Community Must Acknowledge Anti-Semitism
September 9, 2016
To the Editors:
Kudos to Oliver Bok and the staff of The Oberlin Review for careful and responsible reporting on the ongoing governance process concerning Professor Karega in what is, to put it mildly, a low-information environment (“Karega Governance Process Enters Seventh Month,” Sept. 2, 2016). That confidentiality is necessary makes the lack of information no less frustrating, especially given how long the process is dragging on for reasons that cannot be disclosed.
However, I remain troubled by the equivocation about the substance of the Facebook posts — “many considered” they were anti-Semitic — which I had hoped would have been settled by the many, many interventions about them in the Review and in campus discussions last year. Clearly, it has not been settled, so to reiterate: The content of the posts was anti-Semitic. Period. As a matter of historical and contemporary context, as a moral matter and as a matter of intellectual honesty, we have got to stop waffling about this. The fact that the posts were anti-Semitic ought not to dictate any particular outcome of the Professional Conduct Review Committee investigation, but it is a fact nonetheless.
This is not the first time that our community has confronted bigotry and been called upon to acknowledge it. It has never been easy. That we still cannot do it suggests that we have a lot to learn.
– Jade Schiff
Assistant Professor of Politics
