Symposium
Sunday April 15 & Monday April 16
Mondale Hall, Law School
Public Program: "Is There an Anti-Jewish Bias in Today's University?"
Alvin Rosenfeld,Irving M. Glazer Chair in Jewish Studies; Director, Institute for the Study of Contemporary Anti-Semitism (Indiana University)
Sunday, April 15, 2012
7:30 p.m.
Cowles Auditorium
Humphrey School of Public Affairs
Under National Socialism in Germany (1933-1945), the universities and the academic disciplines themselves became in many cases all-too-eager accomplices in the perpetration of Nazi ideology. Not only did the normal administrative structure of the university become corrupted, but learning itself betrayed its own mission as prestigious disciplines propagated Nazi racial science and beliefs.In order to investigate the process whereby critical thought was replaced by blind obedience, the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies will host a symposium to examine the moral role of the university in today's society. The symposium, co-organized by Bernard Levinson, Berman Family Chair in Jewish Studies and Hebrew Bible, and Bruno Chaouat, director of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, will explore the mutation of academic ideals under National Socialism, when the German university system promoted Nazi ideology and helped the state eliminate its diverse community. Thirteen scholars from across the U.S. and abroad will examine core academic disciplines, including anthropology, philosophy, classics, Assyriology, theology, law, and music.
In his public address, "Is There an Anti-Jewish Bias in Today's University?," Professor Alvin Rosenfeld will discuss how many of our campuses have become hospitable to certain political and ideological currents of thought that issue in actions and statements inimical to many Jewish students and professors. A review of contemporary debates about two issues of particular concern to Jews--the Holocaust and the State of Israel--suggests that we may be witnessing the emergence of some new versions of the "Jewish Question."
The symposium and Alvin Rosenfeld talk are free and open to the public. For more information please contact chgs@umn.edu or 612-624-0265.
For the complete symposium schedule, list of scholars and further information please visit the Betrayal of the Humanities website here.
To RSVP for the Symposium please click here.
Symposium flier: Symfin312.pdf
Rosenfeld flier: Rosen312fin.pdf
Sponsors: Imagine Fund Special Events Programs, Wexler Education Fund, Berman Family Chair in Jewish Studies & Hebrew Bible, International Travel Grant from the Global Programs & Strategy Alliance, Institute for Advanced Study, Center for Austrian Studies, Checkpoint Charlie Stiftung, Center for Jewish Studies, Center for German & European Studies, Department of History, Institute for International Legal & Security Studies, Department of Classical & Near Eastern Studies, Department of French & Italian, Department of Political Science, Religious Studies, Department of Art History, Department of Anthropology, Department of German, Scandinavian & Dutch, Department of Philosophy, Legal History Workshop, Human Rights Center, Jonathan Paradise Hebrew Language Fund.
Co-sponsors: Humphrey School of Public Affairs, Law School, Institute for Law and Rationality
