While we in the States are talking about specifically admitting people into institutions of higher learning because of their race...the good chaps at Oxford are specifically setting out to exclude persons because of their nationality! Man, I love those wacky intellectuals! Let the hijinx follow!! Come to the States, pal. We'll get ya good and edumacated. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/mai...9.xml&sSheet=/portal/2003/06/29/ixportal.html Outrage as Oxford bans student for being Israeli By Julie Henry, Education Correspondent (Filed: 29/06/2003) An Oxford University professor has provoked outrage by rejecting an application from an Israeli PhD student purely because of his nationality. Andrew Wilkie, the Nuffield professor of pathology and a fellow of Pembroke College, is under investigation after telling Amit Duvshani, a student at Tel Aviv university, that he and many other British academics were not prepared to take on Israelis because of the "gross human rights abuses" he claims that they inflict on Palestinians. Prof Wilkie made the comments after Mr Duvshani, 26, wrote to him requesting the opportunity to work in Prof Wilkie's laboratory towards a PhD thesis. Mr Duvshani, who is in the last months of a master's degree in molecular biology, included a CV detailing his academic and outside experience, including his mandatory three-year national service in the Israeli army. In a reply sent by email on June 23, Prof Wilkie wrote: "Thank you for contacting me, but I don't think this would work. I have a huge problem with the way that the Israelis take the moral high ground from their appalling treatment in the Holocaust, and then inflict gross human rights abuses on the Palestinians because they [the Palestinians] wish to live in their own country. "I am sure that you are perfectly nice at a personal level, but no way would I take on somebody who had served in the Israeli army. As you may be aware, I am not the only UK scientist with these views but I'm sure you will find another lab if you look around." Mr Duvshani told The Telegraph that he was shocked by the email. Speaking from his home in Tel Aviv, he said: "I was appalled that such a distinguished man could think something like that. I did not expect it from a British professor. I sent similar applications all round Europe and did not have another response like that. Science and politics should be separate. This is discrimination." Mr Duvshani said he would not be put off coming to Britain, because "I think there are better people than him there". He said, however, that he was unlikely to accept any position offered by Oxford University. Mr Duvshani had no further contact from Prof Wilkie or from the university after receiving the email. When this newspaper contacted the university on Friday, however, a spokesman said that she was aware of the email following a complaint from academics who had seen it. That evening, the university issued a statement from Prof Wilkie apologising to Mr Duvshani and making clear that he was not speaking on behalf of Oxford. The spokesman said that the university was investigating Prof Wilkie and added: "Freedom of expression is a fundamental tenet of university life but under no circumstances are we prepared to accept or condone conduct that appears to, or does, discriminate against anyone on grounds of ethnicity or nationality, either directly or indirectly." A report into the matter will be presented to Sir Colin Lucas, the Vice-Chancellor, later this week and Prof Wilkie could face disciplinary action or even dismissal. Speaking from his home in Oxfordshire last night, Prof Wilkie apologised "unreservedly" for his actions. "I made a mistake," he said. "The email was inappropriate. I expressed personally-held opinions that have nothing to do with Oxford University and they should not have been expressed in that manner. I have learned a lesson. "I have a view on the situation in the Middle East but I am not a racist or anti-Semitic. I just want to draw a line under the whole thing." The professor, who was elected Nuffield professor of pathology last month, said that he could understand the distress and anger felt by Mr Duvshani. When asked if he would look again at the student's application for a PhD, he replied "absolutely" and added that he "entirely accepted" the university's equal opportunities and race equality policies. A series of attempts have been made to isolate Israeli scholars in protest at their country's operations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. In Britain, calls for an academic boycott have been led by Steven Rose, an Open University professor. Last year the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology was forced to hold an inquiry after The Sunday Telegraph revealed that Mona Baker, a professor, had sacked two Israeli academics from the editorial boards of two journals because of their nationality. A Umist inquiry found that Prof Baker had not acted improperly under its rules because the journals she owns were not connected to the university. Giles Henderson, the master of Pembroke College, said of Prof Wilkie's case: "The college will await the outcome of the university's investigation." Additional reporting by Charlotte Edwardes
For someone that harps on President Clinton's meaning of the word "is", you sure seem to be careless with your assaults against Oxford. Let's go over this again. "Individual". "Group of people". "Individual". "Group of people". Please change the thread title. It's not that it's misleading, or semantically challenged even... it's just that it's a lie.
