USC Professor Put on Remote Teaching After Saying Hamas Should Be Killed

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) (Jessie Appleby) wrote about this last week (as did the Academic Freedom Alliance):

The University of Southern California has barred economics professor John Strauss from teaching on campus for the rest of the semester in response to anti-Hamas remarks he made to pro-Palestinian protesters last week. Strauss will finish out the semester teaching courses on Zoom.

On Nov. 9, students held a protest on the USC campus as part of a worldwide "Shut it Down for Palestine" movement. While walking past a group of protesters gathered at the Tommy Trojan statue, Strauss engaged with them over what he perceived to be anti-Semitic and anti-Israel sentiments.

The kerfuffle started when protesters accused Strauss of stepping on a printed list of Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes. (Strauss says that stepping on it was unintentional.) When Strauss passed the protest again later, he said one of the protesters yelled "Shame on you, Professor Strauss. Shame on you." In response, he yelled "No, shame on you. You people are ignorant. Really ignorant. Hamas are murderers. That's all they are. Every one should be killed, and I hope they all are."

A viral video circulated on social media in which Strauss can be heard saying, "Every one should be killed, and I hope they all are." But the clip was shortened in a way that left out the important context that Strauss's full comment made clear he was referring only to Hamas, not all Palestinians, when he said "every one should be killed."

More than a dozen students and faculty filed complaints with the university about Strauss's comment. Some protesters said they felt threatened, while one student organizer said the comment was hate speech. He "threatened us as students," she claimed to USC Annenberg Media, "making us feel unsafe in our academic environment."

On Nov. 10, USC issued a brief statement that it was aware of the video on social media and was looking into the situation. But that same day Strauss received a call from the associate dean of the college, who told him the provost had placed him on paid administrative leave for the rest of the semester.

Initially, the associate dean told Strauss he would only be able to teach his doctoral-level course remotely while on leave, but not his undergraduate course. By Monday, the university backtracked, allowing him to teach both courses remotely. On Tuesday, Nov. 14, the university told the student newspaper Strauss was not on administrative leave but would be teaching his courses remotely for the remainder of the semester.

The "bedrock principle" underlying freedom of expression is that speech may not be restricted on the basis that others find it offensive.

A petition demanding Strauss's termination for "racist and xenophobic behavior" had more than 6,200 signatures as of Nov. 17. A competing petition demanding his reinstatement had garnered more than 8,100 signatures.

On November 20, FIRE wrote USC, calling on the university to allow Strauss to return to his normal in-person teaching duties on campus.

USC may be a private university not bound by the First Amendment, but its policies commit to protecting faculty speech, so "[w]hen they speak or write as citizens, [faculty] should be free from institutional censorship or discipline[.]" As we explained in the letter, the "bedrock principle" underlying freedom of expression is that speech may not be restricted on the basis that others find it offensive: "As a Nation we have chosen … to protect even hurtful speech on public issues to ensure that we do not stifle public debate." Nowhere is upholding this principle more important than on a university campus, where debate, and consequently dissent and conflict, are common.

The fact that some protesters characterized Strauss's comments as "hate speech," or even threatening to students, does not deprive them of protection under USC's policies. The standards for punishing speech as a true threat or harassment are high, and Strauss's remarks to a group of protesters fall far short.

Saturday's L.A. Times (Matt Hamilton) reports on the situation, and essentially confirms FIRE's factual account of Strauss's actual statement:

The economics professor's interactions with students that day ended with the 72-year-old Strauss, who is Jewish, declaring: "Hamas are murderers. That's all they are. Every one should be killed, and I hope they all are killed."

As his remarks raced across the internet, his condemnation of Hamas was often excised, leaving only his "hope" for "all" to be killed. Captions and comments online framed his demand for "every one" to be killed in myriad, at times deceptive, ways. One Instagram post shared to millions of users claimed falsely that Strauss told the students, "[I] hope you get killed…."

