Here is an amazing forthcoming piece by David Klein, a math professor at California State, about trying to get Norman Finkelstein hired at his school over the last year to no avail. As you may recall, Finkelstein lectured at the school earlier this year. Apparently it was an audition. Klein organized a valiant and wide campaign on Finkelstein's behalf.
I'm excerpting a lot of Klein's story below. Simply amazing, and how does Klein conclude? By raising the spectre of an anti-Jewish backlash over the power of what he terms the Israel Lobby. (I believe Walt and Mearsheimer were accused of antisemitism for once using a capital L). Klein:
he had any job prospects. His reply was, "No job prospects.
None."
So, that same day, I sent an email letter to the president and
the provost of my university, California State University, Northridge
(CSUN), where I am a math professor. I wrote, not as a
mathematician, but as a faculty member of the university in order to
make the case for a unique opportunity. I urged them to consider
hiring Finkelstein for a university wide faculty position, explaining
that his presence would catapult CSUN to the front ranks of
universities worldwide, [emphasis Weiss's; this is a true statement] in his areas of research. Such university
wide faculty appointments at CSUN had previously been offered, and
resulted in extended visits by outside scholars.
The provost, Harry Hellenbrand, wrote back indicating that he was
interested and was willing to look into it. Through the summer
months of 2007, we held informal meetings and colleagues from several
departments sent letters to the provost urging him to bring Finkelstein
to CSUN.
Hellenbrand agreed to invite Finkelstein for a series of lectures
across a five-day visit…
The provost estimated that he received some 200 letters from members of
Los Angeles Jewish organizations demanding that Finkelstein's
invitation to give talks on campus be withdrawn….
After the February lectures, I again asked the provost to bring
Finkelstein for a longer stay. Hellenbrand's response was that this
might be a possibility, but to make it happen, he "would have to be
asked." So we continued to ask in writing.
Finkelstein's visit generated an outpouring of support, including from
students. Scores of CSUN faculty members wrote, including the chairs of
the departments of Physics, Chemistry, Journalism, Communication
Studies, and Pan African Studies. The entire department of Women's
Studies signed a joint letter of support. Individual faculty
members from a diversity of departments, ranging from art to
engineering, also wrote urging the administration to offer Finkelstein
a visiting position…
And yes, the visit also elicited a lot of protest, covered here by Brad Greenberg. But back to Klein:
During the last week of February 2008, a retired faculty member,
inspired by Finkelstein's lectures, offered $30,000 toward an endowed
chair at CSUN for Finkelstein. He indicated that he might be
willing to offer an even larger figure. The provost declined the email
offer on the grounds that university regulations prevented the creation
of an endowed chair for any specific individual. Curiously, the
administration showed no interest in meeting with this erstwhile donor
to discuss alternate ways in which he might contribute toward bringing
Finkelstein to CSUN, or even toward more general university projects.
…our effort was resuscitated during the final week of April,
when the Chair of Journalism asked the provost to bring Finkelstein as
a visiting professor to his department. This was a good fit.
Finkelstein would make an excellent resource for faculty members
interested in the important area of Middle East affairs. …
The president dodges this bid to hire Finkelstein, too, saying that the school is no longer hiring any university-wide positions. The Finkelstein balloon is over. Klein ends his piece with this great insight:
mainstream voices have expressed concerns. John Mearsheimer of
the University of Chicago, and Stephen Walt of Harvard's John F.
Kennedy School of Government raised doubts about the value of the
U.S.-Israel alliance in their book, "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign
Policy." Former President and Nobel laureate, Jimmy Carter, pressed
forward moral questions about Israel's behavior in his book,
"Palestine: Peace not Apartheid." Predictably, all three authors
were denounced by the Israel Lobby, but it is becoming increasingly
difficult to marginalize all of Israel's critics.
As the realities of the Israel-Palestine conflict enter public
discourse with increasing weight, what will be the perception toward
Jews by the rest of the population? If the Israel Lobby's
"Good Jews" continue to represent all Jews, and "Good Jews" defend
Israel's every action, all the while working to suspend academic
freedom in universities, what ultimately will be the
consequences?
