ANOTHER WORM IN THE BIG APPLE: BROOKLYNSTAN COLLEGE?
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| Brooklyn College-stan: Letter From a Faculty Member
Posted: 23 Aug 2010 10:39 PM PDT Dr. Karen L. Gould
President Brooklyn College The City University of New York Dear President Gould: To my dismay, I’ve just learned that the College’s Dean has announced  plans to send all freshmen and incoming transfer students free copies of a book by Moustafa Bayoumi, a professor in the College’s English Department, titled How Does It Feel To Be A Problem?  Being Young and Arab in America.  Faculty are urged to invite the new transfer students to a ‘Meet the Author’ “lively discussion about diversity and inclusiveness in Brooklyn and at the College.” How Does It Feel To Be A Problem is already required reading for freshmen in English 1010. No other book by a professor is being given this kind of official stamp of approval and used in the welcome kit for new students.  Professor Bayoumi is the author of a blatantly one-sided collection on the Gaza flotilla incident and the editor of the Edward Said Reader.  He is thus a spokesman for one side of a current political struggle. This is wholly inappropriate.  It smacks of indoctrination. It will intimidate incoming students who have a different point of view (or have formed no point of view), sending the message that only one side will be approved on this College campus. It can certainly intimidate untenured faculty as well. It is fine to provide students new to the College with the “common experience” of a “common reading,” but that common text should emphasize the purpose of higher education: to transmit the vast and brilliant cultural heritage of humankind, its methods, achievements, resources and the problems still to be addressed. The problems must be discovered in the course of study, not catalogued in advance in doctrinaire fashion. Students who have absorbed the higher education Brooklyn College should give them can  come to their own conclusions about the issues of the day. Therefore, their first days on campus should confirm in them the confidence that we have room for all views on current questions, but an official preference for none. That is the College many of us have loved.  That is the College we must preserve. Very truly yours,  |
| First Ground Zero – Next: Brooklyn College
Posted: 23 Aug 2010 10:29 PM PDT Here is an example of a good liberal arts education. Welcome to Newyorkistan!
From a college Dean at Brooklyn College via a professor of Jewish Studies: Dear Brooklyn College faculty member: This fall we are welcoming about 1500 new transfer students to our campus and our community of learning. Â They are coming from community colleges and senior colleges, from publics and privates, from New York City, New York state, and around the world. Â Some will be taking upper-level courses in their major and others will be satisfying Core and other Academic Foundations requirements. Â We want all of them to transition to the College successfully and to complete their baccalaureate degrees with us. I n an effort to provide a common experience for this population of students, we have given each a copy of a common reading: Â How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being Young and Arab in America, by Moustafa Bayoumi (the same book that the entering freshmen received and are reading for English 1010).A ‘Meet the Author’ discussion and reception will be held for entering transfer students on Tuesday, August 31, Gold Room, 6th Floor, Student Center, at 12:30 p.m. Â Flyers will be available in department offices. Â I hope you will find out who the entering transfer students in your course(s) are and encourage them to attend what promises to be a lively discussion about diversity and inclusiveness in Brooklyn and at the College.T hank you for your support of our transfer students and for any assistance you can provide them in their transition to Brooklyn College.As you can see, our college has chosen to promote the work of Moustafa Bayoumi and expose our incoming students to the man: his writings and political views. Professor Bayoumi is a disciple of Edward Said (he is editor of the Edward Said Reader) and an outspoken proponent of the Palestinian cause. His most recent edited book is a collection of virulently anti-Israel essays dealing with the Gaza flotilla incident. While our community of learning is committed to freedom of speech and expression, does that require that we must expose new students to the anti-American and anti-Israeli preachings of this professor? At the least, do not our students deserve a balanced presentation? I f you or anyone you know are graduates of Brooklyn College, I urge you to write to the President of the College, Karen L. Gould 2900 Bedford Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11210 to express your dismay/objection. Even if you are not an alumnus, please consider letting your voice be heard.I am attaching a flyer for Prof. Bayoumi’s latest book on the Gaza flotilla. It is at best biased, at worst vile propaganda You can Google him and find out much more. Again, I am not suggesting the supression of his or anyone’s academic freedom. I am just questioning why the college has chosen to make him the one featured common reading and speaker for our new students. Is this education or indoctrination? http://www.orbooks.com/our-books/midnight/ PLEASE FEEL FREE TO SHARE THIS E-MAIL WITH ANY OTHER INTERESTED PARTIES. Prof. Jonathan Helfand |
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