The University of California, Berkeley has reinstated a controversial course examining Palestine “through the lens of settler colonialism” after facing intense backlash that it was stifling academic freedom. But on Monday, UC Berkeley announced that a review had determined “the course does not cross the line between teaching and political advocacy and organizing”. Suspension of controversial Palestine class at UC Berkeley sparks debate Read more“I’m hoping that this will make the administration think twice before they respond to outside political pressure,” said undergraduate Paul Hadweh, who created the course, which is part of a UC Berkeley program that allows students to teach classes to their peers. The dispute comes at a time of increasingly tense debate surrounding free speech on college campuses and student activism on the Israel-Palestine conflict. A coalition of opposing groups argued that the syllabus implied that the class “intended to indoctrinate students to hate the Jewish state and take action to eliminate it”.

Source: The Guardian September 19, 2016 21:33 UTC