Discord at Concordia
Speech cancelled following violent pro-Palestinian protest
Simon Wiesenthal, the famed former Nazi hunter, generally does not concern himself with life at Canadian universities. But concern over an anti-Israel riot last month at Montreal’s Concordia University has Wiesenthal sending letters to Concordia administrators all the way from his home in Vienna.
On Septermber 9, violent anti-Israel protests erupted prior to a speech by former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Only select students had been allowed entry to the building, but pro-Palestinian activists found an alternate entrance. According to the Canadian daily The Globe and Mail, “University windows were smashed, some Jewish visitors were roughed up, and protesters overran the building where Mr. Netanyahu was to speak.” The police responded by dispersing the crowd with tear gas. Concordia University administrators cancelled the event and initiated a controversial moratorium on activities related to the Middle East.
Wiesenthal believes this is the wrong tack. In a widely circulated letter to the rector of Concordia, Wiesenthal wrote, “to allow [the pro-Palestinian protestor’s] violence and intimidation to succeed in silencing an important voice should be unacceptable to a university which promotes the values of freedom of speech and open exchange of ideas.”
Service with a Prayer
Jewish group sues AmeriCorps for sponsoring religious teaching in schools
After years of providing national service, someone is finally serving AmeriCorps—with a lawsuit, that is. The American Jewish Congress is suing the federal agency that oversees AmeriCorps, a network of national service programs that provides participants with stipends and educational grants in exchange for community service. The AJC alleges that the agency is violating its charter and the First Amendment by sponsoring religious teaching in sectarian schools. Last year, roughly 6,000 AmeriCorps participants worked with faith-based service organizations, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.
In a lawsuit filed October 3, the AJC charges that many AmeriCorps program participants are both teaching religion in the classroom and being indoctrinated themselves through religious services funded by AmeriCorps. The AJC wants the court to declare it illegal for AmeriCorps to allow its participants to teach religion, and to prohibit those participants that do so from receiving the $4,275 in financial aid the federal government pays upon completion of the program.
Leslie Lenkowsky, chief executive officer of the Corporation for National and Community Service, which oversees AmeriCorps, defended his agency’s practices. “We are confident that all of our programs meet constitutional and legal standards,” he said. But according to Marc Stern, director of the AJC’s legal department, it was Harris Wofford, Lenkowsky’s predecessor, who inadvertently alerted him to the perceived constitutional violations. A fellow panelist on a television discussion program over a year ago, Stern says Wofford bragged that AmeriCorps participants had been teaching religion “for years.” Recalling those words, Stern told the Chronicle: “Loose lips sink ships.”
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