PEN America, a writers' freedom group, also criticized USC's actions:

Totally barring a professor from campus because of a passing comment like this is a shocking overreaction. Regardless of Professor Strauss's intent, he is entitled to his views and the right to share them. It is no doubt a challenging time for campuses and we recognize that words may feel especially menacing in this environment. But it is exactly because of rising tensions that universities must resist the urge to place limits on speech or dole out punishments for comments that do not rise to the level of clear threats or incitement. Censuring professors for their political views is highly inappropriate and runs the risk of chilling free expression in higher education, for all. What USC has done runs counter to the university's obligation to foster dialogue and debate.

Comments

[Tom for equal rights]

Killing the active members of hamas shouldnt be controversial or in dispute

[SimonP]

You go and do it, then.

The moral clarity to be found in an empty jingo like, "all members of Hamas should be killed," doesn't really help us, you know - achieve peace.

Here's the reality: is it possible to kill every member of Hamas, without killing 10s or 100s of times as many Palestinians? Is it possible to kill every member of Hamas, without a long, dragged out war on Israel's doorstep and increasing tensions in the West Bank? Is that what people within rocket range of Gaza want? Is that what the Israeli people want? If we kill every member of Hamas, every single member - then what? What about Islamic Jihad? What about all of the new terrorists your lengthy war and siege creates, in the territory?

"Kill Hamas" isn't a strategy, and it doesn't point towards an actual solution. It's a bloodthirsty howl. Anyone saying it should be fucking ashamed of how ignorant it makes them look.

Hamas will survive the bombardment. Like it or not. Like it or not, it will be Hamas that will have to agree to terms of any ceasefire. That is, assuming that there is some outcome to this war that doesn't also envision a complete ethnic cleansing of the occupied territories. Which, you know, is probably Israel's plan anyway (news to Americans, I realize).

[Armchair]

Hamas is like the Nazis of Germany in WWII

The US didn't have to agree to terms with the Nazis. And Israel shouldn't need to with Hamas.

[Dr. Ed 2]

"Nuke Mecca" is an option and essentially what we did to Japan -- you want your Emperor to remain alive? Then behave yourselves.

You don't want Mecca to be a vast patch of glowing glass -- then behave yourselves.

[Reallynotbob]

It's appropriate to call for the execution of terrorists. Policy often begins with normative statements, while practical considerations take over in the end.

To paraphrase the philosopher William Munny, a known thief and murderer of notoriously vicious and intemperate disposition, "Deserve's got nothing to do with it."

[ReaderY]

Separately from what I personally think about the merits of the statements, would note that this is Hamas, the foreign entity, not a group of USC students. The fact that some USC students feel an emotional attachment to the foreign entity does not make what the professor said about them.

[ObviouslyNotSpam]

Don't leave us hanging.

[Craig Johnston]

What the professor said was not about them and the fact that they feel an emotional attachment to Hamas does not make it about them.

[Dr. Ed 2]

Some USC students are likely IN Hamas....

[Bubba Jones]

There is no upside to engaging with protestors.

[ReaderY]

Professors should be afraid to talk to students? Really? This is the kind of world we want?

[ObviouslyNotSpam]

He should be allowed to say what he wanted to say, but what he said was hardly conducive to fostering communication and understanding.

Almost certainly, however, nothing he could have said would have done that, so Bubba was probably right.

[WuzYoungOnceToo]

Professors should be afraid to talk to students? Really?

That’s not at all what he said, so…no, not really.

[Don Nico]

Who said afraid? But the professor was only wasting his time or worse. And it seems, worse

[Dr. Ed 2]

"USC may be a private university not bound by the First Amendment,"

Ummm, FIRE once told me that California had a *state* law that extended the First Amendment to *private* institutions in California, or is that only for student speech? This was back a while as well.

Second, does he have a suit for libel against the student groups that quoted him out of context?

Third, has there ever been a time when USC has punished a professor for saying Jews should be killed -- outside of class, outside of a publication, in an emotional conversation? Hence even though he didn't say what he was accused of, this is still racial discrimination.

Fourth, I think it is time for the "vast Jewish conspiracy" to target USC. On a more realistic note, I think alumni and donors ought to make it clear that they aren't happy about this. It worked for Harvard, much to the chagrin of Leftists there, and it would work here.

Fifth, and most important -- HE MUST COME BACK NEXT FALL -- at 72 my guess the admins attitude is they will pressure him into retirement.

