Brooklyn College Alum "Disinherits" School Over Assignment

Love those peaceful, moderate Muslims.

I actually haven't read the book and should not have commented on it. Maybe it does speak to the broader human experience. I suspect it was chosen mainly because it was written by one of their own proffies. But without reading the book, it was a mistake for me to comment on its suitability as Common Reading.

1. Brooklyn College has the right to assign whatever book it wants, and Kesler can disown the school if he wants. Fine.

2. I'm glad the kids got assigned this book. After years and years of walking on eggshells around Israel and listening over and over to the Israeli sob-stories, we are finally hearing more and more about the other side of the story. What? Are people afraid that once kids find out Palestine's side of the story they'll no longer be comfortable with paying for Israel's existence? Cry me a river.

in response to the one sensible thing you said....they do share similar origins in ancient times. The first hebrews came from Ur [Babylon], modern day Iraq.

Islam is wholly based on judiasm/christianity...its no more morally conservative or aggressivly expansive than either of those religions.

Possibly Muslims and Jews were the same people in ancient

times

henceforth the animosity amongst them now.

To bad young Muslim lite in this country don't protest

the lack of democracy in most Muslim countries but a

book in a minor college, wow gets commentary galore.

I wonder why they are a little paranoid about Brooklyn

College?

Cause Muslim Lite would not live 2 weeks in Saudi Arabia

Syria,Iran or elsewhere over dere.

What part of Islamic cultur/male circumcision,wrapping up females in Burka?

Why is this news? Apologies if this sounds ignorant/naive, but is Bruce Kessler significant in any way? Who is he? This story is essentially "Random guy you've never heard of decides NOT to give his own money to mediocre college."

Also, does no-one else find it kind of weird that a college even has a prescribed book for ALL incoming freshman? Why should someone studying Physics be required to have some "common experience" with someone studying Fine Art or Foreign Languages or Accounting?

From my own personal experiences with CUNY students/grads, it seems like the whole system has messed up priorities. It produces people who can tell you when MLK day is, or why Christopher Columbus was such a bad, bad man, but they can't do basic high school stuff like write in paragraphs or deal with percentages.

It's not mediocre...

and it's not about "giving up" money, so you've just wasted 10mn of your life!

Geesh, you're frustrated and angry...

"It's not mediocre"...Ooops, looks like I've offended someone - I guess you're a Brooklyn College grad?

I guess that's subjective, but I described it as mediocre simply because it's not particularly renowned. I mean it's OK, but it's not Ivy League. I just checked its Wikipedia page, and there is no mention of Brooklyn College being in any top ten/top twenty/top 50 lists or anything like that.

"It's not about "giving up" money"... Hmmm, yes it is actually. The story is about a man deciding not to give his money (in his will) to the college because he disagreed with it's choice of prescribed reading material. You don't even need to read the story to see that -it's right there in the headline. (Note, I am assuming that it was indeed MONEY that he chose to leave behind in his will, not some other posession).

As for being "frustrated and angry"...well that might or might not be the case, but what in my post made you conclude that?

But anyway, regardless of the status of the college, my point is this: why is this newsworthy? If I choose not to donate my money to my old college because I dislike the range of sandwiches available in the Student Union cafeteria, does that make the news?

Lots of colleges have assigned reading for Freshman. & yeah, I for one support Liberal Arts Education. If you send people in to get business degrees & science degrees & don't expand their education to include some history, some classics, some literature, some art? Then you end up producing technicians, not scientists-- you produce useless people, fundamentally. There is a reason you have to learn some philosophy, & it is so that you can think for yourself & develop some awareness of your context in the world.

Than again, since you ended your post with some race baiting, I'm guessing what I'm saying is falling on deaf ears.

First off, I didn't mean it to be race baiting. I'm married to someone of mixed race, so I'm hardly a racist. I just think civil rights, equality, diversity etc are all great, but seem to receive a disproportionate amount of emphasis in CUNY education. I think the basics of grammar and arithmetic are equally important (especially since the high-schools don't seem to be doing their job in this respect).

As for your other points, I agree and disagree:

Firstly, a rounded education is a great thing, but I think its just sad that this is still the aim of colleges - it should be achieved in highschool (and through hobbies etc). I've known plenty of people with very specific, focused educations who still have an impressively broad knowledge of other fields. I guess this is more a criticism of NYC public schools than CUNY itself.

