#faculty for israel

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Dion J. Pierre

Harvard University professors announced the founding of the school’s first “Faculty for Israel” group in a new op-ed for the campus newspaper.

“Israeli students and faculty are targets of pervasive anti-Israel hatred,” Jesse Fried and Matthew Meyerson wrote in the Harvard Crimson, explaining the need for such a group. “At Harvard, students have disrupted an Israeli professor’s lecture, an undergraduate has reported that a professor forced her to leave a classroom after she said she was Israeli, and an outside law firm engaged by Harvard found that another instructor discriminated against Israeli students on the basis of their national origin and identity.”

They added, “The message is clear: Zionists are not welcome,” and discussed the fits of antisemitism that have come over Harvard University students since Oct. 7, including an incident in which pro-Hamas students flooded a messaging forum with antisemitic tropes. They posted comments such as “we got too many damn jews [sic]…supporting our economy” and “she looks just as dumb as her nose is crooked.”

Harvard Faculty for Israel’s founding comes at an inflection point in the history of Harvard, whose reputation as the finest institution of higher education in the US has been besmirched by a series of crises which called into question not only the competence of its school officials but also the quality of the faculty and students being selected to share in its prestige.

Just this week, the Crimson reported, a Jewish student’s mezuzah “went missing” and could not be found by its owner for “several hours.” Later, Harvard University police found the prayer scroll “three doors down from the student’s room,” leaving the victim, Sarah Silverman, resolute in her belief that it was returned once a police investigation of the theft was launched.

In response, Harvard Chabad Rabbi Hirschy Zarchi implored Harvard to “recognize” the incident as a “hate crime.”

He added, “To tear down a mezuzah is to send a message of intimidation and erasure. It’s not just a matter of vandalism; it is an attack on the very identity of the Jewish community at Harvard.”

Meanwhile, the Crimson — a paper which has time and time again published articles which took as fact accusations of racial bias and just two years ago endorsed the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement which aims to destroy the world’s only Jewish state — saw it fit to note that there is not “any evidence” that a crime took place.

[its-zaina]

The Faculty of Social Sciences, Denmark🇵🇸🔻.

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[yakourinka]

personal post

[jcmarchi]

Researchers use earth’s magnetic field to verify Old Testament event - Technology Org

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/researchers-use-earths-magnetic-field-to-verify-old-testament-event-technology-org/

Researchers use earth’s magnetic field to verify Old Testament event - Technology Org

Research from Tel Aviv University (TAU) and three other Israeli universities will enable archaeologists to identify burnt materials discovered in excavations and estimate their firing temperatures. The new technique can determine whether a certain item, such as a mud brick, underwent a firing event even at relatively low temperatures, from 200°C (about 400°F) and higher. This information can be crucial for correctly interpreting the findings.

Applying their method to findings from ancient Gath (Tell es-Safi in central Israel), the researchers validated the Biblical account from 2 Kings 12,18: “About this time Hazael King of Aram went up and attacked Gath and captured it. Then he turned to attack Jerusalem.” (2 Kings 12, 18).

Dr. Yoav Vaknin led the multidisciplinary study from the Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology, Entin Faculty of Humanities, at TAU and the Palaeomagnetic Laboratory at The Hebrew University. Other contributors included Professor Ron Shaar from the Institute of Earth Sciences at The Hebrew University, Professors Erez Ben-Yosef and Oded Lipschits from the Nadler Institute at TAU, Professor Aren Maeir from the Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology at Bar-Ilan University, and Dr. Adi Eliyahu Behar from the Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology and the Department of Chemical Sciences at Ariel University. The paper has been published in the scientific journal PLOS ONE.

“Throughout the Bronze and Iron Ages, the main building material in most parts of the Land of Israel was mud bricks,” Professor Lipschits explains. “This cheap and readily available material was used to build walls in most buildings, sometimes on top of stone foundations. That’s why it’s so important to understand the technology used in making these bricks.”

