Editor’s note: This is a revised version of the article written by the author for the April 13 print edition of issue 10.
Here is what really happened and where it all started.
It was 8:42 p.m. on February 18th when I received an email of an offensive Facebook post made by a philosophy professor from four concerned students. They had found it from the public Connecticut College Philosophy Department Facebook page.
When the initial students found the Facebook post their first instincts were to send it to the media right away, to print it out and paste it all over Blaustein and other academic buildings. But I had asked them not to.
After some time on contemplating how to proceed, I decided to compose an email. This would be my second concerned email to the same professor. The first time I expressed concern was on Jan. 24 over ideas he shared at a public Charlie Hebdo panel which made me and several other students feel uncomfortable. I emphasized to him the significance of acknowledging that intolerance and violence occur in various forms regardless of who perpetrates it, and the importance in having solidarity for all victims. I received a defensive, unapologetic, and more offensive response in return. I did not engage with him after that until Feb. 18. I thought I would let him know that his use of language was bothering many students.
This is an excerpt of the response that I received:
“It’s particularly upsetting that in both the Hebdo case and the FB comment, you seem to have misunderstood or misinterpreted what I said.”
In addition to an attempt to justify the use of language by reference to a political conflict, followed by:
“If my analogy inadvertently invites that overly literal misunderstanding, then I am truly sorry and surely need to be more careful, and I’ve taken the post down to think about whether it does; and I appreciate your calling attention to that fact; but either way, it is a serious misunderstanding.”
For the second time in a row, I have been told that I had misunderstood language that was either harmful, offensive, derogatory, or dehumanizing. I asked myself: Should I continue to privately engage with someone who keeps dismissing me and telling me I misunderstand everything he says? If it was just me, then fine. But over a dozen faculty members, and dozens of students cannot all be mistaken.
Over the next two weeks many students, including myself, contemplated the best way to approach this. We were not seeking to criticize his pro-Israel views, but the use of irresponsible language from a philosophy professor. This was a group of intellectual young adults in college who understand the definition of racism as a “social structure that yields superiority and privilege for some, and discrimination and oppression for others.” An analogy that justifies an “owner” and a “cage” in a sensitive region where women, children and civilians are known to die in large numbers is a racist analogy regardless of one’s political views. And we engaged with racism through the best outlet possible—our student-run college newspaper.
My letter to the editor in The College Voice along with the others did not cause worldwide attention to his post. This attention was going to happen regardless of whether we had written them or not. My letter in addition to the other two actually stopped his post from getting into the media right away. I had advised students to keep it within the local community so we can have a community conversation about our values.
When my letter was published, the administration facilitated a private meeting with the professor and eight other students—the writers of the other College Voice letters and students who filled out a bias incident report. A few days afterwards, the professor issued a public apology to our college newspaper which I acknowledged publicly as well. My role in all this ended right there, right then.
The ending of my active role, however, did not stop other students from continuing to address this issue. A petition was created by others to ask the administration to take a clear stance on disrespectful, racist speech. This petition was created because students were tired of having the conversation end behind closed doors. But I still did not sign or share this petition.
I felt my role was to express grievances on behalf of underrepresented students who felt uncomfortable by this professor’s comments. I hoped whatever transpired afterwards would help push for a positive change for our school to move in the direction of a more acceptable community, but I ended up receiving backlash.
Andrew Pessin as a tenured professor reached out to media and singled out specific students. I immediately became vilified as the 19-year-old Muslim college student who silenced him for his political views. David Bernstein, who writes in Volokh Conspiracy a Blog from the Washington Post—has simplified me to “a Bangladeshi who wears an Islamic head covering,” and made unsubstantiated claims of my affiliation with “anti-Semitic” and “terrorist-like” organizations. My involvement with Students for Justice in Palestine, the so-called “anti-Semitic, terrorist organization,” seeks to raise awareness on human rights abuses against Palestinians. Raising awareness and fostering controversial conversations do not amount to anti-Semitism.
