In a case that tests the limits of academic liberties, UC
President Richard Atkinson requested a review of course description
procedures after a UC Berkeley English class sparked
controversy.
The English R1A class is titled “The Politics and Poetics
of Palestinian Resistance,” and is taught by Snehal Shingavi,
a graduate student. The course description has been changed several
times, the most significant change being to remove a line that
advised: “Conservative thinkers are encouraged to seek other
sections.”
In a letter to the UC Board of Regents Atkinson said the deleted
passage “had no place” in a UC course description.
In a May release, the Berkeley English department acknowledged a
lapse of oversight.
Shingavi said the line was a mistake, but added that he did not
intend to deter politically conservative students from
enrolling.
It meant that students should be open-minded toward the subject
matter, he said.
In the current course description, Shingavi asserts Palestinians
have a right to fight for statehood.
The class focuses on poetry that reflects the point of view of
Palestinians seeking independence, and how the Palestinian-Israeli
conflict influences Palestinian literature.
Other amendments in the course description include a sentence
dating the Israeli occupation of disputed territories to 1948 being
changed to refer to the creation of the state of Israel in the same
year.
Many accounts date the occupation to 1967, after Israel acquired
territories from neighboring states following the Six-Day War. In
1948, Israel’s borders expanded beyond frontiers approved by
the United Nations following a war with Arab states that began soon
after Israel was declared a state.
“(1948) is the date most Palestinians use to date the
occupation,” Shingavi said.
The course description attracted national attention after being
released last spring, and Shingavi has appeared on popular cable
news programs to discuss the class.
Atkinson announced his request for an Academic Senate review of
course description procedures during last week’s regents
meeting. Wednesday, Academic Counsel Chair Gayle Binion announced
that systemwide members of the Academic Senate will review course
description procedures of multiple UC campuses, though the review
team has not yet been selected.
A final report is expected in a few months, she said.
Following the senate’s review, Atkinson plans to appoint
an additional task force composed of regents, faculty and
administrators to review the senate’s finding and look at the
UC’s academic freedom and responsibility policies on course
descriptions.
For regents to concern themselves with course descriptions is
rare, if not unprecedented.
Binion said that in 30 years at the UC, she cannot remember a
similar controversy appearing before the board.
The task force was requested by Regent Norman Pattiz, who said
that while the description’s language was
“unnecessarily inflammatory,” he has no problem with
the course itself.
Shingavi thinks the UC is taking the wrong approach to the
issue.
Instead of more oversight, the university should do more to
advise graduate students learning to teach, he said.