Professor's speech praising pro-Palestinian students sparks backlash at University of Michigan

[Jilly_in_VA]

The University of Michigan has issued a formal apology after a history professor lauded pro-Palestinian student protesters in a commencement speech over the weekend.

The remarks — and the ensuing apology — have set off cascading recriminations, with pro-Israel advocates calling to slash the school’s funding as others accuse university officials of bowing to political and donor pressure.

In a speech on Saturday at the universitywide commencement ceremony, Derek R. Peterson, a professor of East African history and outgoing chair of the faculty senate, credited “pro-Palestinian student activists who have over these past two years opened our hearts to the injustice and inhumanity of Israel’s war in Gaza.”

The comments followed Peterson’s praise for Moritz Levi, the first Jewish professor at the University of Michigan, among others who he said had advanced causes of justice through the school’s history.

Within hours, video of the pro-Palestinian portion of Peterson’s speech had widely circulated online, drawing condemnations from Jewish groups, who allege that campus protests against Israel created a hostile environment for some students.

https://apnews.com/article/university-of-michigan-palestinian-protesters-professor-speech-11087e565ad7f6fd9f1413507f2c1857

They, of course, took those remarks out of context. And how about the hostile environment THEY create for some other students, hmmmmmm?

[Rob H.]

1. Peterson is right

Peterson said he stood by the comments, calling it “ridiculous” to expect that graduations be apolitical.

“Michigan is not a finishing school for polite young men and women,” he said in a statement. “They do not need sentimental, cloying nostalgia. They need encouragement to face a flawed and unjust world head on, using the tools we’ve given them: critical reasoning, careful research, sympathy for the oppressed.”

[leftstreet]

3. +1

[AloeVera]

2. Truth hurts. Better to silence it, right?

The Gaza genocide masquerading as a "war" WAS/IS unjust and inhumane and that is putting it mildly. No one who saw it clearly, without racial, ethnic or religious prejudice, could feel anything but revulsion and heartbreak.

Protesting was the right thing to do.

But we can't talk about it because it brings back bad memories or something?

I think there might be some confusion between claims of a "hostile environment" and a suppressed guilty conscience. It's the most generous explanation I can think of.