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September 18, 2007
The Times spins for Nadia Abu al-Haj - my response
We wrote about the Nadia Abu al-Haj tenure case here. Solomonia has been following it more thoroughly, most recently here, and now the case has broken the surface of the mainstream media and been reported in the NY Times. I reposted a comprehensive fisking of that article here.
Solomonia also links to an excellent summary of the case which places it is the context of other troubling examples of - in the author's words - "the alarming downward spiral of intellectual integrity and academic standards at what was once considered an esteemed institution."
I just sent this email to the NY Times reporter, Karen Arenson:
Your article on Nadia al-Haj either ignored or misrepresented the case against her. Apparently you didn't look at the website set up to dispute her tenure.
It has details about the factual errors and polemical nature of her book. It links to respected archeologists who go into detail about her fabrications. it points out her lack of qualifications, such as the fact that she isn't an archeologist and doesn't speak the language of the people she is ostensibly studying.
You highlight the fact that one of the organizers of the challenge to her tenure lives in the West Bank, but you ignore the many challenges to her work by practicing Biblical archeologists, some of whom are not Jewish or Israeli citizens.
Al-Haj is now engaged in trying to dispute the Jewish genetic line back to ancient Israel, which is already proven beyond doubt, just as the historical line is proven through archeology. I guess she is not only an ad hoc archeologist, now she is a geneticist too. Her scholarship there is just as shoddy. At the risk of having you dismiss these assertions here and here because they are on a blog, they lay out the facts with annotations and references, which you could pursue.
You might also want to look into whether she studied under the scholar who is promoting her, and whether that information has been disclosed to the tenure committee. (I don't know the answers to those questions, but you're a journalist, and it's pertinent information.) You could also note that the genetics article was published in a journal edited by her thesis advisor.
Your article mentions the Columbia U Middle East Studies controversy of a few years ago. I see that you played a role in misrepresenting that story as well.
I am copying this to the latest public editor. (There sure seems to be a high turnover in that job ....)
Judith | 09/18/07 at 01:37 PM | Categories: - Wackademia
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Comments
This is an excellent refutation of the biased NYTimes article. Keep up the great work!
Anti-Racist Blog | September 19, 2007 05:35 PM
Dear Judith,
If you're so afraid of other people's opinions, then why have a blog with a comment section?
Why not have a email newsgroup or something?
It's more protected from the outside that way.
Words don't have to hurt if you don't let them.
Boo.
Jud | September 20, 2007 08:41 AM
I get the weirdest trolls.
You know I posted your comment just to mess with your mind, yes? It's kind of like that Greek true/false paradox.
So you you have anything to say?
Judith Weiss | September 20, 2007 11:15 AM
To expand a bit: I get over 500 spam comments a day. I have my filter set to make no false positives, but I usually get 1-3 false negatives a day. I dutifully skim all the spam and fish out the real comments I can find.
I am not explaining this to you, because you are a troll, but to anyone else happening by.
Judith Weiss | September 25, 2007 12:18 PM
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