When Universities Become Informants: A practice from the McCarthy era makes an ugly return.
In this case, we were each informed of the existence of a file passed to the government without access to the file itself. We were not allowed to know the substance of the allegation nor were we provided with a review process where our own accounts could be considered. In the missive, Robinson does say that the incidents of antisemitic harassment or discrimination are “alleged,” implying that the allegations were not necessarily reviewed or adjudicated but left to stand on their own. Instead of treating the allegations according to established Title VI procedures, the university forwarded the allegation to an office of the federal government. Some of the allegations are anonymous, according to the university’s legal counsel. The fact that someone somewhere, protected by anonymity, has made allegations of this kind is apparently sufficient to forward the names to an office of the federal government that has demonstrated contempt for civil rights and established university procedures.
Read full article [here].
by Judith Butler, The Chronicle of Higher Education.