Spring Break
Behind new sponsors, controversial Middle East writer Norman Finkelstein to speak
by Miranda Neubauer
Senior Writer
News | 3/27/07
Posted online at 11:56 PM EST on 3/26/07
/ Last updated at 3:07 AM EST on 3/26/07
Finkelstein said this week he is "pretty confident that this time [the event] will go through," adding that "Brandeis is, after all, a university before it is a Jewish university."
He said he plans to assert during his speech that Carter's latest book, Palestine: Peace not Apartheid, is not so controversial. Carter addressed the campus last January regarding his highly criticized book.
"Universities are supposed to be about finding the truth," Finkelstein said. "Allowing dissenting opinions to be heard" is a "prerequisite for truth. … If you don't allow for that, then I have to say, 'you're not a university.'"
Daniel Duffy '07, SDS member, told the Justice two weeks ago that he gave Conway his "personal and temporary blessing" to use the club's name as the event's co-sponsor in order to procure funding from the F-Board.
Duffy said the club had not put its full support behind this event. But Conway said he thought he had SDS's support the whole time.
The Department of Student Activities denied Conway's first request to invite Finkelstein to speak the same day as Carter and Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz in January for logistical reasons.
Dean of Student Rick Sawyer had then deferred both the organizers of the Finkelstein event and a separate student-initiated event featuring neo-conservative Middle East analyst Daniel Pipes to the Student Union's Campaign for Peace-which Union President Alison Schwartzbaum '08 said seeks to contextualize campus discussion on the Middle East-before making further plans. The committee recommended Conway and Jacob Olidort '07, the organizer of the Pipes event, allow for discussion time.
Conway said earlier this month that Finklestein will give a lecture followed by a question-and-answer session.
Olidort said Pipes, who is scheduled to speak on campus the day before Finkelstein, April 23 at 6:30 p.m., will speak for 20 minutes on "The Islamicization of Europe?" followed by a 40-minute open question-and-answer period.
Roy, who will introduce Finkelstein, is the author of over 80 publications on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the Palestinian economy. She serves on the advisory board of the American Near East Relief Agency, an American volunteer organization in the Middle East.
He said he plans to assert during his speech that Carter's latest book, Palestine: Peace not Apartheid, is not so controversial. Carter addressed the campus last January regarding his highly criticized book.
"Universities are supposed to be about finding the truth," Finkelstein said. "Allowing dissenting opinions to be heard" is a "prerequisite for truth. … If you don't allow for that, then I have to say, 'you're not a university.'"
Daniel Duffy '07, SDS member, told the Justice two weeks ago that he gave Conway his "personal and temporary blessing" to use the club's name as the event's co-sponsor in order to procure funding from the F-Board.
Duffy said the club had not put its full support behind this event. But Conway said he thought he had SDS's support the whole time.
The Department of Student Activities denied Conway's first request to invite Finkelstein to speak the same day as Carter and Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz in January for logistical reasons.
Dean of Student Rick Sawyer had then deferred both the organizers of the Finkelstein event and a separate student-initiated event featuring neo-conservative Middle East analyst Daniel Pipes to the Student Union's Campaign for Peace-which Union President Alison Schwartzbaum '08 said seeks to contextualize campus discussion on the Middle East-before making further plans. The committee recommended Conway and Jacob Olidort '07, the organizer of the Pipes event, allow for discussion time.
Conway said earlier this month that Finklestein will give a lecture followed by a question-and-answer session.
Olidort said Pipes, who is scheduled to speak on campus the day before Finkelstein, April 23 at 6:30 p.m., will speak for 20 minutes on "The Islamicization of Europe?" followed by a 40-minute open question-and-answer period.
Roy, who will introduce Finkelstein, is the author of over 80 publications on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the Palestinian economy. She serves on the advisory board of the American Near East Relief Agency, an American volunteer organization in the Middle East.
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