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Profs question center
by Miranda Neubauer
Senior Writer
News | 9/18/07
Posted online at 3:40 AM EST on 9/18/07
Troen said he aimed to make the center "the most important and best place outside of Israel for the study of Israel." He explained that the center would reach this goal through the instruction of students, publications such as an Israel Studies journal, lectures, symposia and high-profile speakers. The center will also sponsor fellowships and offer travel money for research projects.
"This is just another center," Troen said. "We will not be the only [such] center, we will be the first and, I hope, the best."
Lisa Eisen, national program director of the Schusterman Foundation, emphasized that the foundation wouldn't proscribe the faculty how or what to teach at the center.
She explained that the foundation maintained "that if Israel is studied from an academic perspective the same way that China or Russia or any other country would be studied, different viewpoints will come out, and people will draw their own conclusions."
Brandeis, however, could better use $15 million to provide for more classroom spaces and similar university needs, Campbell said, adding that many institutions on campus already fill the same ideological niche that the Israel Studies Center will.
"[This] is not a gift that responds to the actual problems that the University has," she explained. "We have a Crown Center for Middle East Studies, we have the Steinhardt Center for the study of American Jews, we have NEJS, we have a lot of study going on that is related to the Jewish mission of Brandeis...and rightly so."
Campbell suggested that Brandeis' donors receive more guidance, and that alumni who wish to make a donation should ask the University how they could best benefit their alma mater.
"I'm not sure who at Brandeis would have solicited a center for Israeli Studies," she said. Campbell called it "wonderful" that chief Fundraiser Nancy Winship stated last February that the University doesn't "make any [academic] decisions based on donors' wishes" in response to the debates over former President Jimmy Carter's visit to campus last January.
"This is just another center," Troen said. "We will not be the only [such] center, we will be the first and, I hope, the best."
Lisa Eisen, national program director of the Schusterman Foundation, emphasized that the foundation wouldn't proscribe the faculty how or what to teach at the center.
She explained that the foundation maintained "that if Israel is studied from an academic perspective the same way that China or Russia or any other country would be studied, different viewpoints will come out, and people will draw their own conclusions."
Brandeis, however, could better use $15 million to provide for more classroom spaces and similar university needs, Campbell said, adding that many institutions on campus already fill the same ideological niche that the Israel Studies Center will.
"[This] is not a gift that responds to the actual problems that the University has," she explained. "We have a Crown Center for Middle East Studies, we have the Steinhardt Center for the study of American Jews, we have NEJS, we have a lot of study going on that is related to the Jewish mission of Brandeis...and rightly so."
Campbell suggested that Brandeis' donors receive more guidance, and that alumni who wish to make a donation should ask the University how they could best benefit their alma mater.
"I'm not sure who at Brandeis would have solicited a center for Israeli Studies," she said. Campbell called it "wonderful" that chief Fundraiser Nancy Winship stated last February that the University doesn't "make any [academic] decisions based on donors' wishes" in response to the debates over former President Jimmy Carter's visit to campus last January.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
Michael Fischer Hellmann
posted 9/18/07 @ 12:08 PM EST
Professor Troen's (NEJS) first name is "Ilan" NOT "Selwyn." This is not the first time you have made this mistake. Please advise your writers to be more careful
cultivate
posted 9/18/07 @ 4:19 PM EST
Ref: "...concerns over anti-Israel sentiments and anti-Semetic tendencies on college campuses..."
Jeesh, when the Brandeis student rag can't even spell anti-Semitic correctly, we really are in deep doo doo!
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