Secondly, I don't agree that "technicians" are useless people - they obviously have a very specific use. If I hire an engineer, I want him to be an expert in engineering - not someone who's engineering degree involved spending half his time doing electives in Gender Studies or 19th Century Literature.

Also, I think the sheer lack of basics (i.e. grammar, basic maths) is what constitutes a "useless person". And I know plenty of CUNY grads who can't write in paragraphs, for example, and they certainly also lack any kind of critical thinking skills (despite all their "introduction to french literature 101" courses).

When I attended CCNY, one of my professors assigned the Chomsky book Manufactured Consent. Although I believe that Chomsky's writings are nothing more than glorified rubbish, I dutifully read the book, passed the class, and moved on with my life.

As for Moustapha Bayoumi, his praise of his Arab identity comes at the expense of his Egyptian past. Some of my classmates were Copts, Christian Egyptians who spoke of a proud history in resisting Arab cultural and religious domination.

The problem doesn't arise from the text(s) chosen (or passed over). If passing grades were only given to those who agree with the material, then there would be a problem. Unless Mr. Kesler has evidence that this is the case, this is quite a knee jerk reaction.

This guy can do whatever he wants with his money. But, still...this is stupid.

The point of higher education is to learn to think -- and reading this book is just the jumping-off point to a larger discussion of a difficult issue. Don't be so damned afraid of different points of view -- they're just the beginning. The students will read it and, if we're lucky, some will agree, some will disagree, and they'll all learn how to sort these things out through discussion and debate. The book isn't the point -- the book is just the background to the discussion. The discussion is the point.

Education isn't indoctrination -- we don't have to figure out some correct, "American" viewpoint to feed young people. In fact, the LAST thing we want to do is feed our young people some set of approved beliefs. Instead, teach them how to learn. Show them difficult ideas, and help them figure out how to address them. Help them figure out how to gain knowledge, how to analyze problems.

Teach them that, and neither "liberal bias" nor the steady stream of Fox News lies will matter -- they'll be above both. Teach them to think, and they'll figure everything else out on their own.

Well-said.

This is just a small example of the real problem. The liberal elitist agenda of the higher education system. Most professors in colleges across the country are liberals and don't give our children a fair and balanced education. There needs to be more professors with good CHRISTIAN American values to balance out the liberal slant of our education system.

Oh yeah, that's what we need. In a day and age when America is lagging behind the rest of the world in the sciences, let's hire more professors who think the world is 6,000 years old.

"There needs to be more professors with good CHRISTIAN American values..."

(In case you aren't kidding) you do know that there are lots of universities with a religious orientation, right? If that's what people want, that's where they should go. It's the free market at work.

Seriously, these hippies are out here preaching communism, demonizing the banking system, & advocating pacifism & racial diversity. We really should get these leftist guys & string them up in public.

Mr. K. can do as he pleases with his money. I wonder, though, if he thought he could buy the curriculum at Brooklyn, College?

Education through literature by an amalgam of people who present their personal experiences is not a bad thing. It would be great if the professor offered more reading materials, but it is unrealistic to expect students to read so much before classes start. As a professor of a higher learning institution, she is well within her right -- based on her educational history -- to assign whatever the fuck she wants to her intelligent pupils.

It's actually the common reading assigned to all incoming freshmen who are starting at Brooklyn College, so it's not one professor's choice. Usually the common reading is decided by a committee of faculty and administrators. I agree that the choice would be fine for one professor's literature class or whatever, but for the entire freshmen body, they could have chosen something that speaks more to the common experience. No doubt the book was selected because it was written by one of their own professors.

"Common experiences" = White Male. Even though white dudes aren't the, you know, actual default.

Thank you for correcting me - I misread. I'm not sure if I agree with you that this selection does not speak well to the common experience. Given that this book is a compilation, I would assume that this diversity would result in a greater likelihood of its readers identifying with some of the experiences described in the collection. And I believe it's important for the most people (e.g. all freshmen) to read it instead of a subset of them, since they can bond through that common experience.

.

At the very least, the debate around this selection will give them something to talk about with each other at the freshman orientation parties!