The new method measures the magnetic field recorded and “locked” in the brick as it burned and cooled down. In the second stage of the procedure, the researchers gradually “erase” the brick’s magnetic field using a process called thermal demagnetization. This involves heating the brick in a special oven that neutralizes the earth’s magnetic field. The heat releases the magnetic signals, which once again arrange themselves randomly, canceling each other out, and the total magnetic signal becomes weak and loses its orientation.

The researchers fired mud bricks under controlled temperature and magnetic field conditions, measured each brick’s acquired magnetic field, then gradually erased it. They found that the bricks were completely demagnetized at the temperature at which they had been burned, proving that the method works.

“Our approach enables identifying burning which occurred at much lower temperatures than any other method,” Dr. Vaknin says. “Most techniques used for identifying burnt bricks are based on actual changes in the minerals, which usually occur at temperatures higher than 500°C [932°F], when some minerals are converted into others.”

After proving the method’s validity, the researchers applied it to a specific archaeological dispute: Whether a specific brick structure discovered at Tell es-Safi — identified as the Philistine city of Gath, home of Goliath — was built of pre-fired bricks or burned on location. The prevalent hypothesis, based on the Old Testament, historical sources, and carbon-14 dating attributes the destruction of the structure to the devastation of Gath by Hazael, King of Aram Damascus, around 830 BCE. But a previous paper by researchers including Professor Maeir, head of the Tell es-Safi excavations, proposed that the building had not burned down, but rather collapsed over decades, and that the fired bricks found in the structure had been fired in a kiln prior to construction. If this hypothesis were correct, this would be the earliest instance of brick-firing technology discovered in the Land of Israel.

To settle the dispute, the current research team applied the new method to samples from the wall at Tell es-Safi and the collapsed debris found beside it. The findings were conclusive: The magnetic fields of all bricks and collapsed debris displayed the same orientation, north and downwards. “Our findings signify that the bricks burned and cooled down in-situ, right where they were found, namely in a conflagration in the structure itself, which collapsed within a few hours,” Dr. Vaknin says. “Had the bricks been fired in a kiln and then laid in the wall, their magnetic orientations would have been random. Moreover, had the structure collapsed over time, not in a single fire event, the collapsed debris would have displayed random magnetic orientations.

“We believe that the main reason for our colleagues’ mistaken interpretation was their inability to identify burning at temperatures below 500°C. Since heat rises, materials at the bottom of the building burned at relatively low temperatures, below 400°C, and consequently the former study did not identify them as burnt. At the same time, bricks in upper parts of the wall, where temperatures were much higher, underwent mineralogical changes and were therefore identified as burnt, leading the researchers to conclude that they had been fired in a kiln prior to construction. Our method allowed us to determine that all bricks in both the wall and debris had burned during the conflagration: those at the bottom burned at relatively low temperatures, and those that were found in higher layers or had fallen from the top – at temperatures higher than 600°C.”

“Our findings are very important for deciphering the intensity of the fire and scope of destruction at Gath, the largest and most powerful city in the Land of Israel at the time, as well as understanding the building methods prevailing in that era,” Professor Maeir concludes. “It’s important to review conclusions from previous studies, and sometimes even refute former interpretations, even if they came from your own school.”

Source: AFTAU

You can offer your link to a page which is relevant to the topic of this post.

[immaculatasknight]

Confronting the academic establishment

[headspace-hotel]

USAmericans

Read the Project 2025 manifesto RIGHT NOW

It's MUCH worse than y'all have been hearing

There is so much here you'll have to look at it for yourself, but the climate policy alone is nightmare fuel.

The republican coalition wants to essentially end funding for green energy, dramatically promote and expand fossil fuel industries, and eliminate funding and regulations in all sectors promoting climate change mitigation. Task forces and offices related to clean energy and lowering carbon emissions will be eliminated and replaced with offices for promoting fossil fuels.

They want to LOG NATIONAL FORESTS TO "THIN" THE TREES TO STOP WILDFIRES.

