At Columbia, Call for Death of U.S. Forces Is Denounced

NY Times ^ | 03-29-03 | TAMAR LEWIN

[veronica]

The president of Columbia University said yesterday that he was horrified by the remarks of an anthropology professor who said at a campus antiwar teach-in Wednesday night that he hoped to see "a million Mogadishus" — referring to the city in Somalia where American soldiers were ambushed in a lethal firefight in 1993.

The professor, Nicholas De Genova, also called for the defeat of United States forces in Iraq, and said the only true heroes are those who help defeat the American military. He said Americans who call themselves patriots are imperialist white supremacists.

"Under well-established principles of the First Amendment, this is within a person's right to free speech," Lee C. Bollinger, the president of Columbia, said in an interview. "Not for a second, however, does that insulate it from criticism. I am shocked that someone would make such statements. I am especially saddened for the families of those whose lives are now at risk."

Those who attended the teach-in said most of the audience stayed silent at Professor De Genova's reference to the Mogadishu ambush, an event portrayed in the movie "Black Hawk Down." The raid, on Oct. 3, 1993, in which 18 Americans were killed and 75 injured — and the subsequent broadcast of images of a dead American being dragged through Mogadishu — prompted President Bill Clinton to order a withdrawal of troops from Somalia, where they had been sent to help relieve a famine.

"Professor De Genova's speech did not represent the views of the organizers," said Eric Foner, a history professor who was one of the teach-in's organizers. "I personally found it quite reprehensible. The antiwar movement does not desire the death of American soldiers. We do not accept his view of what it means to be a patriot. I began my talk, which came later, by repudiating his definition of patriotism, saying the teach-in was a patriotic act, that I believe patriots are those who seek to improve their country."

Professor De Genova's voice mail was not accepting messages yesterday. The anthropology department referred all calls concerning him to the public affairs office, where a spokesman said he had no further information on Professor De Genova, who is untenured and teaches anthropology and Latino studies.

The teach-in at Columbia, which went from 6 p.m. to midnight Wednesday and drew an audience of about 3,000, was organized by seven faculty members, who were joined by about two dozen other faculty members speaking on subjects like Middle East relations, civil liberties, pre-emptive war, the Geneva Conventions and Iraqi archaeological sites endangered by the war.

[First_Salute]

Nicholas De Genova has committed a federal crime, but do not expect the Bush Administration to prosecute.

[TLBSHOW]

But but more Muslim classes are needed and more Islam is needed and more muslim teachers and more islam is the answer, islam is peace ya know.......more more more is the answer if you listen to the terrorist front groups like Cair and AMC.....

What will it take to stop the enemy?

[OpusatFR]

"Under well-established principles of the First Amendment, this is within a person's right to free speech," Lee C. Bollinger, the president of Columbia, said in an interview. "Not for a second, however, does that insulate it from criticism. I am shocked that someone would make such statements. I am especially saddened for the families of those whose lives are now at risk."

Now, does the Whollyweird bunch understand? Speak, yes. Criticize, yes. Simple enough even for Susan Sarandon and Martin Sheen and that noted geopolitical analyst Jeanne Garafolo.

[Jen]

Ping for update.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Deport this bas%%ard.

[Just another Joe]

This guy needs to move; far, FAR away from the USA.

[FreedomPoster]

>>a spokesman said he had no further information on Professor De Genova, who is untenured

If this guy's contract is renewed, something is bad wrong. Columbia can't be let to forget this one.

His next anthropological position should include determining whether people prefer tubers.

"Would you like fries with that?"

[CasearianDaoist]

Are you kidding? This will no doubt assure that he is granted tenure.

[Radix]

Those comments are a disgrace.

That person teaches Anthropology?

1 : the science of human beings; especially : the study of human beings in relation to distribution, origin, classification, and relationship of races, physical character, environmental and social relations, and culture
2 : theology dealing with the origin, nature, and destiny of human beings

[AAABEST]

Thanks for the ping Jen. I'll post the contact info again.

Contact information for the Provost, his boss in the Anthropology Dept. and Public affairs:

Jonathan Cole (Provost)	email: jrc5@columbia.edu phone: 212-854-2404
Nicholas Dirks (Anthropology Dept Head)	email: nbd7@columbia.edu phone: 212-854-4552
Columbia Public Affairs Dept	phone: 212-854-5573

[VoteHarryBrowne2000]

"Professor De Genova, who is untenured...

Keep up the calls, we had an effect yesterday! It's a good thing that he is untenured. I'd say the next step is to demand that this guy is fired from their faculty. The university will have to keep reacting to the outside pressure they get. Whether they like it or not, they have to be responsive to the public.

[Bernard]

"Those who attended the teach-in said most of the audience stayed silent at Professor De Genova's reference to the Mogadishu ambush..."

They didn't cheer, but they also didn't stand up and object to what this person said. What a collection of sheep. I expect more from college students and their teachers. Did they wait for the ABC/NBC/CBS commentators to tell them what to think?

[error99]

Nicholas De Genova is Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology and the Program in Latina/o Studies at Columbia University. He was previously Acting Assistant Professor in the Department of Cultural and Social Anthropology at Stanford University. He received his Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Chicago. His ethnographic research explored the social productions of racialized and spatialized difference in the experiences of transnational Mexican migrant workers in Chicago.

De Genova is currently completing two book projects, one entitled Working the Boundaries: Race, Space, and "Illegality" in Mexican Chicago (forthcoming, Duke University Press), and a second co-authored work (with Ana Yolanda Ramos-Zayas) entitled Latino Optics: Racialization and Citizenship Between Mexicans and Puerto Ricans in Chicago (forthcoming, Routledge). He has previously published in Social Text, Transition, Public Culture, Anthropology and Humanism, Annual Review of Anthropology, and Latin American Perspectives, and has an article forthcoming in the Journal of Latin American Anthropology.


Recent Publications

Forthcoming, 2002 (Duke University Press) Working the Boundaries: Race, Space, and Illegality in Mexican Chicago
Forthcoming, 2002 (Routledge Publishers) (co-authored with Ana Yolanda Ramos-Zayas): Latino Optics: Racialization and Citizenship Between Mexicans and Puerto Ricans in Chicago
Forthcoming, 2002 "Racialization and the Politics of Citizenship Between Mexicans and Puerto Ricans in Chicago," (with Ana Yolanda Ramos-Zayas) in Journal of Latin American Anthropology
2002 "Migrant 'Illegality' and Deportability in Everyday Life," in Annual Review of Anthropology #31 (Fall 2002).

[Jen]

Good idea! Thanks.

[error99]

Students Organize Sit-In To Support Palestinians
by Xan Nowakowski - Columbia Spectator - April 18, 2002

Brightly colored signs with slogans such as "Stop the crime! Israel out of Palestine". Fliers distributed by the organizers of the pro-Palestinian rally cited five objectives the protest aimed to support: an end to Israeli occupation of contested territories, the right of Palestinians to return to these territories, cessation of United States aid to Israel, an end to Israeli human rights abuses, and a general policy of boycott against Israel.

When not chanting or waving banners, those present at the pro-Palestinian protest had the opportunity to speak at an open microphone. Several professors offered their insights on the situation.
"The heritage of the victims of the Holocaust belongs to the Palestinian people. The state of Israel has no claim to the heritage of the Holocaust," claimed Professor of Latino Studies Nicholas De Genova.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Some tut-tut's from Columbia's president and fellow professors.

[TLBSHOW]

bttt

[Publius6961]

What will it take to stop the enemy?

I believe I know the answer to that.

But under well established principles of the First Amendment as presently applied, I may not verbalize it.