I was stripped of my American identity and reduced to the Muslim activist who had targeted her professor. My name is blacklisted on hate blogs and national media. My past activity in high school (when I was a minor) was sensationalized to anti-Semitic, terrorist-like activity. The attempt to dig up dirt on a 19-year-old student was not only unprofessional from a grown tenured man, in league with a clearly bigoted journalist at the Washington Post, but also inappropriate. Has this professor lost sight of his role as an educator and protector of students?
We are all entitled to our political opinions. Not once have we attacked his right to have a political opinion. This was supposed to be a community dialogue on the use of racist speech. Ironically, I have been the one to be attacked for my free speech regarding my activity and commentary on political issues.
This is what happened to the 19-year-old who published a letter in her college newspaper only read by the immediate community, to the 19-year-old who has been vilified by the Washington Post. But I stand by my principles and will continue to criticize hate speech.•
What a bunch of self-righteous drivel. Yeah, Lamiya: You are such a victim. You willfully misread Pessin’s FB post in an attempt to silence pro-Israel voices on campus, and didn’t care if you ruined his life in the process. Your cached Facebook account (wonder why you took that down!) is littered with anti-Semitism and attempts to delegitimize those who care about anti-Semitism. You may think that SJP is some bland “human rights group,” but it is well known to be a dubious organization that aims to destroy the lone Jewish state.
And, on campus, all is going your way: The tenured radicals at Conn have invited a pro-terrorist ISM activist on campus, among other anti-Isreal zealots. Ah, yes: “armed struggle” against Jews–talk about “inclusive excellence”! Why aren’t you complaining about such hateful anti-Israel zealots on campus? Is it because you don’t actually care about the campus climate, but care only about demonizing Israel and Jews?
The only reason you’re upset is that many off campus–in the real world, away from anti-Israel zealots–recognize you for what you are: a demonizer of Israel who ginned up a controversy and can’t take the heat.
You may only be 19, but you tried to ruin someone’s life based on false pretenses, and you should be deeply ashamed.
Hey Chip,
Looks like this was written by you. Seems like you got a thing for attacking college students on their college newspapers. And in addition to the fact that you have absolutely no life, why don’t you stop and ponder why you seem to be so full of hate.
http://hatemongers.new.mu.nu/best_of_me/college_op-ed_disasters_redux
Have a wonderful day.
How would you know anything about a commenter merely due to his/her use of the name “Chip”? This is either a strange conclusion to make, or “Hey Chip” works for The College Voice and has used “Chip”‘s private e-mail address (which is supposed to be kept private) to find him/her online. But publishing this information would be unethical. One would imagine that no one at The Voice would do such a thing, but maybe not, given that Ayla, the editor in chief, has proven so unethical in her prior actions. After all, she started the petition against Pessin, while publishing letters as EIC that sandbag him. And she has deleted an intemperate comment by Lamiya, in an attempt to shield her from criticism. In addition, her rationales for her actions have been contradictory and evasive. Does a faculty member oversee the operation of the student newspaper? Why is no one stopping such unethical journalistic practices? I hope the paper isn’t publishing commenters’ e-mail addresses in an attempt to smear them, but what other conclusion can one draw?
hey chip- suck my ass
A very convincing retort. Very well done. Is this what your major in Social Justice Studies gets you? If so, your parents are spending their money wisely.
Chip there are no hateful anti israel zealots on this campus and your head is up your own ass
Oh, yeah? The College just welcomed Fida Qishta to campus. Fida Qishta formerly worked as the Gaza coordinator for the International Solidarity Movement. This group officially sanctions “armed resistance” against Israel: i.e., the murder of Jews. ISM is outlawed in Israel because, among other things, it runs human shield operations for terrorist groups. Huwaida Arraf, one of the founders of the ISM, has openly stated in *The Washington Post* that the ISM collaborates with HAMAS, the PFLP, and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
And yet, under the banner of “inclusive excellence,” the College saw fit to invite such an anti-Israel fanatic. And–surprise, surprise–Katilyn Garbe, Michael Fratt, and the rest of the lynch mob lined up to enjoy an evening of anti-Israel zealotry with Fida Qishta.
