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Statewide review launched to identify bias in university courses
Florida state universities have been asked to look for “antisemitism or anti-Israeli bias” in their courses.
The chancellor and vice chancellor of Florida’s state university system sent the orders to the presidents of the 12 public universities Friday.
The board of governors sent The College Fix the email from Chancellor Ray Rodrigues on Wednesday in response to an inquiry. In the email, Rodrigues outlined the specifics of the review process.
“We are going to conduct a keyword search on course descriptions and course syllabi,” Rodrigues wrote. “Any course that contains the following keywords: Israel, Israeli, Palestine, Palestinian, Middle East, Zionism, Zionist, Judaism, Jewish, or Jews will be flagged for review … This review should flag all instances of either antisemitism or anti-Israeli bias identified and report that information to my office.”
Rodrigues highlighted his collaboration with Governor Amanda Phalin, the faculty representative on the Board of Governors, in making these decisions, stating, “The most important thing is that we get this right. Therefore, my staff will work with your university staff utilizing the methodology suggested by Governor Phalin to identify the courses that need to be reviewed.”
Additionally, the universities must implement a procedure to confirm that each faculty member checks their courses for bias. Universities are then required to notify the state university system of any findings, Sun Sentinel reported.
Florida universities have received news attention for questions perceived as biased against Israel. At Florida International University, an online quiz created by a professor in June included content deemed anti-Israel by Jewish students in the class, according to Coral Springs Talk.
One of the questions read, “When Israelis practice terrorism, they often refer to it as [blank],” with multiple-choice answers including “proactive attacks” and “terrorist defensive strategy.”
In response to the controversy, dean of FIU’s Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs Shlomi Dinar worked with university leaders to select new material for the course.
“As an immediate remedy, the problematic material has been removed from the current class,” Dinar said, according to Coral Springs Talk. “Moving forward, I am taking steps to ensure that across all departments in the college, instructors carefully review all course materials and assignments, including test bank questions, to ensure the highest academic standards are maintained in our classes.”
FIU is not the only university that has recently been accused of antisemitism. Northwestern, Harvard, Columbia, the Philadelphia School District, and others also have faced complaints of bias, as previously reported by The College Fix.
MORE: 10 of the most extreme acts of campus antisemitism
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