I think the worst thing they could do in response to criticism would be to assign a second reading as an "alternative viewpoint." A major learning task in college is the ability to respond to a variety of viewpoints through independent research and reasoned, specific, and supported criticism. By identifying a single alternative point of view, they would reduce a complex issue to a two-sided contest and encourage students to take one side or the other without examining other evidence. Apart from completely undermining their goal of creating "common experience," it's not very good practice for the kind of thinking and writing students will be expected to do in college.

It's pretty hard to escape this particular alternative view in America.

I assume that by "this particular alternative view" you mean the pro Israel view? My point is that whenever you reduce a problem to two alternative points of view, you end up with the kind of dead end shouting match that is so characteristic of television news and talk radio. College should be a place where students learn to recognize their own unexamined ideological positions and start to question some of the received wisdom they've been brought up with. It's not a matter of switching from one "side" to another, or even of learning to "tolerate" different points of view. It's a matter of arriving at a more nuanced and evidence-based understanding of the world--one that students arrive at independently through research and discovery, and not simply by way of group identification.

Well, it is his will, he can do whatever he wants. You don't have to agree with books, or with colleges. I think Moustafa Bayoumi's book will probably challenge people's preconceptions, & getting people to think & talk is...sort of the point of college. I haven't read "How Does It Feel To Be A Problem?" but have always admired the name.

Sheesh, the alum is living proof that such a reading is needed for students to bring people together. Give me a break, Kesler.

Here's an example: I had to read "Night" by Elie Wiesel and consider it one of the most moving and touching books I've ever read. It really made me understand Jewish feelings and the deep pain of the Holocaust. However, Elie Wiesel the author has disgusted me in recent years by siding with the right-wing groups in Israel and making statements that in my mind harm the peace process.

Still, I'd recommend his book about living in a Concentration camp in the 1940s. Although his statements this past decade are an embarassment and I've lost a lot of respect for him, I'd defend its inclusion in high school literature classes.

guy sounds like a giant dee eye cee kay

sounds like the same c_rapppile that someone could toss at reading Native Son, Invisible Man or Raisin in the Sun

QUOTE:

"""I had to read "Night" by Elie Wiesel and consider it one of the most moving and touching books I've ever read. """

just google Elie Wiesel & fraud...

Serious question: My college didn't have a similar incoming freshman reading requirement; Is there like some test or pop quiz or something?

I didnt have to read a book when I started college either. In fact, I didnt have to read any books during college besides text books. Why not teach students something useful that they can use towards their jobs?

Good for him, he can speak as he pleases and do what he wants with his money here in the US.

I have always wondered: If every Jew in the world packed up and left (new Israel on Mars or something) does anyone think the Palestinians and Arabs in general would be any better off?

'would the Palestinians and Arabs in general would be any better off?'

at its heart, Israel is a european colony. Like all the colonies went before it, the thinking its supporters is the same. the indigenous 'people would be worse off without us', they're savages we're bringing them civilization, they don't have as many noble prizes as we have...yadda, yadda.

the arabs/muslims dont hate jews the west or the US, 'they' hate the specific things our govts do. thats the simple reality you're refusing to accept.

http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/beirut-synagogue-restored-to-glory-despite-tensions-with-israel-1.308626

Palestinians are only a small percentage of Arabs. The question should be if the rest of the Arab world would be better off with a Martian Tel-Aviv.

Based on recent history, it doesn't seem likely.

probably overall the arab world move closer to the secular middle. when a people feel thereatened they tend empasize their own culture, they become extreme.

but really who cares? using the 'they'd be savages' even if we werent here to civilize them, is an old an cliche. the arab world doesnt have to justify itself to anyone but their own people.

nor does anyone want to send Israel to mars, (another tirsome hasbra, like saying they want to push them into the sea) they simply want the people who are indiginous to the area to be treated with respect and equality.

But you just made my point: The Arab political leadership does NOT justify itself to their own people. Thats one of the main reasons the area is backwards. Its the only place on Earth with secular and religious political dynasties and none of them have an admirable track record.