THEY WANT TO FORCE OREGON AND CALIFORNIA TO LOG THEIR NATIONAL FORESTS AND TREAT THEM AS FOR TIMBER PRODUCTION

There are specific provisions in Project 2025 to essentially destroy the Endangered Species Act, causing it to defer to the rights of "economic development" and "private property." The plan includes delisting gray wolves, cutting the budget so that a "triage" system is used to determine which species will get protection, removing funding for research, removing experts and specialists from the decision-making process, and preventing "experimental" populations of animals from being established.

This is so much worse than I expected it to be and there's much more past that: They want to deregulate pesticides and remove much of the EPA's ability to regulate pollutants as well.

Also included in the manifesto is that we should

withdraw from nuclear weapons nonproliferation agreements, build more nuclear weapons, and resume nuclear weapons testing

The manifesto comprehensively outlines the scorched-earth elimination of abortion access, down to ensuring doctors aren't even trained to perform abortions. There are plans in here to disrupt abortion access GLOBALLY, not just domestically.

Not only that,the Republicans plan on reframing family planning programs around "fertility awareness" and "holistic family planning."

I can't even describe it all. I'm trying to give screenshots of the most important things but there's so much.

The foreign policy is a nightmare. They plan to push fossil fuels onto the Global South and promote the development of fossil fuel industry in the "developing world."

It is aggressive and antagonistic towards other nations, strongly pro-military, proposing that we INCREASE (!!!!!) defense spending, improve public opinion of the military and military recruitment, and increase the power to fund new weapons technology.

Just read the Department of Defense section. It's about greatly increasing and strengthening the military-industrial complex, collaborating more closely with weapons manufacturers, removing regulatory barriers to arming our allies and to inventing new military weapons, and recruiting more people into the military. They include provisions to develop AI technology for surveillance. And of course, continuing to support Israel is in there.

Elsewhere it proposes interfering in foreign countries with creepy pro-USA propaganda campaigns, even establishing international educational programs where faculty have to pledge to promote USA interests.

There's a line in here about getting rid of PBS because SESAME STREET is LEFTIST for God's sake.

HOW are people claiming democrats have the same policies. I feel like i'm losing my mind.

[fairuzfan]

What's new(ish) in the settler-colonial state of the US is that a series of bills have been passed in the House (the Baby Senate as I like to say) and are on their way to the Senate that make it harder to voice support for Palestinians while also making sure your direct taxes aid the genocide in Gaza.

These bills affirm the US's stance on the settler-colonial Zionist Entity and the implicit ties that the government has with Israel and really — just goes to show you how Israel is just one big base for American Imperialism.

Anyways, there's still time to call your senate and tell them that you don't want these bills that only further spiral the US into fascism so even if you think it might not do much — it's important that we document our dissent in official sources. And while you're at it — call your congressperson and tell them that if they voted for this you're not voting for them next election. If they voted against the bills, still call your congresspeople and tell them you support their decision to vote against these bills.

Here are the bills:

📍Resolution: HR 6126

Resolution Name: Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act Description: Gives $14.3 Billion To Israel From The IRS (Taxes You Pay). Like straight up. Just takes it from an IRS project, which used our tax dollars to begin with, to give to Israel "defense." Link to check summary: https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/118/hr6126

📍Resolution: HR 798

Resolution Name: "Condemning the support of Hamas, Hezbollah, and other terrorist organizations at institutions of higher education, which may lead to the creation of a hostile environment for Jewish students, faculty, and staff." Description: Will Penalize Students On American College Campuses For Supporting Palestine. This includes "Free Palestine" Protests as according to Rep Owens who introduced the bill (Click). Link to check who voted: https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/118-2023/h578

📍Resolution: HR 3266

Resolution Name: "Tolerance in Palestinian Education Act" Description: They will be examining Palestinian education materials to see if it promotes "hate" or "violence" (aka are they teaching their children to become murderers??). Will inevitably require Revision Of Text Books In Palestinian Schools To Portray The Occupation In A Positive Light. Link to summary: https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/118/hr3266

