A sorry submission

On Tuesday, The (Duke) Chronicle published a column that has attracted national attention. Written by senior Philip Kurian, "The Jews" responded to criticism by pro-Israeli groups of the Palestine Solidarity Movement conference that recently took place at Duke.

The column undermined the goals of both free expression and academic freedom through espousing plainly anti-Semitic rhetoric.

Running the column demonstrated a poor decision on the part of The Chronicle's management in addition to Kurian's unfortunate judgment call in writing it.

Kurian could have focused on a civilized explanation for why he thinks that PSM should be allowed to hold its conference, or he could have logically addressed the pro-Israeli groups' arguments for condemning violence and terrorism.

Instead, he decided to write a veritable laundry list of his complaints about the Jewish community in general. It is difficult even to detect any clear, underlying argument in the column, aside from Kurian's dislike for Jewish people as a group.

To begin with, Kurian states that Jews enjoy a "shocking overrepresentation" at the nation's top 10 universities, with Jews making up almost one third of student populations at several prestigious schools.

Aside from the fact that he does not cite any source for this information, he makes the outrageous claim that Jews are somehow at fault because many of them succeed at high levels of education. He attributes this to a sort of intrinsic Jewish privilege instead of connecting any success to the hard work of individuals.

Kurian also chides Israeli supporters for trying to stop the PSM conference. He claims that it is an attack on freedom of speech when the Jewish community raises alarm about a U.S. group that does not condemn terrorism.

What Kurian does not seem to grasp is that it is within the Jewish groups' right to free speech to speak out in such a manner. In rallying against the conference, Jews were not stifling the PSM's free speech.

Criticizing Duke's Freeman Center for Jewish Life for providing most of the funding for a concert that was performed in opposition to the conference, Kurian argues that a powerful Jewish establishment exists and throws its weight about unfairly. He conveniently overlooks the fact that the center was in support of allowing the PSM conference and wholly encouraged dialogue concerning the Middle East conflict.

During the weekend, the center was a leading sponsor on campus for promoting conversation and activism having to do with the Middle East situation.

Kurian also addresses advertisements in local media by other Jewish groups that were opposed to the conference. He states, "We are dealing with a very well-funded and well-organized establishment, indeed."

It is at this point that the columnist's conspiracy theory begins to surface.

After a rather shallow attempt at a logical discussion, Kurian attacks the Jewish community for its "exorbitant Jewish privilege in the United States."

In the same sentence, he calls Jewish suffering in general "a stilted, one-dimensional conversation where Jews feel the overwhelming sense of entitlement not to be criticized or offended."

Incredibly, he states that "after World War II, overt anti-Semitism gradually subsided." This is especially outrageous, considering that his own column launches an attack on the Jewish community.

Kurian discounts discrimination against Jews because of the "Jewish association with whiteness and the privileges white skin affords."

He would have his readers believe that Jews maintain their power by blending in among the white majority when it is necessary and assuming the role of a minority when it is not. This type of argument turns a blind eye to anti-Semitic sentiments that do indeed exist in today's society, and it is a disgrace to all Americans who are in favor of equality.

But Kurian's theory of a systematic Jewish conspiracy does not stop there. Former President Bill Clinton is even incriminated, as the columnist points out that Clinton's first two Supreme Court nominees were Jews.

As his column finally winds to a close, Kurian makes a feeble attempt to blame the "Holocaust Industry" for belittling the struggles of black Americans. This statement brings Kurian's column from being morally disgraceful to devoid of intellectual reasoning.

That The Chronicle would print such an inflammatory column shows a distinct lack of foresight.

The newspaper's editors ought to consider more carefully what they allow their columnists to publish if they desire to produce a publication that has any journalistic integrity or repute.

It is a shame that a senior at a leading institute of higher education should promote an anti-Semitic approach to dealing with a serious issue.

It is worse that the PSM conference was used as a peg from which to hang Kurian's attack on "The Jews."

And it is irresponsible that The Chronicle allowed such sentiments to pervade the community.