February 7, 2008

Professor at Israeli College Threatened With Dismissal Over Uniformed Student

An Israeli college professor’s refusal to teach a student wearing a military uniform has led to a campus debate about free speech and the possible dismissal of the professor, The Jerusalem Post reported today.

In November, Nizar Hassan, a film professor at Sapir College, refused to teach a student who had arrived at class directly from his reserve duty with military intelligence. Mr. Hassan told the Associated Press that the student, Eyal Cohen, was also carrying a gun.

“I asked him not to bring in the war that they practice outside the class,” Mr. Hassan said. “No one can ever come to class with a uniform and a weapon.”

Mr. Hassan asked Mr. Cohen to leave, and when the student refused, the professor said he would not teach him until he returned to class in civilian clothes, the Post reported.

A committee set up by the college to look into the incident decided that Mr. Hassan must issue a full apology by today or lose his job. In response, his lawyer told the committee that “Hassan acted with good intentions, as someone who just wants to see human beings in his class — not soldiers, not Jews, not Arabs — and he did not mean to harm anyone.”

The committee rejected that argument and criticized Mr. Hassan for failing to support academic freedom.

But Mr. Hassan’s supporters say that he is the one being denied such freedom. “Professors are scared now,” and worry that what they say could get them fired, one student told the Post.

Meanwhile, the college’s student union demanded that the professor issue an apology. —Beth McMurtrie

Comments

1. Academic freedom? The student came to class dressed in a military uniform. the prof has a problem if he can’t deal with it. If it wasn’t for soldiers in Israel the professor and students would not have any freedom. He abused his privilege to teach by insulting a student. It is tough enough to leave your family and studies for weeks while performing military service in order to protect your fellow citizens, including the professor. the professor’s action was uncalled for and do warrant an apology

   — gil stein    Feb 8, 01:11 AM    #

2. This is not a complicated matter. The question, for Prof. Hassan or anyone else, is: “Am I, as a professor, entitled to exclude a student from my classroom on the basis of a political dress code of my own design?” And the answer, clearly, is “no.”

   — Gustave    Feb 8, 04:28 AM    #

3. I am a student learning at Sapir College. Please correct your article. at no point in time was the student carrying a firearm. This is lie. The proffesor is intitled to dream up whatever he wishes, but the student definitly was not carrying a weapon. and it was obvious to all. PLEASE CORRECT YOUR ARTICLE.

   — Dov Dalin    Feb 8, 06:07 AM    #

4. Mr Dalin, you have misread the statements above. It never says the student was armed. It states the professor believes no one should come to class with a “uniform or a weapon”. The article reported two separate facts: the soldier appearing in class in uniform and a statement the professor made. YOU linked them in your mind, not the article. The article presents the facts as YOU present them. They have nothing to correct.
   Now, discuss the rights of the professor and the student rationally.

   — no one you know    Feb 8, 07:41 AM    #

5. Dov Dalin is correct and you ARE NOT. Let me post the exact quote from the article for you… “Mr. Hassan told the Associated Press that the student, Eyal Cohen, was also carrying a gun.” There is NO POSSIBLE WAY you can misread or misinterpret that statement. PERIOD.

   — yourewrong    Feb 8, 08:27 AM    #

6. Seems like Prof Hassan really wants his students to come to class sans clothes. If he were teaching an 8am class here, he might get close to this goal!

   — Innocent By-Stander    Feb 8, 08:46 AM    #

7. The political arguments that confound the middle east should never be barred from college classes in an open society. While i may agree with Professor Hassan’s point of view, he abused his position when he attempted to bar a student from his class who represented a contrary view.This is a serious and gross violation of the professior’s responsibility to safeguard the classroom as an environment that nurtures free and open discussion. The student is owed a public apology. A stern reprimand must be placed in Hassan’s file.

   — DAVID J. HARRIS    Feb 8, 09:06 AM    #

8. The comments above refer to “political dress code” and “political arguments,” as well as “a student….who represented a contray view.” What we have here is a soldier who “arrived at class directly from his reserve duty,” nothing more, nothing less. The professor was wrong to bar the student. He owes him an apology.

   — Sam    Feb 8, 10:21 AM    #

9. Dov Dalin: You might want to brush up on your spelling.

   — Donald E. Winters, Ph.D.    Feb 8, 11:36 AM    #

10. Uniform, yes. Weapon, no. Common sense. Why should this be so difficult to adjudicate? My bubbie would call them all “tzimmis machers.”

    — marci    Feb 8, 11:37 AM    #

11. Donald E. Winters, Ph.D.: I am willing to bet that Dov Dalin speaks and writes Hebrew fluently. English is probably a second language. Can you fluently speak AND write in more than one language? If not, you might want to rethink your snarky comment.

    — J. Ward    Feb 8, 12:46 PM    #

12. As a retired teacher I would never have asked a student to leave for wearing a uniform, unless, of course the uniform was causing a disruption. To offer as a reason my political view would obviously put me way over the line. If a student were carrying a gun I think I would have contacted the school’s security force to deal with it rather than confront the student. Should the prof be dismissed? I don’t think that’s necessary but an apology to the student is in order and to the class. A reprimand from the administrator is enough. Let’s not get carried away with self-righteousness.

    — Bernie    Feb 8, 02:45 PM    #

13. Bravo to Mr. Hassan! If only more of us would listen to our conscience like he has.

    — conservative in education    Feb 8, 03:20 PM    #

14. If an ROTC student at one of the many US Universities that offer an ROTC program arrived in uniform for a math, physics, history, or humanities class, would the professor bar him or her from the class? I think not. I would be surprised if French, German, Egyptian or Jordanian universities were any different. Why is there a question about applying a different standard at an Israeli university?

    — Sam    Feb 8, 04:11 PM    #

15. He came to class with his gun.

    — conservative in education    Feb 8, 04:51 PM    #

16. Dov Dalin says he didn’t. Whom are we to believe? I’ll choose to believe Dov Dalin, especially since it appears that Mr. Hassan is the only one who is claiming that the student was packing heat. If it is established that Mr. Hassan is lying about this claim, he ought to be dismissed immediately.

    — J. Ward    Feb 8, 05:20 PM    #

17. The professor made a grave mistake. His job is to teach, not to enforce dress code in class. Prof. Nizar Hassan had no business to deny education to the student.

    — kvc    Feb 8, 09:40 PM    #

18. Dear all, I am originally from Los Angeles; I moved to Israel by myself at the age of 15, out of a desire to return to the land of my forefathers. I wish to apologize for my spelling errors I admit it was academically wrong of me to do such a thing as to publish a blog without proofreading it first. Secondly an update, the junior professor did not write a letter of apology and to my knowledge has been fired. I speak English and Hebrew fluently, and am learning Spanish and Mandarin at the moment.

    Hassan’s actions were far off from the subject he was supposed to be teaching, film. Coupled together with his flagrant violations of disrespect to a student were proper grounds for his dismissal on the basis of violating the code of “academic freedom”.

    As a closure I would like to add that many reserve and active soldiers learn in class on the campus every day. I myself am a reserve soldier in the IDF Airborne; I carry a 9mm. Smith&Weston almost everywhere I go. There are also soldiers who sit in class with rifles (M-16s)…

    It is a burden of a nation which has fought almost every day of its 60 year existence.

    We wish we didn’t have to but we must, because Osama Bin Laden is our next door neighbor not yours.

    — Dov Dalin    Feb 17, 11:33 AM    #

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