The Academic Senate of the University of California at Santa Barbara has voted to investigate its own handling of complaints of academic misconduct against a sociology professor over his criticisms of Israel to students.
A committee of the Academic Senate began a preliminary investigation of the professor, William I. Robinson, in March, after two students filed formal complaints against him over a January e-mail message in which he likened Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians in Gaza to Nazi atrocities against Jews. The complaints accused Mr. Robinson of anti-Semitism and alleged that he had violated the faculty code of conduct by using a university e-mail account to send students a message unrelated to “Sociology of Globalization,” the course they were enrolled in.
Mr. Robinson has protested that the Academic Senate panel undertook its investigation too hastily in response to pressure from the Anti-Defamation League and other pro-Israel groups. The Chronicle subsequently reported that the Anti-Defamation League’s national director, Abraham H. Foxman, had personally met with university officials after the preliminary investigation had begun to urge them to take action against the professor. Several faculty organizations, including the American Association of University Professors, have issued letters or statements questioning whether the investigation was undertaken prematurely and without adequate cause.
The Academic Senate adopted three separate motions last week in response to the controversy. One called for the establishment of a committee to examine whether its own procedures were followed in the investigation. A second called for the creation of a separate panel to examine the Academic Senate’s procedures and determine whether such complaints by students should be treated as educational matters — to be handled by faculty members, department heads, and deans — rather than as charges of professional misconduct. A third motion calls for the Academic Senate to undertake a broader discussion of academic freedom, possibly through forums on the topic.
The panel conducting the preliminary investigation of the misconduct allegations against Mr. Robinson has not yet determined whether the allegations against him carry enough weight to be brought before the campus’s Privilege and Tenure Committee. —Peter Schmidt
