U of Sydney Student Linking Antisemitism, Anti-Zionism Interrupted...Given Low Grade

[Mosby]

Report: Non-Jewish U of Sydney Student Linking Antisemitism, Anti-Zionism Interrupted During Presentation, Given Low Grade

A University of Sydney student was prevented from completing a Holocaust-studies presentation highlighting links between modern antisemitism and anti-Zionism, the Australian Jewish News (AJN) reported on Thursday.

According to the report, halfway through the presentation by the non-Jewish student, the class tutor interrupted and said, “We don’t want people to get the wrong idea about you.”

AJN reported that the student, who believes the low grade he received was the result of expressing his opinion, has since pulled out of the course.

Vic Alhadeff, CEO of NSW (New South Wales) Jewish Board of Deputies, told AJN, “It’s outrageous that a student would be warned against creating a link between modern antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment.”

“Not only is this a suppression of valid discourse, but it’s academically dishonest and denies the fundamental truth that such a link exists,” he said.

http://www.algemeiner.com/2016/08/28/report-non-jewish-u-of-sydney-student-linking-antisemitism-anti-zionism-interrupted-during-presentation-given-low-grade/

[still_one]

1. Really sad

[canetoad]

2. Impossible to have an informed opinion

without knowing exactly what the student was saying. The article is vague and references The Institute of Public Affairs, which, in its own words says:

The IPA supports the free market of ideas, the free flow of capital, a limited and efficient government, evidence-based public policy, the rule of law, and representative democracy. Throughout human history, these ideas have proven themselves to be the most dynamic, liberating and exciting. Our researchers apply these ideas to the public policy questions which matter today.

In other words a right-wing think tank.

[tritsofme]

3. Not surprising. Good on this student for speaking out.

[NaturalHigh]

4. How can anyone deny that the two are linked?

[Nuclear Unicorn]

5. Actions such as the one in the OP only reinforce the notion they are linked.

I believe the sports euphemism is, "own goal."

[Blue_Tires]

6. We'll see what else comes out

after all, it's just one side of the story... I for one am interested to know why the alleged student in question didn't take his concerns to the department chair or the dean of academics...

And of course the AJN buries the lede Greenwald-style:

The university spokesperson told The AJN, “Unfortunately the media queries from journalists have not identified a student or a lecturer, and we are not aware of a complaint of this nature, and so it is difficult to progress this matter further at this stage.”

https://www.jewishnews.net.au/sydney-uni-concerned-student-claims/55510

[hunter]

7. Ah, the poor delicate flower...

The first time I was "asked" to take time off from school (the unspoken threat being permanent expulsion) it was for fighting with a teaching assistant. I wasn't doing any fighting at all, really, I just had strong opinions about certain things, and I was upsetting him. First he threw chalk at me, then an eraser, then a fat textbook. I should have taken that as a signal to shut up, but I can be an asshole. At last he charged me and tripped over the overhead projector cord and it crashed to the floor, shattering.

I got an "F" in that class.

I'd gotten into trouble over a few other things too.

About the argument itself, I'd called "bullshit" on what the teaching assistant was saying, and it really was bullshit, but that didn't matter. A couple of years later I got the highest score in the same class, a different professor with a different teaching assistant, and they seemed to like me. Or else I'd learned how to play the game.

Later I had another professor I didn't get along with, and he gave me an "F" as my final grade. I opened my report card (this was when you got report cards in the mail) and panicked, a near meltdown. I knew I'd done well on the final and that my term paper wasn't that bad.

I immediately hopped on my bicycle rode seven miles and confronted him in his office. I was drenched in sweat. My professor told me in the nicest way possible that he'd given me the "F" for being a pain in the ass, that my work was close enough to "B," and that he'd change my grade. I asked him what he would have done if I hadn't shown up to question him about the grade and he said he'd probably have left it an "F."

I never got another "F."

In science and math classes you either know something or you don't. I've always understood that.

But I'd always regarded other subjects as "squishy" and places where my own opinions might matter. It took me too damned long to realize that maybe I wouldn't get into so much trouble if I simply wrote what the professors and teaching assistants expected of me.

Duh.

[FLPanhandle]

8. For all we know the presentation sucked

We don't know the quality of the work and logic just the topic.

[Blue_Tires]

9. Hell, we don't even know for certain this student exists

and that this incident happened...

That's the problem with one-source, secondhand stories...