OISE MA thesis denounced in Ontario legislature

Frightening.

Imagine if we had a political party, or just an elected individual, who would stand up and condemn this McCarthyism and defend academic freedom?

Sorry, I had a John Lennon moment there.

fuuny.  it's actually AN EXAMPLE of "white privilege" and "victimhood of the powerful" when they choose to debate this paper in the house, when no other paper has ever warranted discussion.

Is this really any different than the motion by Toronto Councillors Mike Layton and Kristyn Wong-Tam to [url=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/mike-layton-asks-to... Maclean's magazine for calling Canadian universities "Too Asian?"[/url]

How so?

Le T wrote:

So these buffoons don't even take the time to read the paper before they condemn it as "disgusting" and "preaching hate". Pretty stong words to be using to attack something that you haven't even read.

I read a quote from a prof at York in a GandM article on this circus act in which he acused Jenny Peto of sloppy scholarship, etc. oddly he didn't do it in the form of an academic review but in sound bytes for media. I would guess that he didn't read it either.

I actually did read it. And I went to art school, not graduate level sociology, and I even I have to concur that it's pretty shoddy schlarship.

First, (and, again, I'm an artist, not an academic) is it typical to use so many first-person pronounds in an academic paper and to present entirely anecdotal personal experiences in a masters thesis?

Second, she is willing to make some pretty bold claims about what goes on in these educational trips as well as the motives behind them and what attitudes they tend to foster in the participants. Yet she conducted not a single interview with anyone who had been on the trips nor with the organizations behind them. Seems very odd to write a masters thesis containing some pretty bold claims without actually conducting anyprimary research among the people being subjected to her armchair psychoanalysis.

Third, there are some major factual errors. Some are inconsequential to her overall thesis. For example, giving the wrong figure for the number of peple murdered by Baruch Goldstein. That error has no impact on her argument but would seem to raise questions about why someone in a graduate degree program can't get easily available facts right. Some factual errors are pretty damaging, however, like the idea that the "March of Remembrance and Hope" is a "Jewish" program when it is actually run by a non-profit, non-denominational Canadian organization that contains people of all backgrounds and is certainly not "Jewish" in its composition, ideology or agenda. You'd think that when you're basing your thesis on how "White Jews" are using Holocaust education programs to advance a certain ideological agenda, you'd check to make sure that it's actually "White Jews" who are running the program.

Dodger718 wrote:

I actually did read it. And I went to art school, not graduate level sociology, and I even I have to concur that it's pretty shoddy schlarship.

Quote:

Jenny Peto's 100-page thesis argues that today's Jews of European descent "enjoy white privilege" and maintain a victim identity by participating in "hegemonic" Holocaust remembrance programs such as the March of the Living, during which young Jewish people visit Poland and Israel. The University of Toronto accepted the defended thesis and awarded a master's degree to the 29-year-old, who is an activist associated with the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid group. She's also Jewish and a descendant of Holocaust survivors.

So you, who are not an academic come on here to say that her thesis (that was accepted by academics) is not up to par. Your pathetic biases are showing.  

First, it is quote common to write an academic paper in the first person--I do it myself. It's also quite common, even conventional, to open a long paper such as a Master's thesis or monograph, with a personal anecdote to contextualize the writer's position in relation to the material. All of the above takes place in the introduction, before serious inquiry starts. So far, so good.

Second, why would a student in the Education faculty do sociological fieldwork? Instead, Peto situates herself well in the scholarship of anti-Zionism, whiteness and anti-oppression studies. It seems a perfectly reasonable and acceptable approach.

Finally, Masters theses are usually done by early-to-mid-twenty-year-olds, and, depending on the program, the thesis is a small part of a small degree. We are not talking about world-shaking material here. It's basically a practice run at entering the world of academic scholarship. How such a small part of a small part of a small part of an institution becomes of interest to provincial and national legistlatures is highly suspect. In my opinion, it's part of a larger offensive on the part of Zionist interests to bully and otherwise exert undue influence on Canadian university campuses.

