Occam's BDS Razor

The unsupported assumptions about the situation at Fresno State have rapidly multiplied, as Jewish Voice for Peace has now circulated a letter stating that the search for the Edward Said Professorship was “cancelled with the pretext of procedural concerns, but in fact in response to pressures from Israel advocacy groups.” As I have explained (here and here), there is no actual evidence for this claim, which is evidently based, at most, on a few offhand comments made to Prof. Vida Samiian by other Fresno State faculty members.  The Fresno State provost has flatly denied any outside pressure, and explained the procedural reasons for stopping the search.  Nonetheless, the JVP letter alleges that “Israel advocacy groups launched a campaign to cancel the search altogether” and “it is deeply alarming that academic hiring decisions are being influenced by outside organizations with discriminatory agendas.”

Again, there is no record of any “Israel advocacy group” interfering with the Said Professorship search.  Even Prof. Samiian only assumed that the administration had been pressured into stopping the search, while providing no details or examples.  Her claims of "harassment" turn out to be nothing more than earlier disagreements about the academic boycott of Israel (which she strongly supports) that had nothing to do with the Said Chair.

Nonetheless, the JVP letter has attracted over 500 signatories, none of whom can possibly know what has actually happened at Fresno State.  Based on no investigation – and without even a single detail – they are evidently willing to believe any accusation so long as it involves Israel.

It is possible that there was outside pressure at Fresno State; such things have happened before. It is even possible that Provost Lynette Zelezny has lied about her motives for canceling the search, although the ordinary presumption is that people are telling the truth. A straightforward application of Occam’s Razor, therefore, would be open to Zelezny’s explanation that the search was canceled because “no department had actually approved the search, and the search committee was not formed by an election of the department members as is required by our policies.” At the very least, it would counsel waiting for evidence before making inflammatory charges of “national origin discrimination.”

Occam’s BDS Razor, however, reflexively blames Israel whenever possible; no proof or investigation needed. 

Comments

[David Schraub]

Abba Eban famously quipped that "If Algeria introduced a resolution declaring that the earth was flat and that Israel had flattened it, it would pass by a vote of 164 to 13 with 26 abstentions." So too, it seems, that if JVP circulates a letter saying Fresno State was devoured by a hellmouth and Israel had summoned it, it would amass 500 signatures within the week.

[Rebecca]

The list of faculty signatories looks like the usual people who sign petitions like these. Some of them must have been involved in hiring and tenure/promotion cases in the past, and must know that the public rhetoric about hiring and T&P very frequently has nothing to do with what actually happened. People who didn't get hired or who didn't get tenure are free to argue their cases publicly, while search committees, deans, and provosts usually can't say anything substantive about particular cases because they are bound by rules of confidentiality (and fear of revealing information that could be used in a lawsuit). I wouldn't expect someone outside of academia to know very much about hiring practices, but tenured faculty members should know better.

[PaulB]

When a faculty search or tenure decision becomes controversial, there should not be the ordinary presumption that the Provost or President is telling the truth about what happened. Whether the pressure comes from donors, alumni, board members, politicians in the case of public universities, or activist faculty cliques, I work on the presumption that any statement from the administration will range from misleading to outright lie.