📍Resolution: HR 340

Resolution Name: "The Hamas International Financing Prevent Action" Description: Claims to stop financial support for "terrorist" organizations but considering that Gaza's government is run by Hamas, then this would mean Gaza will receive absolutely no aid and donating to people in Gaza could get you in legal trouble. Link to summary: https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/118/hr340

There's a button for most of these bills that allows you to contact your representative directly. Please do take the time to contact them — while many of this isn't especially new to Palestinians, the difference is now that we have a larger power in numbers than we did in the past. Please make sure to advocate for you Palestinian comrades in the US whenever possible! Help us Free Palestine one step at a time!

[zvaigzdelasas]

New York University led by troubling example when the school shared an updated code of student conduct last week. Ostensibly aimed at curtailing bigotry, the new language instead shuts down dissent by threatening to silence criticism of Zionism on campus. Students who speak out against Zionism — an ethno-nationalist political ideology founded in the late 19th century — will now risk violating the school’s nondiscrimination policies.[...]

Tucked into a document purportedly offering clarification on school policy, the new NYU guidelines introduce an unprecedented expansion of protected classes to include “Zionists” and “Zionism.” Referring to the university’s nondiscrimination and anti-harassment policy, known as NDAH, the updated conduct guide says, “Speech and conduct that would violate the NDAH if targeting Jewish or Israeli people can also violate the NDAH if directed toward Zionists.”[...]

“Using code words, like ‘Zionist,’” the guide says, “does not eliminate the possibility that your speech violates the NDAH policy.”[...]

The entire premise of the guidance — that “Zionist” must be functioning as a “code word — is a flaw egregious enough to reject the entire document outright.

The language here is of utmost importance. The text does not say that “Zionist” can and has been used by antisemites as a code word, which is no doubt true. Instead, it takes it as a given that, when used critically, “Zionist” simply is a code word.[...]

According to NYU’s guidance, then, Zionist and Zionism are either antisemitic dog whistles when invoked critically or a protected category akin to a race, ethnicity, or religious identity. Ethically committed and politically informed anti-Zionism — including the beliefs of many anti-Zionist Jews like myself who reject the conflation of our identity and heritage with an ethnostate project — is foreclosed, and the long history of Jewish anti-Zionism, which has existed as long as Zionism itself, is all but erased.[...]

“For many Jewish people, Zionism is a part of their Jewish identity,” the NYU guidance says. And this is of course true. That does not, however, make Zionism an essential part of Jewish identity.

There are conservative Christians for whom the damnation of homosexuality is a key part of their Christian faith too, but Republican lawfare to see homophobic positions enshrined as protected religious expression have been rightly and consistently condemned by the liberal mainstream.

“The new guidance sets a dangerous precedent by extending Title VI protections to anyone who adheres to Zionism, a nationalist political ideology, and troublingly equates criticism of Zionism with discrimination against Jewish people,” NYU’s Faculty for Justice in Palestine said in a statement in response to the updated conduct guide.[...]

“Furthermore, the new guidance implies that any nationalist political ideology (Hindu nationalism, Christian nationalism, etc.) that is integrated into some members of that group’s understanding of their own racial or ethnic identity should be entitled to civil rights protections.”

27 Aug 24

[sizablelad]

the amount of antisemitic events and violence that’s occurred in mtl over the past couple weeks is INSANE

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition, the most authoritative and internationally-accepted definition of antisemitism today, rightly understands that the vast majority of Jews worldwide are inextricably linked to the Jewish state and identifies physical and verbal threats to Israel’s existence as forms of antisemitism. As such, the Institute’s inaugural conference, whose purpose is to battle the IHRA definition by denying the connection between Zionism and Judaism, constitutes a broadside attack on Jewish identity and the Jewish state that is antisemitic in both intent and effect.

