AUB faculty demand withdrawal of Columbia University president’s honorary doctorate
American University of Beirut Faculty United, an independent association of faculty members, has released a statement calling for the revocation of Nemat “Minouche” Shafik’s 2018 honorary doctorate over “egregious dereliction of her duties as a scholar and a university servant”.
The association said Shafik took the unilateral decision to “violate the academic freedom of students, staff and faculty by declaring their peaceful protests against Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza a ‘clear and present danger’ and calling in the New York police to violently suppress their protests”.
The embattled president has faced an outcry from many students, faculty and outside observers for summoning New York police to dismantle a tent encampment set up on campus by students protesting against Israel’s war on Gaza.
More than 200 faculty signed the letter addressed to the AUB administration and called her actions “brutal and cowardly”.
“President Shafik has displayed craven absence of moral integrity and blatantly contradicted AUB’s mission, values, and ideals that are the basis for granting an honorary doctorate,” the letter said.
Donald Trump threatens to deport student protesters if elected president
Former US President Donald Trump says he will be more confrontational in dealing with students demonstrating on university campuses against Israel’s war in Gaza and for their schools to divest from Israel.
“When I’m president, we will not allow our colleges to be taken over by violent radicals,” Trump told supporters at a campaign rally in New Jersey. He is running again in November’s presidential election.
“And if you come here from another country, trying to bring jihadism or anti-Americanism or anti-Semitism to our campuses, we will immediately deport you. You will be out of that soon.”
Cambridge college divests from all arms producing companies: Report
Trinity College Cambridge has opted to withdraw its investments from all arms manufacturers, the UK-based Middle East Eye (MEE) news outlet is reporting.
This development comes after MEE revealed in February that Cambridge’s wealthiest college had more than 61,735 pounds ($78,089) invested in Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest arms manufacturing entity that produces a significant number of drones for the Israeli military.
According to three sources who spoke to MEE, Trinity’s student union made the decision to divest from arms companies in early March.
Essay Pro