During a student-led rally last semester, students marched up the steps of Convocation Hall to demand that Emory University and President Fenves acknowledge the loss of Palestinian lives in the Israel-Hamas war and protested Emory University’s ties to the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center. On the outskirts of the demonstration, Goodrich C. White Professor Emeritus Richard Doner and Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies and Professor of African Studies Pamela Scully had their first full conversation, despite knowing each other for years.
When University President Gregory Fenves later condemned protesters for using phrases he deemed “antisemitic” during the rally, Doner and Scully grew concerned about the “problems of a polarized campus” and decided to develop a reading course where students could respectfully discuss and debate the conflict.
Other private colleges like Duke University (N.C.) and Columbia University (N.Y.) offer similar courses that explore the conflict. Duke has a course titled “Israel/Palestine: Comparative Perspectives,” which explores the conflict through an interdisciplinary lens. Columbia is currently offering a reading group course on the modern history of Palestine.
Scully and Doner are co-teaching the one credit, pass/fail course this semester. The course, titled “Variable Topics in Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies: Reading Together on Israel/Palestine,” is labeled as WGS 285 but will not focus on gender specifically, Doner and Scully said.
“It is crucial to have difficult fact-based discussions where diverse perspectives are heard and appreciated,” Doner said.
The professors also wrote an open letter to Emory Stop Cop City and Fenves following the October 2023 rally, criticizing the protest and the president’s subsequent statement as alienating some students.
Doner expressed that he hopes an “institutionalized” open dialogue becomes permanent for Emory. Scully said she anticipates that their students can learn together through key readings and a collective safe space. The discussion-based course will focus on what Doner said is a fairly non-partisan, journalistic account. Course content will begin with the Balfour Declaration of 1917 and end with more recent history.
“We want to get away from weaponizing this discussion because we recognize that, A, these are … really complex issues and, B, a lot of people don’t know the history,” Doner said.
Doner said that many students in higher education “find themselves in the middle” and are afraid to share their views on challenging topics for fear of being criticized. Scully added that such fears have gotten worse with the rise of social media. This lack of dialogue is not just felt by students, as the general feeling of security among faculty is “much less secure than it used to be,” Scully added.
Nandini Kataria (27C) registered for the class because she thought it was a great opportunity to combine her interest in history and current events by learning more about the conflict.
“With social media, it is easy for people to find some sort of bias or choose a particular side based on the news’ role,” Kataria said. “This is a more accurate way for me to be able to be more informed about this.”
Scully emphasized that she and Doner are not the only faculty members trying to connect with students and foster healthy dialogue concerning the Israel-Palestine conflict. Assistant Professor of Middle Eastern Studies and Jewish Studies Geoffrey Levin is teaching a course titled “The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Political Struggles, Personal Histories,” which focuses on the context and history of the struggle. Levin has taught this course every other year since spring 2022. Additionally, Associate Professor of Modern Hebrew Language, Literature and Culture Ofra Yeglin is teaching a course titled “Isreali-Palestinian Literature,” which covers a selection of literary works related to the conflict.
Levin mentioned that social media makes it difficult to get information that is not exaggerated or overly shortened. He explained that his course will cover varying perspectives from individuals on both sides of the conflict throughout history.
“When people see the other side humanized throughout history in this way, it really gives students a deep and empathetic understanding of what the region is,” Levin said.
Levin’s class, which normally has less than 20 students, is open to 70 this year. He said he made this decision because he wants to foster a community where everyone respects others’ views and knows their opinion has value. River Somerville (27C), one of the students enrolled in the course this spring, said that they were drawn to the class from a “justice standpoint” because they want to meaningfully contribute to the conversation about the conflict and educate others.
Yeglin stated that since she is a citizen of Israel, she cannot “fully represent the Palestinian perspective.” However, she said that other students in the class have commended her for maintaining a balanced perspective when teaching the course.
“I have to admit that after teaching this course for about 10 years, it was especially difficult to teach it during fall semester because the war broke [out] about the middle of the semester,” Yeglin said.
Despite the controversy around the Israel-Palestine conflict, Yeglin explained that she did not encounter any difficulties in her class and was able to successfully lead the course and engage with students, even during the “most explosive semester.”
“If the course is well-built and you are mature enough to have a conversation with the students, I see no obstacles whatsoever,” Yeglin said.
Professors such as Doner, Scully, Levin and Yeglin expressed similar goals with their courses on the Israel-Palestine conflict. They want students to become more educated about the issue and feel safe discussing their views with their peers.
“My hope is that we are one of many institutions that tries to figure out how to talk about this stuff and act on it in ways that are productive,” Doner said.