Among the conference’s co-sponsors are Hong’s Critical Race and Ethnic Studies Department and its Center for Racial Justice at UCSC, as well as the UC Ethnic Studies Faculty Council.

Shockingly, despite the fact that the conference is being held at a University of California campus with official departmental sponsorship and possible university funding, all speakers and attendees are required to “confirm their agreement” with the anti-Zionist “points of unity” that guide the Institute’s work. These include identifying Zionism as “a settler colonial racial project” linked to “group supremacy,” “ethnic cleansing,” and “racism,” and agreeing to “join in resistance” against Zionist repression.

For Christine Hong and fellow UC Ethnic Studies Council members, the anti-Zionist focus of the Institute and its inaugural conference is not just personal, it’s professional – part and parcel of how they understand their discipline, teach it to their students, and believe it should be taught to high school students throughout the state.

[nesmamomen]

After the Zionists threatened to kill my sister, I tried to compensate her for her loss, fear and psychological devastation by publishing her campaign. My sister is a student in the Faculty of Pharmacy and participated in medical conferences and was an active member in them. She recently received many messages from the Zionists threatening to kill her if she continues to publish Israel's crimes on her social media accounts. Therefore, I am addressing you, my friends, and asking for your urgent support to support my sister's campaign, through which she aims to complete her education and get out of the war zone

I did not ask you to do this except because I know that you are brothers to the Palestinians and will support us.

Her campaign has been verified by

@\nabulsi @\el-shab-hussein here @\ibtisams here @\90-ghoat here

🎯€2775 left to reach the first goal

@fancysmudges @brokenbackmountain @aleciosun @fluoresensitive @khizuo @lesbiandardevil @transmutationsquare @schoolhater @timogsilangan @appsa @buttercuparry @sayruq @malcriada @palestinegenocide @sar-soor @akajustmerry @annoyingloudmicrowavecultist @feluka @tortiefrancis @flower-tea-fairies @tsaricides @riding-with-the-wild-hunt @visenyasdragon @belleandsaintsebastian @ear-motif @kordeliiius @brutaliakhoa @raelyn-dreams @troythecatfish @theropoda @tamarrud @4ft10tvlandfangirl @queerstudiesnatural @northgazaupdates2 @skatezophrenic @awetistic-things @camgirlpanopticon @baby-girl-aaron-dessner @nabulsi @sygutka @junglejim4322 @heritageposts @chososhairbuns @palistani @dlxxv-vetted-donations @illuminated-runas @imjustheretotrytohelp

[kropotkindersurprise]

May 23, 2024 - Over a thousand Harvard students and faculty walked out of the offcial Harvard commencement ceremony to hold a People's Commencement, in solidarity with Palestine and the 15 seniors having their degrees withheld by Harvard for protesting against Israel's genocide. [video]

[determinate-negation]

Today, I submitted my resignation as director of the Center for Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) at Florida Atlantic University (FAU). Although it might at first appear that this choice was driven by the ever-intensifying political attacks against gender studies in Florida, these attacks are precisely why I would have wanted to remain as director. As a genderqueer scholar, I have been deeply committed to defending the center and advocating for the value of our research and teaching. However, I am also an anti-Zionist Jewish scholar, and since October 7, I have experienced unrelenting pressure from the university to disavow my religious practice, my religious community and my ethical commitments.

On January 16, FAU administrators made it explicitly clear to me that to be a leader at the university, I must support Israel. I have chosen to resign from the directorship in order to speak out about what I have experienced, and to add my experience to the hundreds of stories of academics and cultural workers who are being targeted in order to silence criticism of the state of Israel amid its genocidal campaign in Gaza.

one of many many instances of pro palestine voices on college campuses being harassed, doxxed and pressured to take certain political positions by zionist faculty and students, and jewish anti zionists being purposefully targeted and pushed out of their own communities and academic spaces meant for jewish students/faculty

[jcmarchi]

How examining conflict can be “intellectually serious” and “incredibly fun”

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/how-examining-conflict-can-be-intellectually-serious-and-incredibly-fun/

How examining conflict can be “intellectually serious” and “incredibly fun”

The banging on the tables begins almost immediately.