[Randal]

a professor for saying Jews should be killed

You need to demonstrate the existence of such a professor before complaining about disparate treatment.

[MonitorsMost]

It does, but Leonard Law is specifically directed at student speech. Not employee speech.

[SKofNJ]

He should have said, "Kill the Jews." Then, the administration would be rushing to defend his right to speak freely.

[Jonathan Affleck]

Hamas like every native resistance group has an active defense to an accusation that alleges Hamas has committed a criminal homicide.

Nevertheless, Strauss's comment about Hamas is an opinion and protected speech just as a pro-Palestine speaker's comment is protected speech if the pro-Palestine speaker accuses Zionist colonial settlers of founding the Zionist state by genocide that started in Dec 1947 and has never ended.

[ReaderY]

Of course, this guy has an interesting definition of Native.

He thinks the Navajo are non-native colonists – like Jews they claim title to their land based on an origin story, and he says that basing title to land on an origin myth disqualifies a native claim.

On the other hand, he thinks that having an explicit crusader-colonialist origin story – Hamas’ explicit goal is to spread Islam and colonize and settle non-Islamic lands, and of course Islam (unlike Judiasm) didn’t originate in the area, it came by way of conquering crusading settler-colonialists like Hamas – he thinks a settler-colonialist origin story is consistent with being a “native” because he thinks it isn’t a myth.

[Jonathan Affleck]

ReaderY's text is an excellent example of depraved Zionist propaganda nonsense that is protected speech.

The ancestors of modern Syrians are Greco-Roman Syrians.
The ancestors of modern Lebanese are Greco-Roman Lebanese (Phoenicians).
The ancestors of modern Egyptians are Greco-Roman Egyptians.
Why should Palestinians be any different?
The ancestors of modern Palestinians are Greco-Roman Palestinians.

Texts of the Greco-Roman period all tell us that Judaism was a vastly proselytizing religion during the Greco-Roman period. These same texts tell us that the Europeans, who practiced Hellenistic Judaism in Europe, had no ancestral connection to Palestine. The texts of the Greco-Roman period all tell us that Greco-Roman Judeans converted to Christianity and that there was no Roman Expulsion, which is a fairy tale.

Many European languages recognize the facts and call Jews some variant of Hebrew because Hebrew is a Pentateuchal term that indicates origin from outside Canaan/Palestine.

[Randal]

Seems obvious to me. Do people think the Jews that Moses led out of Egypt were Caucasian? Probably do.

[David Nieporent]

Martillo is a raging antisemite who made up every single claim above. Like, he doesn't even know what an Arab is.

[Ben of Houston]

Texts say all Jews converted to Christianity? So we just imagined the centuries of records of Jewish rebellions and the Christian movement (which was increasingly Greek and Western even from an early point) was treated completely differently from the Jewish independence groups.

I don't know where you got your information from, but I would ask for a refund.

[Jonathan Affleck]

There was some sort of revolt in Palestine in 351 or in 352 CE, and a small group opportunistically supported the Sassanid invasion. Otherwise, Greco-Roman Judeans mostly vanished into Christianity from the middle of the 3rd century CE. There were a few tiny native Aramaic-speaking Galilean communities that persisted in practicing some form of Judaism into the 13th century, but they all converted to Christianity or to Islam.

[WuzYoungOnceToo]

Some protesters said they felt threatened, while one student organizer said the comment was hate speech. He "threatened us as students," she claimed to USC Annenberg Media, "making us feel unsafe in our academic environment."

OK, so they're saying that they're members of a group officially designated by fed.gov as a foreign terrorist organization. Now what?

[Social Justice is neither]

I believe the doctrine under Obama, sorry Biden, is to murder them by drone at a public event like a wedding.

Just goes to show that the "pro Palestinian" people are really pro Hamas and fully support their actions or are too ignorant to have an opinion at all

[Krayt]

The baldfaced, brazen way "I feel unsafe!" is used to silence opposition. So rarely is it exposed directly for what it is.

[John F. Carr]

The students who were afraid should be offered the chance to withdraw with a pro rata refund for this semester's tuition.

[David Welker]

So now you can’t say that the people responsible for the Oct 7 massacre should be killed?

