Ocean County College’s new President, Dr. Pamela Monaco, has recommended that the Board of Trustees not renew the contract of Dr. Ali Botein-Furrevig, the 20-year Director of OCC’s Holocaust and Genocide Studies.
Botein-Furrevig alleges the move is retaliation after she wrote a letter to management and the Board challenging a directive she was given that she contends is antisemitic and a blatant violation of her Academic freedom and freedom of speech, and unwarranted scrutinization and censorship of her presentations, particularly about the Holocaust and the Israel-Hamas War.
“These actions are flagrant acts of retaliation for calling out the college’s management on antisemitism against me and against what I speak about,” Dr. Botein-Furrevig said.
Though not Orthodox, Dr. Botein-Furrevig describes herself as a “proud practicing Jew and supporter of Israel and of the Orthodox community.”
The one place she says she never imagined fighting antisemitism is the college she has been loyal to for decades. She says it began last year with a new administration with a “clearly woke” mission, and before which her knowledge and content not only never scrutinized or censored, but were highly praised and supported by management and the Board.
The sudden turn of events came as a result of a lecture she presented last November on the Israel-Hamas war. She insists the lecture was “well-documented and educational based on scholarly research.” But while the audience of students, members of the community, and of the Board of Trustees, were very receptive to the content and presentation, Dr. Botein-Furrevig was later informed that her supervisor and Dr. Monaco were critical of it.
Shortly thereafter, she received an email from her supervisor and the Vice President of Academic Affairs about a “new process” for all of her presentations including those for Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day); first, that her content has to be “approved” – which is both censorship and a violation of her Academic Freedom, made more disturbing because of its political and antisemitic implications.
Additionally, she was told she has to explain, in writing, how she will present a “fair and balanced” presentation of alternative points of view, and provide a “safe environment for students to ask questions and challenge content.” Until she did that, her upcoming events, including those for Holocaust Remembrance Week in May, would be removed from the college calendar. To date, they are not on the website.
Interesting story. I had hoped that this kind of stupidity would have stopped in 1945. It just won’t go away. It has to stop. I’m not Jewish.
This actually didn’t happen at all as described. Very one sided. There is zero anti-semitism at OCC. This “article” is slander.