[S]tudents [at the University of California-Berkeley] … are in a required comparative-literature class that mandates they attend [a lceture entitled] “Feminist and Queer Solidarities With Palestine,” … sponsored by the Gender and Women’s Studies Department, and moderated by Paola Bacchetta, the department’s vice-chairman of research. Here is the abstract:
“Some of the more important accomplishments of feminism include the insistence on ‘believing women’ who come forward with accusations of sexual assault, and the awareness of increased sexual violence during militarized conflicts. Yet these achievements are currently being turned against real feminist concerns in Palestine. This talk will look at how Zionism has weaponized feminism, so as to serve Israel’s genocidal intent, by upholding debunked accusations of systematic Hamas mass assault, while ignoring documented reports of Israeli abuses.”
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[S]pokesman Dan Mogulof … said that the abstract “should have never been posted and has been removed” …. Citing academic freedom, Mr. Mogulof said the administration had “no legitimate ability to alter or cancel this panel discussion” and only the faculty senate could stop such a talk.
…
This panel, which is advertised as promoting the denial of Hamas’s sexual assaults, also creates a hostile environment for women in violation of Title IX. Yet when I emailed Chancellor Rich Lyons asking him to condemn the talk, he didn’t reply.
Editor’s note: The feminist abstract was taken down after the posting of Professor Solomon’s commentary
This is an excerpt. Read the original post here