So, to Conn College, tough rhetoric aimed at HAMAS is inconsistent with “inclusive excellence.” But support for actual violence against Israeli civilians is consistent with “inclusive excellence.”
hey chip suck my ass
No, thanks.
Lamiya, certainly some ugly and even inexcusable things have been said against you, but you must consider that you have done the same in relentlessly trying to brandish someone ‘a racist’ when there is little to suggest this is true (i.e. your interpretation of one statement and your loose explanation of why it is racist).
Why do you keep this going? You continue to demonize Pessin, you continue to revise the narrative of these events AFTER they happened, you continue to selectively represent and manipulate information, you continue to claim being a victim to justify your alienating behavior (e.g. moral policing, loose accusations of racism, etc), you continue to reject the possibility that you misunderstood the original post while imposing your own interpretation, and you continue to make excuses (rather than acknowledge and apologize) for any wrong-doing on your part. I for one am tired of your belligerency and hypocrisy in all this.
On every step of the way you were publicly egging this whole fiasco on. You did NOTHING to play it down like you claim. You are outright lying about what actually happened. You accuse Pessin of trying to dig up dirt on you (evidence?), but you did the EXACT same thing by going through his FB for a post he made months earlier. You claim to be the victim when you started this whole affair with the intention of ostracizing Pessin for an opinion you disagree with.
My point to all this is that ugly actions are met with ugly reactions. If you want to break the cycle, you need to publicly acknowledge where you have perpetrated ugly actions and atone for them. Otherwise, continue to expect backlash. You’re 19, you’re an adult, you are responsible.
I don’t think you read the piece properly. She was not the one who found the FB post, she was not digging up dirt on him like you people keep saying, nor was she the one to drag on anything. She wasn’t even speaking to media, he was the one who started all that and relentlessly continued and tarnished a 19-year old girl. She has the right to tell the truth if her name is being dragged to national media
I truly feel bad that Lamiya has been a target of such hate speech from all over the world. Chip, your comments further prove her point as to her being targeted for activities and organizations she was involved in as a minor–but oh, it’s because she identifies as Muslim that she suddenly becomes a 19-year old adult responsible for her actions as a minor?
If this was a white-identified individual who identified as Jewish we would not be targeting their thoughts or actions based on their religious affiliation. I’ve read the Washington Post articles (yes, there is more than one article targeting Lamiya and the College Voice staff) and it is truly despicable that these educated, PhD professors would express such words behind a screen but would never have the courage to express them directly to Lamiya or any one of the students involved in increasing awareness about this issue.
Lamiya, you did your part as Chair of Diversity and Equity to raise awareness. Now that it has taken on a life of its own, I encourage you to stay strong and confident in your role as chair and as a Conn student. My thoughts are with you.
Reaction to Conn student:
First, I will say I don’t know what’s going on on-campus, so I will not speak about that. I will speak up for Lamiya and say that yes, she is a victim of hate speech OUTSIDE of the college, and the college has done nothing to protect her except keep their mouths shut and keep Lamiya busy with attending classes as if everything were okay.
Why is Pessin not the victim? Because he still has his job and is reaching out to media outlets across the country to completely stigmatize a 19 year old person. A PhD professor going after a college student. Do you know how ridiculous and humiliating that sounds? Who the hell wants to hire a professor after THAT? Over a post that students were concerned about and simply drew attention to? To me, it sounds pretty petty. He’s going to take a “break” only to heighten the situation to the media and not confront the issue face-to-face with the student leaders who initially spoke about the issue in the College Voice.
That’s my perspective as an outsider. People need to stop targeting and blaming Lamiya for being a victim because at the end of the day she is. Pessin isn’t on campus, Lamiya still is. Until he decides to confront the issue himself, then all of this can end for good. Hopefully.
