Two campus events happening this week will examine educational responses to the Israel-Palestine conflict.
The featured speakers at both events are two leading scholars and public intellectuals: David Schraub, assistant professor of law at Lewis and Clark Law School, and Hussein Ibish, a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute.
The speakers will help audience members develop a more critical understanding of the forms antisemitism and Islamophobia take historically as well in the current moment, including in courses and on campuses and the impacts they have on students.
“By bringing Drs. Ibish and Schraub to UO for these events, we wish to create a space for a more nuanced and complex understanding of Islamophobia and antisemitism during this fraught time,” said Malek Najjar, professor of theater arts and moderator.
“It is our intention that students, faculty and staff will take this opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of these pressing issues, and to bring this knowledge to their work here at the University of Oregon and beyond."
The first event, titled “Bridging Divides: Understanding Antisemitism and Islamophobia,” takes place at 5 p.m. Wednesday, May 22, in Gerlinger Lounge. The talk will be livestreamed on YouTube. The event is open to the UO community, but limited to 125 attendees, and priority will be given to UO students, who are encouraged to arrive early.
Schraub and Ibish will also speak at a workshop for educators titled “Understanding and Addressing Antisemitism and Islamophobia,” which takes place at 9 a.m. Thursday, May 23, at 276 Lokey Education Building. Registration is required.
The events rose out of a group of faculty members who have been meeting since October 2023 to plan education responses to events in Israel-Palestine. The group worked to build consensus around shared principles, approaches and goals.
The upcoming events use these principles to balance understanding of the conflict with empathy for how the conflict affects all members of the campus community. The idea is to create an open space for civil, respectful dialogue on difficult topics.
The May 22 event is sponsored by the Division of Global Engagement while the May 23 is also sponsored by the Teaching Engagement Program in addition to DGE.