The New York Post reports that a year after barring a Columbia University Middle East scholar from lecturing public-school teachers on the history of the region, the city’s Department of Education approved a course for instructors that was created by the Israeli government.
According to the Post the course is “a first of its kind, the 30-hour “Introduction to Israel: History and Culture” course drawn up by the Israeli Consulate in New York is being taught to 36 city teachers this fall for credit that can be used to boost their pay.”
In 2005, Rashid Khalidi, an Arab American, professor of Arab studies and Director of Columbia University’s Middle East Institute was barred as lecturer in a professional development program for teachers by NYC School Chancellor Joel Klein.
Last year, after months of closed-door hearings a, faculty committee at Columbia University released a report that largely cleared Khalidi and professors of Middle Eastern studies of charges that they were intimidating students and stated that there was no evidence of anti-Semitism. Here’s a link to an 2005 interview of Khalidi by Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman: Columbia U. Prof. Rashid Khalidi: “Freedom of Speech and Academic Freedom Are Necessary For Unpopular and Difficult Ideas”
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