Doug wrote:

All great criticisms - her thesis coach or committee should probably send her back out for a bit more research and editing but that's their decision. I'm not sure how this needs to involve the provincial legislature.

Oh, I completely agree. It pretty much debases the legislature that they'd actually take time to comment on such an insignificant issue.

How the heck did MPP's in the Ontario Legislature get ahold of the thesis in the first place???? 

 @ Dodgeer718 Post #17

Fractional White Privilege, yes there is.

You have the privilege of; working the rest of your life, in a lower then expected, paying job ... o_O ...

Boom Boom wrote:

How the heck did MPP's in the Ontario Legislature get ahold of the thesis in the first place???? 

It is publicly available online.

Of course, they didn't actually read it (as Shurman himself admitted), so that question is rather moot.

But seriously folks, OISE has been on the radar of the pro-Zionists for over a decade. Sherene Razack, amazing professor and outspoken critic of Israel, teaches there and was involved with a few academic conferences over the years that caused great consternation. Cynically I think it was just a matter of time before the fuckwads tried to pull something like this. And the political climate is ripe for this bullshit these days.

Racism and National Consciousness

Critical Race and Anti-Colonial Studies Conference

Dodger718 wrote:

 I've never studied sociology

I have.

The myth and belief in third-person passive-voice objectivity is sooo 20th century.

The pro-Israeli Zionist interference by Harper cabinet wannabe fascists in academic matters is nothing new - the following was June 2009:

[url=http://www.straight.com/article-235050/james-turk-why-we-are-calling-sci... Turk: Why we are calling on Science Minister Gary Goodyear to resign[/url]

Quote:

Canada’s minister of state for science and technology, Gary Goodyear, took an unprecedented step when he called on the president of one of Canada’s academic granting councils, the Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), to reconsider its funding for a controversial conference being held at York University next week. Some have expressed surprise at our subsequent call for his resignation. After all, Minister Goodyear says he was just acting to address some taxpayers’ concerns.[...]

James Turk is the executive director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers, which represents more than 65,000 academic staff at 121 colleges and universities across Canada.

[url=http://www.rabble.ca/babble/national-news/caut-calls-resignation-science... was the babble thread[/url] I opened at the time.

LTJ, I don't agree with any of what Dodger says. But when he says "it's not a Jewish program", please get your own facts straight before you try to correct him. I agree with him on that one tiny point. There's nothing the least bit Jewish about it. Where did you see something to the contrary?

Also, LTJ, pointing out that its head office may be in Tel Aviv does not make it a "Jewish" organization. This is pretty rudimentary. Israel is a country. Judaism is a religion. Not all Israelis are Jews. Not all Jews are Israeli.

Nor would it even being run by a Jewish person make it a "Jewish" organization with a "Jewish" mission. I believe that the president of UofT is Jewish. That doesn't make UofT a "Jewish" university because, unlike Yeshiva University in New York, it doesn't take as its mission the propogation of Jewish belief and traditions.

How do you know that they're white? Roughly half of the Jewish population in Israel is not.

And,given that she says herself in her thesis intro that she is writing specifically from a North American perspective, perhaps she should have disclosed that the Canadian program is run by the Center for Diversity, which is not even remotely a "Jewish" organization. I may give her the benefit of the doubt that she wasn't deliberately attempting to obfuscate facts which would leave the explanation that she simply was sloppy in conducting pretty basic research. Not exactly what you'd expect from some being awarded a masters degree from a top university.

I'm statrted to get confused as to what this thread is about.

Is a link to this thesis available?

Caissa: https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/handle/1807/24619

Macleans is a rag, and not an acceptable external referee for an Education MA thesis. Dodger, I'm not sure how else to say that you don't know what you're talking about, but you don't know what you're talking about. Like I asked above, why would a humanities MA student do field research? If that was her thing, she would be a social sciences MA (and even then, they don't always do field research). Peto wrote a persuasive research paper, which means it is meant to make an argument. That's the whole point. The out-of-context snippets you quote are conclusions, based on already argued and contextualized evidence. It was defended before a review panel of tenured academics. I'm sure you think that you, some dude, thinks that you know better than these career scholars, but that's just the hubris talking.