It’s September, and the 53 first-year students in MIT’s Concourse program are debating the pros and cons of capitalism during one of their Friday lunchtime seminars in Building 16. Sasha Rickard ’19 — assistant director of Concourse and the chair, or moderator, of the debate — reminds everyone of the rules: “Stand when you speak, address your questions and comments to the chair, and if you hear someone saying something you support, give them a little bang on the table.” The first speaker walks to the podium, praises the benefits of capitalism for her allotted four minutes, and is rewarded with a cacophony of table-banging.

Other students jump up to question her argument. The next speaker takes the opposite view, denouncing capitalism. For nearly two hours, there are more speeches on both sides of the issue, more questions, more enthusiastic banging on tables. Participants call the back-and-forth “intellectually serious,” “genuine good-faith engagement,” and “incredibly fun.”

The debate is one of the cornerstones of MIT’s Civil Discourse Project, a joint venture between the Concourse program and philosophy professors Brad Skow and Alex Byrne. The premise behind the Civil Discourse Project is that first-year students who practice talking and listening to each other even when they disagree will become more thoughtful and open-minded citizens, during their time at MIT and beyond.

“It’s consistent with free expression and free speech, but also consistent with the mission of the university, which is teaching and learning and getting to a greater sense of the truth,” says Linda Rabieh, a senior lecturer in the Concourse program and co-leader of the Civil Discourse Project with Skow, Byrne, and Concourse Director Anne McCants.

The project appears to be working. First-year Ace Chun, one of the student debaters, says,“It’s easy to just say, ‘Well, you have your opinion and I have mine,’ or ‘You’re wrong and I’m right.’ But going through the process of disagreement and coming up with a more informed position feels really important.”

It’s debatable

Funded by the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, the project launched in fall 2023 as a series of paired events. First, two scholars with opposing views on a particular subject — often one from MIT and one from another institution — participate in a formal debate on campus. A week or two later, the Concourse students, having seen the first debate, hold their own version on the same topic. Past debates have explored feminism, climate change, Covid-19 public-health policies, and the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza.

This year’s first scholar debate explored the question “Is capitalism defensible?” and featured economist Tyler Cowen of George Mason University, who argued in the affirmative, and political scientist Alex Gourevitch of Brown University, who vigorously disagreed. Roughly 350 people registered to watch the two take turns delivering prepared remarks and answering audience questions in a large auditorium in the Stata Center.

These debates are open to everyone at MIT, as well as the public. They are not recorded or livestreamed because, Skow says, “we want people to feel free to say whatever’s on their mind without worrying that it’s going to be on the internet forever.” Concourse students in attendance look for ideas for what they might say in their own debate, but also, Rabieh says, how they might say it. Cowen and Gourevitch remained respectful even when their exchanges grew louder and hotter, and they ended the evening with a handshake. Students “were seeing reasonable people disagree,” Rabieh says.

Five or six years ago, Rabieh had begun to notice a reluctance among students to talk about controversial ideas; they didn’t want to risk offending anyone. “Most MIT students spend a lot of their time doing math, science, or engineering, and it’s tempting for them to take refuge in the certainty of quantitative reasoning,” she says.

Today’s combative political and cultural landscape can make it even harder to get students talking about hot-button issues, and as a result, civil discourse has become something of a holy grail in higher education. Some institutions (including MIT) now incorporate free-speech exercises into their orientation programs; others host “conversation” events or offer special faculty training. Byrne sees MIT’s Civil Discourse Project, with its connection to the Concourse curriculum, as consistent, pragmatic, hands-on learning. “We’re talking instead of just talking about talking,” he says. “It’s like swimming. It’s all very well to hear a lecture about pool etiquette — stay in your lane, don’t dive-bomb your fellow swimmers — but at some point, you have to actually get in the pool.”

