Professor Who Teaches Israel-Palestine Conflict Accuses College of Violating His Academic Freedom

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Columbia College Professor Iymen Chehade and attorney Rima Kapitan say the cancellation of a class on Israeli-Palestine Conflict was politically motivated

March 23, 14

Bio

Rima Kapitan is a civil rights attorney and practices employment litigation in Chicago through her firm, Kapitan Law Office. In recent years she has increasingly focused on academic cases, representing employees and students in internal appeals and litigation of academic freedom and discrimination cases. She has spoken on the topic of academic freedom at conferences of the American Association of University Professors, as well as at California State University Fresno, the New York University School of Law, and the Fordham University School of Law. She has also published on the topics of academic freedom, scholarly balance and the academic boycott of Israel, most recently in Volume 4 of the Journal of Academic Freedom of the American Association of University Professors. She previously served as Managing Partner of a 7-attorney law firm and worked as a staff attorney at the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Chicago.

Iymen Chehade is a Lecturer of Middle Eastern history, with a specific focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, at Columbia College in Chicago, where he created the Israeli-Palestinian conflict course. He is active in the area of public policy and human rights regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Iymen is the adviser to the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) chapters at Columbia College. He is the author of the play Garden of the Three, which he also directed in 2009.

Transcript

A lecturer at Columbia College in Chicago says he is facing issues of academic freedom after the college administration canceled one of his two classes on the Israel-Palestine conflict. Professor Iymen Chehade says he was targeted unfairly after a student alleged violence in the teaching of his course when he screened the documentary 5 Broken Cameras. You just saw a bit of the trailer earlier. The administration claims the decision to drop one class was based simply on academic scheduling and enrollment figures.

Now joining us is that lecturer, Professor Iymen Chehade. Iymen Chehade is also active in the area of public policy and human rights regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

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