Sociology is indeed a social science. MA Students of sociology would be in the Faculty of Arts (Well, the Faculty of Graduate Studies, but that's not important). Jennifer Peto, on the other hand, is part of the Graduate Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. So your weak demands that she interview people (?) are as ridiculous as they are ignorant. Peto establishes her conclusions based on current scholarship and her research of the organzations. It was reviewed by tenured authorities. Not good enough for you, I guess. Your analogy is also incongruent. This paper is not about Israelis, but about the Israeli construction and utilization of whiteness and victimhood. It's cultural criticism, not field work. Please try to understand the difference.

Dodger, for someone who thinks this is an "insignificant issue" you're sure spending some time on it.

Here is correspondence between a sociology prof at ubc and the president of U of T that is making the rounds ...

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bG3D2hGHksxXN4Pz3a8zOK83Mu9YKL-8DWab3yJ6gww/edit?pli=1#

Quote:

November 10, 2010

Professor David Naylor, President

University of Toronto

Someone has sent me a 2010 MA thesis from OISE by Jennifer Peto, entitled
"The Victimhood of the Powerful: White Jews, Zionism and the Racism of
Hegemonic Holocaust Education." I attach a copy the thesis herewith.

I find this thesis to be one of hatred: the Jews of the world, most
particularly those of Canada and the United States, are racist and seek to
oppress people of color everywhere. But of course the haters will always be
with us, and if this were not presented (falsely) as a piece of scholarship,
I would find little fault with it. I do find great fault, however, with the
institution that bestows an academic imprimatur on what amounts to a very
subjective, emotional screed.

The thesis's aversion to empirical data is absolute. As it happens, there
are a great many studies on the political alignments of North American Jews,
all of which show the very opposite of what the thesis maintains (i.e. an
overall right-wing orientation of Jews). ( I myself have contributed to this
literature in the past. ) None of this empirical literature is cited by Ms.
Neto. There are also studies showing the overall Jewish condemnation of
Baruch Goldstein, a Jewish zealot who killed some 49 Arabs in 1995, yet Ms.
Neto suggests that Goldstein became a hero among Jews. There are also
empirical studies of the March of the Living, to which Ms. Neto devotes a
chapter, but, again, she never considers or cites this literature.

In short, Ms. Neto makes wild and hateful charges against her fellow Jews
without a shred of evidence; without, in fact, as much as worrying about
what the evidence might be. This thesis is an example of a kind of literary
endeavor that, no doubt, has its fans and devotees, and for which,
obviously, there is a place. But what is this place ? Is it on the shelf of
accepted U. of T. theses ? I am afraid that, being on that shelf, it will
bring shame and dishonor to a great university.

Sincerely

Werner Cohn

Professor Emeritus of Sociology, University of British Columbia

===============================

November 23, 2010

Dear Dr. Cohn:

Thank you for your recent email message expressing your concerns regarding
a student thesis at OISE. Though, I have not read the thesis in question, I
have referred your complaint to the attention of the Dean of OISE, Dr. Julia
O'Sullivan, for her to respond if and as she sees fit.

In general, I am certain a careful review of theses written across the
academy would uncover many elements that offend various individuals and
groups. This is an inevitable consequence of academic freedom and free
speech, and I don't think you or any other professor would suggest or
condone censorship.

Accordingly, when a work is published and others disagree with it, they
should publicly dispute the perspectives, or arguments, or findings therein.
Such lively debate is an important part of the academic process and
necessary for scholarship to remain self-correcting.

In short, I would respectfully suggest that you address your concerns to
the student herself or her supervisor, Dr. Sheryl Nestel. They can response,
if they choose, and engage in the kind of academic discourse so fundamental
to a University's mission. However, aside from making sure the Dean has seen
the commentary, I have no intention of intervening.

