investigation based on weak hearsay.
To show just how big the issue has gotten, the Israeli Ambassador to the US has jumped into the fray.
The whole thing is ridiculous. Some students, many who didn't even take MEALAC classes, happened to ally with an ideologically similar group in an effort to silence free speech. These are people who will complain and raise a stink unless their professors teach classes on Israel/Palestine exactly to their liking.
The fact that not a single complaint was lodged through the proper channels against these professors tells it all. If you're bothered by a professor, you don't wait around thinking, "I hope some non-profit who agrees with me will swoop in and allow me to air my grievances." What you do is pick up your student handbook, figure out the process and follow it. It's not rocket science.
Luckily, it seems like the more the facts come out and people understand the true nature of the situation, the more the fervor dies down.
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