October 3, 2011: York University incident demonstrates need to understand context

By Michael Regenstreif

York University in Toronto, like Carleton University here in Ottawa, and any number of other universities in Canada and around the world, has been at the centre of anti-Israel activism in recent years. Too often, such activism has been seen to degenerate into antisemitism. Jewish students rightly have become sensitive to issues of antisemitism and have learned how to respond when its ugly head is reared on their campuses.

It’s important, though, when responding to an incident that it’s not a matter of jumping too quickly to conclusions – particularly a wrong conclusion. That’s what happened at York last month when a veteran social sciences professor was delivering his introductory lecture to a course called Self, Culture and Society and was misunderstood by one of the nearly 500 students in the class.

While this cautionary tale happened at York, it could just as easily have been at Carleton, the University of Ottawa, or almost any other university campus.

The professor was telling the students that personal opinions were not relevant in this course and went on to challenge the very idea that everyone is entitled to his or her opinion.

And he offered an example of what he deemed an unacceptable opinion.

“All Jews should be sterilized,” he said, is just such an unacceptable opinion.

A fourth-year student attending the first-year class apparently missed or misunderstood the context of the professor’s statement and concluded he was an antisemite saying all Jews should be sterilized.

Rather than challenge the statement, or ask for clarification on the professor’s intent in making it, the student immediately left the class and enlisted Hasbara at York – a Zionist organization on campus – in contacting the media, the blogosphere and Jewish community groups to attack what she perceived to be an antisemitic opinion expressed by an antisemitic professor.

The class in question took place on the afternoon of Monday, September 12. The student’s report of the ‘antisemitic incident’ quickly went viral on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter and B’nai Brith Canada took up her case.

However, by the time the story made the Wednesday edition of the Toronto Star and two columns in Thursday’s National Post, the context of the professor’s remark was clear.

In a statement circulated by the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA), he said it was an example “of the fact that opinions can be dangerous and that none of us really do believe that all opinions are acceptable.

“For the record, I am also Jewish, which undoubtedly influenced my choice of this example of a reprehensible opinion.”

CIJA released a statement describing the incident as “a very unfortunate misunderstanding.” The professor’s “use of an abhorrent statement was intended to demonstrate that some opinions are simply not legitimate. This point was, without ill intentions, taken out of context and circulated in the Jewish community. … This event is an appropriate reminder that great caution must be exercised before concluding a statement or action is antisemitic.”

Indeed, context is important. Too often, we see words taken out of context, misinterpreted and twisted from their intent. This, of course, does not mean we should stop being vigilant or stop standing up when antisemitism and other expressions of prejudice or hatred do rear their ugly heads.