Yours sincerely,

David Naylor

============================

November 23, 2010

Dear President Naylor,

Thank you for your kind response to my concerns regarding the Peto thesis
at OISE.

I fully share your commitments to both academic freedom and freedom of
speech. On the other hand, we both know that these freedoms alone cannot
define the standards of academic work at a university. There also needs to
be a commitment to scholarship and to scholarly integrity.

Those who have criticized the Peto thesis have found it to be devoid of
scholarship and also to be untruthful in its reporting of social-science
data. For this reason, I urge you now to get input from independent social
scientists -- i.e. scholars not institutionally connected with the
processing of this thesis -- and to report to you about the grave issue that
some of us have raised, viz. whether this thesis conforms to acceptable
standards of scholarship.

Respectfully yours

Werner Cohn

==================================================

November 23, 2010

Dear Dean O'Sullivan,

President Naylor writes that he has referred my complaint regarding the
Peto thesis to you. I have outlined my complaints on my blog

Briefly, I find that

1) the thesis is devoid of scholarship,

2) that it completely distorts what is known about the sociology of Jews in
North America,

3) that it constitutes, in fact, a piece of hate literature, and

4) that it is a discredit to any institution of higher learning that
accepts it as a thesis.

I would be happy to furnish further details, should you require them, and
look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Werner Cohn

Professor Emeritus of Sociology

University of British Columbia

==============================================

December 3, 2010

Dear Dr. Cohn,

President Naylor has referred your correspondence to me and I am now in
receipt of the letter you sent to me dated November 23, 2010.

The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), as a faculty of the
University of Toronto, is steadfastly committed to the University of
Toronto's Statement on Freedom of Speech, which states: all members of the
University must have as a prerequisite freedom of speech and expression,
which means the right to examine, question, investigate, speculate, and
comment on any issue without reference to prescribed doctrine, as well as
the right to criticize the University and society at large.

Due to our privacy obligations to students, I cannot discuss an individual
student's academic work or his or her performance.

Yours sincerely,

Julia O'Sullivan, PhD

Professor and Dean

Ontario Institute for Studies in Education

University of Toronto

=============================

December 3, 2010

Dear Dean O'Sullivan,

In addition to enjoying freedom of speech (which I endorse as much as you),
are your graduate students in any way constrained by canons of scholarship ?
Or does anything go ?

Werner Cohn

Lard Tunderin Jeezus wrote:

The former "Canadian Council of Christians and Jews" is not strictly Jewish, but it leans rather clearly towards Zionism and religious fundamentalism. You can find nonsense like this on their website:

I'm not familiar with that particular organization. There are Jewish organizations which are right wing, there are Jewish organizations which are left wing. There are Jewish organizations which are religious. There are Jewish organizations which are secular.

There are organizations which are not Jewish at all and it seems that the Center for Diversity falls within that category.

There are furthermore organizations,institutions, etc. that are comprised of Jews that are not "Jewish". I'm Jewish. If I were to start a business - say, I decided to open a camera store - the fact that I'm Jewish does not make my business a "Jewish camera store". My personal background and beliefs are entirely irrelevant the practices and motives of the business.

Your line about "religious fundamentalism" seems a red herring and non-sequitar. Neither the March of the Living nor the Center for Diversity, so far as I can tell, are engaged in "religious fundamentalism". Indeed those Jews who may best be described as "fundamentalists" are the same ones who place the LEAST emphasis on Holocaust history or zionism. They're too busy studying Torah.

Unionist wrote:

But to call them "Jewish" is like calling Chapters-Indigo a "Jewish" bookstore. It's little more than a smear on Jews. And from a peek at the [url=http://www.centrefordiversity.ca/directors]Board of Directors of the Canadian Centre for so-called Diversity[/url], it looks about as Jewish as a typical oil company.

One might have thought that the fact that the CEO's name is Zahir Janmohamed may have been an initial tip-off that it isn't a "Jewish" organization.