Utah faculty blast school for partnering with ‘illegal’ Israeli university
A pro-Palestine faculty group at the University of Utah has critiqued the school’s partnership with an Israeli university.
A petition, which has been signed by dozens of professors and hundreds of community members, repeatedly asserts that Israel is guilty of 'genocide.'
A pro-Palestine faculty group at the University of Utah has critiqued the school’s partnership with an Israeli university.
In May, the University of Utah launched a partnership with Ariel University in Israel. The university says the memorandum of understanding (MOU) is academic, not political.
In response to the signing of the MOU, the school’s chapter of the anti-Israel group, Faculty for Justice in Palestine (FJP), created a June 5 petition against the move.
The petition, which has been signed by dozens of professors and hundreds of community members, repeatedly asserts that Israel is guilty of “genocide.”
A linguistics professor at the University of Utah also criticized the partnership, according to The Daily Utah Chronicle. Specifically, Rachel Hayes-Harb, a member of the school’s FJP chapter, called Ariel University “illegal” and contended that Israel has perpetrated a “genocide” in Gaza.
“Partnering with an illegal settler university built and run by the same people perpetrating what President Randall correctly called a ‘genocide’ in 2024 is a mystifying decision on the part of University of Utah leadership, especially under current conditions of intense scrutiny of federal funding, which this decision puts at risk,” Hayes-Harb told the outlet.
The professor also asserted that partnering with the Israeli school “targets” pro-Palestinian activists.
“The U is willing to engage in deeply political issues,” Hayes-Harb contended. “This issue is so controversial in the U.S., internationally, among the Israeli people. This is NOT a neutral political issue, and given our directive to be neutral, it certainly appears that the neutrality demanded really only targets pro-Palestinian positions.”
[RELATED: NY students go on hunger strike, demand school cut ties with companies linked to Israel]
Campus Reform has recently reported about other controversial statements made by professors about the Middle East and Israel, including a University of Chicago professor commenting that the “best and only hope for peace” is “the power and durability of Iranian missiles.”
Campus Reform has also reported about FJP groups at universities nationwide. Last year, a report from the AMCHA Initiative, a non-profit organization dedicated to stopping anti-Semitism, found that FJP groups “influence antisemitic activism” and spearhead “the promotion of academic boycotts.”
“More disturbingly, the presence of FJP chapters correlates strongly with the rise of violent antisemitic behavior on campuses, including physical assaults and death threats,” the report stated.
Campus Reform has contacted the University of Utah for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
