NY's Jewish News on DePaul, Klocek and Holocaust minimizer Finkelstein

A friend of the blog just sent this my way, this breath of fresh air comes from the Jewish Press, a New York City weekly newspaper with good size readership of about 100 thousand or so.

The author, Israeli professor Steve Plaut, now has written two articles on the DePaul/Klocek affair.

Read the entire article here: DeNial At DePaul: The Thomas Klocek Affair

Here is a key excerpt:

"Klocek tells us his side of the story:"A Student Activities Fair was being held at DePaul on 9.15.04 at the Loop campus. It was open to all. When the incident began, I had not identified myself as a faculty member. I visited various booths and tables, among them `Students for Justice in Palestine(SJP).` I gave them my e-mail address and asked for some of their literature. I then stood about reading this incendiary piece about Rachel Corrie and the Israeli bulldozing of Arab homes and properties. I stated that there is no such entity as Palestine on the current map and that U.S. newspapers only began using the term Palestinians some 25-30 years ago. One of the SJP members said that the Israeli treatment of ‘Palestinians’ is as bad as the way Hitler treated the Jews. I took vast umbrage with this scurrilous statement."

At no time did I threaten any of the students physically or verbally, but the volume of the talking turned loud on both sides."

Some few days later, the Dean, Susanne Dumbleton of the School for New Learning, called me in and had in her hand two letters from students. I never saw these but she appeared to read from them, outlining charges against me made by the student groups, among them that I was `disrespectful` and that they were `hurt and crushed` by my remarks. She stated that I was to be suspended from teaching until further notice. She also announced that the school would make a response to the school newspaper.

“It should be noted that Dean Dumbleton had previously met with both student groups and their faculty advisors without my being present, and, when I asked her why, she replied that I was too `passionate` about the subject."

Large numbers of bloggers and some DePaul faculty have come out in favor of Klocek and against his inquisitors. Perhaps more important, the Catholic Church as an institution is finally beginning to learn the details of the Klocek case, and several local authorities have indicated their sympathy.DePaul`s sudden horror at the supposed "unprofessorial behavior" by Klocek is all because they claim he made an impolite hand gesture.

Note how dramatically this stands in sharp contrast with the university`s record regarding Norman Finkelstein, arguably the most openly anti-Semitic Jew on the planet, certainly in American academia. DePaul recruited Finkelstein as an assistant professor in political science after Finkelstein was fired from two New York-area adjunct teaching jobs (at New York University and Hunter College). The Anti-Defamation League calls Finkelstein a "Holocaust denier" and accuses him of pursuing an anti-Semitic agenda.