University of Denver Gives In To Pressure from Israeli, pro-Likud Colorado Elements.

Nader Hashemi – Director, Center for Middle East Studies, University of Denver

___________________________________________

___________________________________________

I would ask you to listen to the whole video to see how shabbily a major university supports one of its star professors.

This audio file is an hour program with Dr. Nader Hashemi and myself (Rob Prince) concerning the personal attack on Dr. Hashemi started by the Jerusalem Post – and then picked up by media in the United States (CNN) and Colorado essentially calling for his firing as an anti-Semite for an obscure podcast he did with an Iranian website, interestingly enough, one that is critical of the policies of the current government in Teheran. A statement signed by six leaders of Denver’s Jewish Community called on the University of Denver to fire him.

In this interview produced by KGNU’s Joel Edelstein, Dr. Hashemi rejects the charges and responds to the accusations. Disappointing was the University of Denver’s statement essentially “throwing Hashemi under the bus.” A number of issues come to the fore in this case – that of academic freedom for a tenured professor, the failure of a university administration to defend one its more prominent faculty members, the ongoing attack on professors and Middle East centers that fail to “tow the line” to the pro-Zionist mainstream narrative.

The Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Denver’s Korbel School of International Relations was founded twelve years ago. It’s academic integrity and that of its director, Dr. Hashemi, are well known. The University of Denver which prides itself on “celebrating diversity” has just given in to outside pressure to make Hashemi’s stay at the University of Denver untenable. One of the goals of the campaign of slander against Hashemi is to dissolve the Center for Middle East Studies whose future is in doubt.

In this audio, Hashemi explains his ordeal. Invited to participate along with Hashemi because I taught at D.U. for 23 years and was involved in the initial birth of the Center for Middle East Studies prior to my retirement. (RJP).