And why should they "shift to the secular middle" AFTER and acceptable Israeli solution (whatever that is)? Why do countries like Algeria or Tunisia (a long haul flight from the Holy Land and without Palestinian refugees) NEED that condition to become peaceful, prosperous nations? Answer: They don't. Its just an excuse to keep power and to hell with the sheepeople.

I’m not sure why you hold out Algeria and Tunisia as examples. Aren’t they peaceful and “prosperous’ nations?

Frankly I don’t think its any of ones business besides the people living there to define what is a ‘backward” culture or what constitutes a ‘religious political dynasty’. All states that are join the UN are obligated to treat their citizens with "fundamental freedoms" and "human rights”. This is binding to being a member of the UN, its not the place of the US to try and coax or alter countries until they look how we want them.

I/P isn’t the panacea for all the problems of the Arab world, but its the only problem the US should care about because for 60 years we’ve actively supported the oppression of the Palestinians which has caused blowback on to every person in America.

The acceptable Israeli solution is one that follows international law. International law says you can’t keep land won in war. International law says refugees have a right to return to their homes or accept compensation for being forced from them. That’s the just/only solution IMO.

I listed Algeria and Tunisia, and should have added Morocco, because they are too far away to be in any danger from Israel and have no Palestinian refugee crisis. So why should any Holy Land crisis factor into their domestic political decisions?

No, they are not prosperous and peaceful countries. Algeria has had a near civil war and many of their young men die trying to find work in Europe, despite the fact Algeria has one of the world's largest natural gas deposits and easy access to rich European markets. Morocco has a king and not a nice Danish style one. Tunisia has the same dictator since 1987.

Stop pretending the Arab World isn't sick. They are very aware of this and seeking reforms or revolution.

talk about exaggerating the power of books and the minds of incoming freshman.

when I took middle east history at bklyn college we read what was then the safe standard, Bernard Lewis, History of the Arabs.

Who better to explain the Arab world to americans than middle class jewish guy from London? Lewis later would show where his Middle East sympathies laid by supporting the Iraq war and calling for an attack on Iran!

But this is how it always is with middle east. You're never allowed to hear from the Arabs/muslims themselves. Instead its always interpeted for us by our Western 'historians' and 'journalists'. They give us an Israeli-centric view of the middle east...'its us good guys vs. them bad guys' or it's us secular people vs. those religious nuts...

but of course thats not how the arabs/muslims see it.

"Every empire, however, tells itself and the world that it is unlike all other empires, that its mission is not to plunder and control but to educate and liberate."

— Edward W. Said

Its just another way for the higher education system to indoctrinate our kids. The problem is you dont know whats going on until your deep into your college life.

ahhhh yes.....then my plan is working.

I'm a poli sci student at BC and I tend to think of myself as pretty liberal. But I'd be an irrepressible moron if I didn't acknowledge the slant a lot of the profs put on their reading lists. I often find myself clashing with my professors over terribly one-sided presentations of issues. The question of balance is one that needs to be addressed there, and if students don't go out of their way to look for counterpoints to the assigned readings, and few are that motivated, then yes, BC's curriculum is not far from indoctrinating.

"The question of balance is one that needs to be addressed there, and if students don't go out of their way to look for counterpoints to the assigned readings, and few are that motivated, then yes, BC's curriculum is not far from indoctrinating."

Meh, I don't buy it. Sure, the syllabi of some profs comes from a certain viewpoint, and that viewpoint could be described as ideological. But, who believes everything they read? I think you give your classmates too little credit - they aren't going to be "indoctrinated" in anything they don't want to buy into.

And to claim that MOST classes are one-sided is not realistic - it is the hallmark of the liberal education to present a class with competing ideas in it, and in my experience a lot of profs still do that.

Often when students complain about indoctrination what they are really saying is "there is too much stuff taught that I just don't like and my teachers don't validate my ideas." To which I'd say go to Baylor or Ole Miss or something if that's what you need.

While you make some extremely valid points here, you are saying some things that might be considered Pro-Israel or Anti-Palestinian in your statement. This could be very bad for you as a good number of Gothamist's commenters might see you as advocating that Israel actually has a right to exist, to live in peace and that every last Israel man, woman, and child shouldn't be murdered. This aggression will not stand, man!

what happened to just giving for the sake of giving and giving anonymously.

We're poor, so we donate time instead of money. You too, right? ;)

You are so quaint.

