Antisemitism and Islamophobia on U.S. College Campuses
Antisemitism and Islamophobia on college campuses are manifested in a complex set of interactions among a number of different players: students, faculty and administrators, off-campus organizations, interested outside parties, and news media. From student protests to faculty tenure controversies, campuses have become flashpoints for public controversy on issues associated with antisemitism and Islamophobia. Demonization and scapegoating can spiral upwards. Students' positions become polarized. There is little room for genuine questions to be answered or different solutions to be weighed for merit. This condition is particularly acute when campuses become polarized around issues associated with events in the Middle East. Campuses, of all places, should be environments that invite open dialogue. Nonetheless, at times debates about the Middle East escalate into confrontations laced with Islamophobic or antisemitic statements. These confrontations sometimes boil over from rhetorical debates to physical confrontations. News accounts can distort such conflicts by either hyperbolizing or minimizing events. Our investigation endeavors to bring some perspective to the question of the nature, scale, and origins of bigotry in these situations. We have attempted to trace many of the historical tendencies that have converged on today's American college campuses. Turning to historical, sociological, and linguistic data, we offer some interpretive frameworks that we hope will help the reader understand the elements of the current debate, and in particular, the ways that both antisemitic and Islamophobic language and tropes are being deployed in campus conflicts. We have turned to a number of scholars for their perspectives on the broader meaning of these debates and on the ways in which debates off campus play out in the student, faculty, and administrative realm. And in visits to campuses across the country we have investigated the ways in which the ever-changing nature of conflict in the Middle East has played out in campus life, with often distressing results.
Read the Report at the PRA Website
Antisemitism and Islamophobia on U.S. College Campuses | 4 comments (4 topical, 0 hidden)
Antisemitism and Islamophobia on U.S. College Campuses | 4 comments (4 topical, 0 hidden)
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