So having followed this from the beginning, I’ve actually talked with Pessin about this as his voice is conspicuously absent from all this calamity. I think you should know that, contrary to what Lamiya said in this piece, Pessin did not reach out to national media – the earliest coverage was initiated by students in contacting WNPR and other outlets. In turn, media outlets reached out to Pessin to get his side of the story, and he naturally gave his testimony that he was being intentionally misrepresented as a racist by those with a grudge against his pro-Israel views. The fact that this has come back to haunt Lamiya is hardly surprising. But there is no evidence that Pessin is behind a smear-campaign – what internet pundits choose to do with this affair is beyond anyone’s control. Yet Lamiya continuously seeks to publicly demonize and ostracize Pessin, first by asserting he’s a racist, now by asserting he is some sort of stalker. I would call this libel, not raising awareness.
I can’t believe this is still being written off, but Pessin apologized, publicly and privately, on multiple occasions for any offense long before this became a media war and has tried to live it down as much as possible. The fact that Lamiya continues to hash this out in public, including by posting this piece, leaves little question about who is the perpetrator in this whole ugly affair.
If Pessin is telling “his side of the story” then he is adding as much fuel as you argue that Lamiya is. At the end of the day, Pessin apologized? Okay…but he is still fostering a community that now, due to the media attention, is not safe for more students than initially felt that way. As an institution, that’s what the college should be discussing is the safety of the students. Lamiya is a student, as you are. She should not be walking around with the responsibility of enduring hate speech from the campus community and off campus community while every other student simply focusses on their academics.
Meanwhile, Pessin enjoys the luxury of being off-campus and distant from the unsafe atmosphere caused by his actions. Doesn’t add up for me.
1. Pessin has been looking up Lamiya, she showed us a screenshot just the other day of him viewing her linkedin profile.
2. Lamiya has never reached out to media, so people need to stop equating what other students do back to her. The fact that he keeps saying she has a grudge against his pro-Israel views is ridiculous,. He still cannot understand what the point of all this was.
3. She acknowledged his apology and stopped being actively involved since. So why is he telling media that “she has been monitoring him and out to get him” with a whole other load of bull.
If he had an ounce of integrity he wouldn’t bring politics into this. He used disgusting language, was called out on it and now is trying to justify it and turning it around on a student. He is a TENURED, OLD, MAN.
I guess it would have been better if she never wrote to the college voice, and just let the students who found it take it to media right away.
You go Lamiya! you are one of the strongest people I know and are a great activist! keep standing up !
Lamiya’s letter is a tissue of lies–a tissue of lies fully in keeping with the organized campaign to demonize the lone faculty member vocally supportive of Israel at Conn.
As David Bernstein has demonstrated at *The Washington Post*, Lamiya and her minions circulated Pessin’s Facebook post without the comment thread. The comment thread made it crystal clear that the original post was about HAMAS. Yet this was cropped, so that Lamiya could unfairly tar Pessin as a racist. The same was done by Ayla Zuraw-Friedland, when she circulated the duplicitous petition aimed at destroying Pessin’s career.
Lamiya is also lying when she suggests that she did not want to publicize the Facebook post before the letters in *The Voice* appeared on March 2. Both Ayla and Lamiya were attempting to make the post go viral before this time. And, of course, the post was circulated without its proper context, which allowed them to lie and suggest that Pessin was a racist.
To make matters worse, Kaitlyn Garbe and Michael Fratt (two more attendees at the ISM hate-Israel fest) libelously wrote that Pessin condones the “extermination of a people.” They knew he did no such thing, but hoped to get away with lying in public, to further their cause of destroying Israel.
Instead of bickering with me, I suggest that Lamiya, Kaitlyn, Michael, and Ayla find legal counsel. If I were Pessin, I’d sue you for deliberately distorting my words in an attempt to destroy my career. And I’d win.
Chip, just move on. Stop making baseless claims. Get a life.
Another great argument. Well done.