Common reading should promote a common experience. Being of Arab descent is too specific. The Islam Society at Brooklyn College has only around 200 members and the student body is about 17,000 total. So how can that be common reading? They'd be better off choosing something about the general immigration experience rather than limiting it to one small minority group within the student body. The anti-Israel stuff doesn't sit right with me, either. Common reading should be about the human experience, not political agendas.

"Common reading should be about the human experience, not political agendas."

OK, I see where you're going with this. Arabs are not human, so their experiences are insignificant and not worth understanding. Unlike, I suppose, the Jewish experience, which is completely significant and worth understanding. Thanks for clearing that up for us.

I actually haven't read the book and should not have commented on it. Maybe it does speak to the broader human experience. I suspect it was chosen mainly because it was written by one of their own proffies. But without reading the book, it was a mistake for me to comment on its suitability as Common Reading.

Okay, the "universal human experience" then, as opposed to the experience of one single ethnicity. But since Brooklyn College previously assigned Angela's Ashes, which is definitely about the Irish experience, guess it's a moot point.

Arab and Muslim are not the same thing. The members of the BCIS don't comprehensively represent the Arab and Arab-American student body. Moreover, what, pray tell, is the "general immigration experience"?

From InsideHigherEd.com's study of Freshman Common Reading Programs: "Books about multiculturalism, immigration or racism were the most prevalent (60 colleges), followed by environmental issues (36 colleges), the Islamic world (27 colleges), New Age or spiritual books (25 colleges), and issues related to the Holocaust or genocide (25 colleges). Only 6 colleges assigned classics. The study also looked for other patterns in the selections, and reported that 46 of the choices have a film version, 29 are about Africa, 9 are related to Hurricane Katrina and 5 are about dysfunctional families."

What's "common" about any of these areas? They're not. They're not supposed to be. You're supposed to read the selection, note your own opinion, debate rigorously, be willing to question your own conclusions, and listen to your fellow students and professors. It's called critical thinking and it used to be the point of an education. Try it sometime.

What's hard for me to wrap my head around is how a collection of stories by and about young Arab Brooklynites is transformed into pro-Palestinian, anti-Arab radicalism. How does this alchemy work? And is it perhaps overtly racist? I'd honestly like to know.

Apologies; I mean anti-Israel when I said anti-Arab.

We had to read Elie Wiesel's "Night" as freshmen. Would Kesler want us to also read "Mein Kampf"?

Actually people *should* read Mein Kampf if only to see how frightening it is when a charismatic psycho attempts to rationalize the irrational.

speaking of rationalizing the irrational, imagine replacing "jews" with "palestinians," "arabs" or "muslims" and translating the book into hebrew. it'd be an instant new york times best seller!

i've long believed that all the hatred against muslims and arabs is the new anti-semitism (not that it hasn't existed before; its just become more de-rigeur lately).

however you package it, its all racism, plain and simple,

So what you three are saying is that this guy should not choose where his money goes on whatever basis he chooses to give the money on? That seems pretty stupid.

He can do whatever he wishes with his money, but he cannot expect it to influence the curriculum.

No...what they're saying is he can choose where he gives his money and Brooklyn College can choose what to assign their students. Some people think it's a good idea to assign readings by and about other peoples, cultures, and backgrounds that are typically not represented in mainstream education. We're not all conservative, pro-Israeli people here, you know.

Even just hearing the word Israel disgusts me.

YOU disgust me.

Well, you might want to either stock up on Dramamine or Pepto because you'll be hearing it a lot, or examine exactly why an entire country made up on millions of individual people makes you ill.

Also, are there other countries that make you sick?

Oh, well the individual people, there are plenty of great people there. Well, if you don't count the stubborn, complete scumbag womanizing dirtbag asshole guys that come here and pillage our women. The problem, obviously, is the tons of ignorant morons and their sick sick terrorist government. STATE-SPONSORED terrorism, not talkin random fanatics. Do not reply cause I don't care about your sick view, mouse.

You're just sad cause we can kick your lily ass, our women included.

"At the least, do not our students deserve a balanced presentation?"

Sure, maybe a "fair and balanced" one.

Good job, Brooklyn College, and fuck you, Bruce Kesler.