The Professor represents Oxford with his decision, so Oxford did indeed turn away the student for being Israeli. Maybe Oxford needs to reconsider who represents their fine institution.
By the way, I was turned down by Dartmouth after high school. I guess I could use Achebe's fine logic, and say that Dartmouth never turned me down, it was that damn admission's person. LMAO
I thought I should point out Max, that I'm just razzing you... but since I've been dreaming of Oxford lately (since it's as close to Hogwarts as I'll get) I was blown away (scared/repulsed/whatever) by the thread title at first. heath, is your "analogy" gene broken? If you weren't admitted into Dartmouth, and the administrator reviewed your application validly according to the rules and procedures of Dartmouth, then it is accurate to say that Dartmouth didn't accept you. This bozo is about to quickly learn that "tenure" doesn't mean ****... and that's most certainly b/c he committed a number of ethical violations at Oxford. He certainly wasn't representing Hogwarts. I mean, er. Oxford.
My favorite part of this story is how the professor said he couldn't take someone who had served in the Israeli army. Maybe the "professor" is VERY focused on his studies, but he should know this: 1. Service in the army is mandatory for Israeli citizens. 2. Every country that surrounds Israel would like to see it disappear, and would make it disappear if it showed sufficient weakness. In that situation, any man or woman who refused to serve their country should be deported as a traitor.
So it is your position that "Oxford bans a Student for Being Israeli"? Whoa. Then you are a liar. All of those assaults against Clinton. Typical self-loather. Tsk-tsk.
no...they ended the ban...right after he took it to the media. does this professor alone get to make decisions about who or who may not attend Oxford? if not, then it seems someone else would know about "the ban." if so, then the university is definitely guilty as charged...representatives acting for an entity and so forth and so on.
Max, I don't understand your intuition (though I'm familiar w/ agency), and maybe it is because I spend a lot of time on a campus, so I am used to thinking of academics as relatively (self-funded) autonomous units. Had the student been shot down from the graduate program b/c of a policy at Oxford that discriminated against Israelis, I think the school would be due criticism. Perhaps what happened is that the student got into the graduate program, and then his information was sent to the the researcher that he flagged as his best fit (b/c this is summertime it's more likely he was contacting the professor before the fall... ie contacting the researcher and notifying him that he'll be applying to the school this fall). But the individual embarrassed himself alone, and I believe Oxford corrected the mishap: The researcher's peers are apparently the ones that turned the bozo in. There doesn't appear to be any subterfuge here... so I don't understand why you insinuate that the entire school is anti-Israeli. Incidentally, it's a non-issue for me (reading is the better fit ). More importantly, you were just rehashing the telegraph's lie of a title.
To be fair, I don't think the entire institution is anti-Israeli. Not at all. I don't think Enron is a whole collection of crooks, either. I know some decent people who worked for Enron. I admittedly don't know much about the underlying request...does that mean he was requesting to be an employee of the university?? an employee directly of the professor? a student of the university?? i'm just not sure. but the idea that one guy can't bind an institution with his thoughtless words is simply not true...at least not in the American judicial system. i would assume it would be no different in the UK, but I don't know for sure. I don't think it's a lie in the title...I really don't. He was told he couldn't take advantage of the opportunity by a professor at a university who was charged with filling the position (or role or whatever it was) that he could not because of his nationality. Yes, the university ultimately corrected that. Good for them.