Zach Balomenos has (rightly) apologized for his role in this whole witch hunt. Obviously a decent person, he is embarrassed for making such wild and unsubstantiated claims against Pessin.
This whole thing is falling apart. It’s time to stop. Don’t get a life; get a lawyer.
No person should receive the sort of hate the author is experiencing. However, it seems quite paradoxical to me that someone who desires to be part of a conversation about racism is unable to confront the claims about her own racism because “she is too young” and that the Washington Post’s research was unprofessional.
If you feel like you know what you are talking about, you should stand behind it. If you feel like you’re too young to be part of a conversation where your beliefs are questioned, you probably are too young. You’re in college now, time to grow up.
^ I’m refering to the claims about the authors political involvements and her own apparent brushes with antisemitism. From what I’ve read, the Washington Post has over stepped their bounds with their criticism (taking away her identity as an American). Although I can’t speak for him now, the Professor Pessin I knew would probably agree with that.
*that= that the washington post has gone to far
Lamiya:
If you’re now complaining that you’re too young to be held responsible for the damage you’ve done to individuals and the college, why then did you start this mess in the first place?
Zach’s B’s sincere apology to Professor Pessin makes you look even worse than before. It stands as a complete refuattion of all your amazing claims that you are the victim here.
Professor Pessin should pursue defamation claims against Lamiya Khandaker in court. At least there, he would have a chance of receiving justice against her and her vile anti-semitic defamatory rants.
No matter what Ms.Khandaker writes now, after she and her fellow supporters have forced Prof. Pessin to take a medical leave (!), she is indeed responsible for his having been harassed and bullied by students, faculty and administration of this school. She is the one who trolled through his Facebook in order to find a sgred of a sentence she could latch on to … to claim that he is a racist….(His writing does not contain a shred of racism).
She and her organization (SJP) are responsible for acts of violence against him, such as draping his office door with a Palestinian flag accompanied by a nasty note (who else would have done that)? It is easy to portray oneself as “victim only” while ignoring the fact that one is actively victimizing others and driving them from their jobs. A beloved and talented professor has been turned into a monster. Good job, Ms. Khandaker!
You have made Connecticut College a national embarrassment! Many parents are reconsidering sending their sons and daughters here — a place where political correctness and left-wing bigotry flourishes at the expense of reasoned dialogue and free speech, and where violence is condoned as long as it is carried for a noble cause of “national liberation”. Congratulations! You even managed to get the college’s administration on your side. Time to celebrate not to cry…
The problem isn’t only Lamiya Khandaker. The response of the administration itself to the national embarrassment set off by Khandaker’s irresponsible actions has been to officially invite a series of Israel-haters to the campus, with no pro-Israel reply–while lying about it to the Washington Post (claiming this was only a “preliminary schedule of speakers” and thus not to be taken as the final plan; well, the first one, Fida Qishta, has appeared.)
“I emphasized to him the significance of acknowledging that intolerance and violence occur in various forms regardless of who perpetrates it, and the importance in having solidarity for all victims.”
In other words, you demanded him to see the Charlie Hebdo attacks (part of which were 4 people massacred for being Jewish) in a way that was comfortable for you. How self serving and insensitive of you.
“I received a defensive, unapologetic, and more offensive response in return.”
Good.
“My past activity in high school (when I was a minor) was sensationalized to anti-Semitic, terrorist-like activity.”
In other words, someone did to you what you did to him. Cosmic justice!
“The attempt to dig up dirt on a 19-year-old student was not only unprofessional from a grown tenured man”
Again, so you are complaining someone did to you what you did to him. Furthermore, it is clear that the professor wasn’t the one who dug up the dirt, so once again you are lying and slander Pessin. He should sue you.
“Has this professor lost sight of his role as an educator and protector of students?”
He’s not your protector.
[…] Bernstein, University Foundation Professor at the George Mason University School of Law, as a “Bigoted journalist” because he “simplified [you] to a Bangladeshi who wears an Islamic head covering.” However, […]
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