A Northwestern professor’s support for the Iranian president’s denial of the Holocaust is angering students and faculty across the university.
McCormick Prof. Arthur Butz recently backed Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in comments published by several Iranian news agencies. Calling the Holocaust a myth, Ahmadinejad said Israel should no longer exist as a country. The remarks are causing global controversy.
“I congratulate him on becoming the first head of state to speak out clearly on these issues and regret only that it was not a Western head of state,” Butz said. His comments were reprinted in Saturday’s Chicago Tribune.
Butz’s statements circulated campus through student listservs, includes ones through Hillel Cultural Life and Shepard Residential College. One widespread e-mail asked students to sign a petition calling for the university to take action and prevent Butz from causing future embarrassment.
Butz did not return phone calls or e-mails asking for his comment.
In a statement released Monday, University President Henry Bienen said the university cannot take action against the tenured professor because Butz has kept his views out of the classroom and unaffiliated with the school.
“We cannot take action based on the content of what Butz says regarding the Holocaust – however odious it may be – without undermining the vital principle of intellectual freedom that all academic institutions serve to protect,” Bienen wrote.
Stuart Loren, a Weinberg sophomore, created the petition against Butz on Saturday after reading the professor’s statements in the Tribune. The petition has about 200 signatures.
“The importance of the petition is not so much whether he is fired or not, but to make a loud response from the Jewish community and the university as a whole,” said Adam Dorsky, a Communication freshman who signed the petition.
Loren said he hopes the petition will encourage NU to clarify its standard of conduct for faculty and make wiser decisions when giving tenure to professors.
“Northwestern should not serve as a forum or haven for the spread of hatred or historical inaccuracy,” Loren said.
Butz’ stance is nothing new. In 1976, just two years receiving his tenure, he published book denying the Holocaust titled “The Hoax of the Twentieth Century.” Since, his views have been published through various articles and speeches.
His latest statements have reverberated beyond NU’s campus. Since Saturday, Loren has received e-mails from NU parents, alumni and a Holocaust survivor.
“I think we’re forming a respectful and civilized platform to hold a dialogue on,” Loren said. “I’m glad people are being respectful.”
For many, the appropriate limits of free speech remain the salient issue. Some, like Chabad House Rabbi Dov Hillel Klein, define the professor’s message as “hate speech.”
“The pain and hurt associated with this is beyond words,” Klein said. “I just want to sit down and cry every time I think about it.”Rabbi Josh Feigelson from the Fiedler Hillel Center has also issued a response condemning Butz’ comments.
Aside from signing the petition, some Jewish students in McCormick also refuse to take courses that Butz teaches.
“I would never take a class with him; it would be very uncomfortable to take a class with someone who denies the Holocaust,” said Alex Thaler, a McCormick sophomore.
Students have taken action against Butz roughly every five years since he first published his book, said Prof. Peter Hayes, chairman of NU’s German department. Hayes, who teaches History of the Holocaust, describes Butz as “a crank and a fool.”
“I just hope people will not overreact to this,” Hayes said. “He loves the attention and why should we give it to him? This is how he publicizes his crazy views and we should just treat them with the contempt they deserve.”
A community forum on Holocaust denial will take place tonight at 8 p.m. in room 212 of the Fiedler Hillel Center.
Reach Jasett Chatham at [email protected].
