An instructor at Stanford University has been removed from teaching duties as the school investigates reports that during a discussion on the conflict between Israel and Hamas, the instructor downplayed the Holocaust and singled out students “based on their backgrounds and identities.”
“Without prejudging the matter, this report is a cause for serious concern. Academic freedom does not permit the identity-based targeting of students,” Stanford said in a statement Wednesday.
Whenever I read an article about something happening at a university, it seems like it’s always a 50/50 chance that someone being batshit insane (while downplaying their insanity) or someone being overly sensitive (and upselling the story for clicks).
This time it was someone being batshit insane. Like, what the fuck? The article is trying to downplay what he was doing. He wasn’t “downplaying” the holocaust, he wasn’t trying to deny it; he was trying to convince them that the holocaust was okay because Israel colonized Palestine. He was trying to convince them that it’s okay to kill Jews.
What the fuck?
Excuse me?? Why do you have a non-faculty member lecturing new students?? What the actual fuck is going on here??
Probably a graduate TA. Graduate students are not faculty.
I thought TAs were generally paid, especially grad students since they usually need the money.
Faculty is a very specific word in University systems. It almost exclusively means tenure track professors. Everyone else is staff, student, adjunct, volunteer, etc.
Ah, okay! Thanks!
I started working a tech job at a large university a couple of months ago and it’s a very different world and atmosphere than when I was in school 20 years ago.