THE ONGOING SAGA OF THE UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO AND THE UNFAIR DISMISSAL OF RACHEL LIPSKY

Posted By on June 3rd, 2010

THE ONGOING SAGA OF THE UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO AND THE UNFAIR DISMISSAL OF RACHEL LIPSKY

I received the following letter:

Dear Ruth King,

Thank you for your email concerned with the success and welfare of the newly formed Institute of Jewish Thought and Heritage at the University at Buffalo.  Unfortunately much information has been circulating on the web, and your blog article has contributed its share.

Teaching foreign languages at state universities is not a “sacred task” except in the sense that knowledge is sacred.  Surely you are aware that many languages are taught at large state universities.  Certainly you must also be aware that many of Israel’s detractors – Jewish, Arab, European, and otherwise -  also know the Hebrew language, so obviously learning the Hebrew language does not necessarily make a person a Zionist or lover of morality and justice.

In any event, it seems to me that you have been badly misinformed – and are badly misinforming others – about events regarding the IJTH.  I am sending you as an attachment a recent letter by Prof. Bruce McCombe, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at UB, which I hope you will find illuminating.

The University at Buffalo is nationally known as an employee-friendly institution.  Adjunct professors who are not renewed to teach in the fall (and there are many) are given more than five months advance notice; they are also eligible to receive unemployment compensation; and in some cases they are eligible for Health Benefits.  I am proud of all the actions I have taken to make the newly formed IJTH a world-class academic institution, and I consider all of my actions to have adhered to the highest ethical standards.

Please feel free to post Dean McCombe’s letter on your blog in conjunction with the misleading article you have already posted (or remove your article).  Since you care for ethics so much, I would think posting the Dean’s letter would be a moral obligation on your part.  But of course it is up to you, and I shall see.  Thank you for your concern for the IJTH.

Sincerely,
Richard Cohen
Professor of Philosophy
Director, IJTH

My response:

Dear Professor Cohen:

The letter from Dean Bruce McCombe was illuminating and gratifying, but not about the Lipsky case.

I was delighted to hear that the University and Dr. McCombe are so committed to the development of a Department of Jewish Studies. He enumerates the efforts made to enhance the program with more faculty; plans to develop a scholarly/research program leading to a B.A degree; including a Kosher meal plan under Rabbinic supervision; and a lecture series (The David Blitzer Lectures); a $100,000.00 grant for a new Jewish Studies Library; two endowed professorships which will raise the toal to four faculty members by the Fall of 2011; the aim to make UB a world class center for furthering scholarship, research and teaching to advance awareness of the vital spiritual, and intellectual, and cultural contributions of the Jewish tradition.

That is wonderful and we salute Dean McCombe and you for this effort.

About Rachel Lipsky whose name is not mentioned but is referred to as “an adjunct Hebrew Instructor” the Dean says nothing new. He does complain that some of the letters sent were “very unpleasant in tone” accusing you of “ulterior” motives which the Dean categorically denies stating that all actions taken came from his department with his full knowledge and approval with only the best interest of the department in mind.

Now the word “ulterior” is also defined as “lying beyond an unspecified boundary.” That boundary is simple fairness and it is unfair to fire a highly qualified person to accommodate a new faculty member whose acceptance demanded an academic job for his spouse. Period. End of story.

In your letter you state the following “Teaching foreign languages at state universities is not a “sacred task” except in the sense that knowledge is sacred.  Surely you are aware that many languages are taught at large state universities.”

I am indeed aware, but there is a major difference here. One may study French and Portuguese, for example, but the people of Quebec and France have no shared aspirations and there is no bond of common faith and destiny among citizens of Brazil, Angola and Portugal. Hebrew is the ancient language of the Jewish people, of our Scriptures, of our Sages, of our prayers and our ceremonies from birth to death. Today, because of the sacred task of teaching Hebrew after centuries of decline and exile, it is the language of the largest population of Jews in the world, namely, in Israel.

Is it not odd that a housewife with no academic credentials has to remind a distinguished Professor of Philosophy and the director of The Institute of Jewish Thought and Heritage of those basic facts about Hebrew?

Nonetheless, as you requested, I will post this exchange which covers the Dean’s letter thoroughly and responds to your request.

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