Learning to argue

Concourse’s “pool” can be found in a student lounge in Building 16. That’s where a group of “debate fellows” — older students who have gone through the Concourse program themselves — coach the first-year students in crafting statements and speeches that can be presented at a debate. It’s also where the fellows help Rabieh and Rickard adapt the original debate question into a resolution the younger students can reasonably argue about. “Our students are still figuring out what they think about a lot of things,” Rickard says. So, the question debated by Cowen and Gourevitch — Is capitalism defensible? — becomes: “Capitalism is the best economic system because it prioritizes freedom and material wealth.”

The first-year students jumped in. During their lunchtime debate, they crowded around tables, ate lasagna and salad, and waited their turn at the podium. They told personal stories to illustrate their points. They tried arguing in support of an idea that they actually disagreed with. They admitted when they were stumped. “That’s a tricky question,” one of the speakers conceded.

“At a place like MIT, it’s easy to get caught up in your own world, like ‘I have this big assignment or I have this paper due,’” says debate fellow and senior Isaac Lock. “With the Civil Discourse Project, students are thinking about big ideas, maybe not having super-strong, solid opinions, but they’re at least considering them in ways that they probably haven’t done before.”

They’re also learning what a balanced conversation feels like. The student debates use a format developed by Braver Angels, a national organization that holds workshops and debates to try to bridge the partisan divide that exists in the United States today. With strict time limits and room for both prepared speeches and spontaneous remarks, the format “allows different types of people to speak,” says debate fellow Arianna Doss, a sophomore. “Because of the debates, we’re better-equipped to articulate our points and provide nuance — why I believe what I believe — while also acknowledging and understanding the shortcomings of our arguments.”

The Civil Discourse Project will publish more about its spring semester lectures on its website. Coleman Hughes, author of “The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America,” will be on campus March 3, and a debate on the relevance of legacy media is being planned for later in the semester.

[immaculatasknight]

Campus resistance

[fromgoy2joy]

I sat next to the protest today.

I wrote fan-fiction about two gay jewish dads raising children to the play list of the chant- "No peace on stolen land!" on an American college campus. It isn't a name brand one either, nor does it have any legitimate ties to Israel. The anger is just there- it has rotten these future doctors, nurses, teachers, and members of society.

I don't even know what to call their demonstration- it was a tizzy of a Jew hatred affair. At points, there were empathetic statements about Gazans and their suffering. Then outright support of Hamas and violent resistance against all colonizers. Then this bizarre fixation on antisemitism while explaining the globalists are behind everything.

"Antisemitism doesn't exist. Not in the modern day," A professor gloated over a microphone in front of the library. "It's a weaponized concept, that's prevents us from getting actual places- ignore anyone who tells you otherwise."

"How can we be antisemitic?" A pasty white girl wearing a red Jordanian keffiyeh gloats five minutes later. "Palestinians are the actual semites."

"there is only one solution!" The crowd of over 50 students and faculty cried, over and over.

"Been there, done that," I thought, then added a reference to a mezuza in the fourth paragraph.

Two other Jewish students passed where I was parked out, hunching and trying to be as innocuous as possible. We laughed together at my predicament, where I am willingly hearing this bullshit and feeling so amused by this.

"Am I crazy? For sitting here?" I asked them. My friends shook their heads.

"We did the same last week- it's an amazing experience, isn't it?”

We all cackled hysterically again. They left to study for finals. Two minutes later, I learned from the current speaker that “Zionism” is behind everything bad in this world.

Forty-five minutes in, a boy I recognized joined me on my lonely bench. He came from a very secular Jewish family and had joined Hillel recently to learn more about his culture. His first Seder was two nights ago.

He sat next to me, heavy like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. There was just this despondent look on his face. I couldn’t describe it anyone else, but just sheer hopelessness personified.

“They hate us. I can’t believe how much they hate us.” He said in greeting.

And for the first time all day, I had no snarky response or glib. All I could do was stare out into the crowd, and sigh.