I am against cancel culture. I don’t care what the idea is. Some argue that there is a conspiracy among Jews to replace white people. That isn’t plausible. But you know what it looks like if you single that person out for cancellation? It looks like a conspiracy. It isn’t going to help Jewish people to go out and try to punish everyone who thinks something stupid.

Like, just generally persecuting people who claim that there is a conspiracy to persecute them is basically bound to backfire and does not address the claims in an rigorous way. It is just the same with the COVID-19 vaccine. People became more resistant the harder it was pushed and ESPECIALLY when they learned that some subset of dissenters were being censored.

Back to this. Maybe the idea of killing every last member of Hamas is going too far. Maybe some members aren’t that into it, or something like that. But the idea of killing the people responsible for Oct. 7 is not an unreasonable one. What do you think is going to happen to you if you unleash your followers to murder children, to rape women before murdering them, and to slaughter families?

I get that talking about killing every member of an organization is extreme. It might even be unjust, given that maybe not every member of Hamas agrees with the leadership. But that is something that should be debated.

People saying that they feel “uncomfortable” as a reason to cancel people is ridiculous. Our educational institutions are supposed to be teaching students HOW to think, not WHAT to think. But now, they aren’t only teaching them WHAT to think, they are teaching them that if you think the wrong thing and speak your mind, you will be punished.

This is very wrong. Many of our universities are becoming anti-intellectual. And if they keep on following this path, they are going to be swallowed in partisan warfare.

Getting an education shouldn’t be about politics. Universities should not be political players, except that they should teach political players how, but never what, to think.

[Reallynotbob]

Guess we all slept through the twenty years the US mainstream said the exact same things about ISIS and Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

I'm against anti-intellectual canceling of all kinds. That is not the same thing as saying all ideas are equal.

[David Welker]

I never said anything about all ideas being equal either. So, sounds like we are in agreement.

[DWB]

As a comparison, I wonder how many Palestinian/Muslim professors have been forced into hiding by Zionists/Jews...

[santamonica811]

Thank God he didn't say that Nazis are evil and should be killed. He'd be accused of actually threatening all Germans with death.

[Bored Lawyer]

A viral video circulated on social media in which Strauss can be heard saying, "Every one should be killed, and I hope they all are." But the clip was shortened in a way that left out the important context that Strauss's full comment made clear he was referring only to Hamas, not all Palestinians, when he said "every one should be killed."

Note the propagandistic dishonesty. In another era, that would be grounds for a defamation suit. Today, it gets you a top anchor slot at a major broadcasting network. Just ask Katie Couric.

[SimonP]

Real Project Veritas energy, yeah.

[Jason Cavanaugh]

This seems to have been done with foresight and malice, while deliberately hoping to cause real undeserved consequences for Strauss.

If the person responsible for the deceitful editing attends USC (or is a student of some kind elsewhere), I'd support them facing discipline up to and including expulsion.

[The Margrave of Azilia]

Hamas people shouldn't be killed, they should be sent to a time-out corner for an hour or so. When they've had time to think about what they've done, let them go. Anything harsher than that is a crime under the Geneva Convention.

(Let's see if that was so over-the-top that a "/sarc" wasn't necessary).

[ReaderY]

I am wondering if what is going on here is the University is afraid of its students, things have gotten to the point where students will start fights and/or assault people over this.

Is the University going through the motions of pretending the professor engaged in misconduct to mollify and appease the students so they won’t start violence, again because it’s afraid of them?

Not exactly a courageous theory of motivation, but a possible one.

[KenveeB]

If they're going to punish him for making the protesters "feel unsafe," then the protesters should be punished for making anti-semitic statements to an elderly Jewish man. Who cares if they don't think the statements were anti-semitic, he felt they were and one person's feelings about what you say is all that matters, right?

[rloquitur]

So? Is that supposed to be a defense of the decision? If I am a student and I decide that I am going to wear a shirt prominently displaying an Israeli flag, does the school get to make me take my classes online?

[Kleppe]

Many bad actors suppress speech pretextually, claiming their actions are to the victim's benefit, e.g., university administrators shutting down a planned speech due to ambiguous, unspecified "safety" concerns. "We're not oppressing you by muzzling you, we're looking out for you -- don't you see?"