by Staff Reporter | May 12, 2024 | Education, News
By Staff Reporter |
Arizona State University (ASU) banned a professor after his verbal confrontation with a Muslim woman on campus went viral online.
ASU professor Jonathan Yudelman, a School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership postdoctoral research scholar, confronted a hijab-clad Muslim woman during a pro-Israel protest near campus last Sunday, captured in viral footage amplified by pro-Hamas activists.
The events leading up to the heated, expletive-laden exchange weren’t captured or circulated, and the identity of the woman is unknown. It is also not known if she is an ASU student.
“You’re disrespecting my religious boundaries,” said the woman.
“What does this have to do with religion? You’re spewing hate,” said the man with Yudelman, former IDF soldier Sammy Ben.
“You disrespect my sense of humanity, b****,” said Yudelman.
“Get the f*** out of my face,” responded the woman.
“Get the f*** out of here,” said Yudelman.
“Go back to Jihad,” said Ben, to which another woman recording the viral exchange began screaming “Hate Crime!” and yelling for the cops to come handle the two men. At that point, Ben turned around to face the woman filming.
“What do you say about the seventh of October? Do you have an opinion about it? You also glorified it? You’re happy about it?” asked Ben.
Clemson University professor C. Bradley Thompson, a peer of Yudelman, offered some background to the viral exchange: the mystery woman had allegedly engaged by verbally accosting him first, and Yudelman wasn’t initially part of the pro-Israel protest.
According to Thompson, Yudelman is talking with a lawyer about his situation.
ASU President Michael Crow said in a statement that Yudelman was not only dismissed, but completely banned from campus and future teaching opportunities.
“He is no longer permitted to be on campus and will never teach here again,” said Crow.
Yudelman resigned before Sunday’s incident, though his resignation wasn’t scheduled to take effect until the end of June. Yudelman is an associate professor with University of Austin, a new private university enrolling its first undergraduate class this fall.
Yudelman formerly held positions with Harvard University, Princeton University, Baylor University, and the University of Texas.
Activists and organizations such as the Arizona chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-AZ) demanded Yudelman to be arrested and fired for the exchange.
CAIR-AZ Executive Director Azza Abuseif said Yudelman’s rhetoric amounted to a “broader pattern of Islamophobia and religious intolerance weaponized by pro-Israel, pro-genocide extremists.” Abuseif also called for any criminal charges possible to be filed.
In a Wednesday press release, ASU reported that it had placed Yudelman on leave on Monday pending their investigation. The university referred the matter to Tempe police.
“Arizona State University protects freedom of speech and expression but does not tolerate threatening or violent behavior,” said ASU. “While peaceful protest is welcome, all incidents of violent or threatening behavior will be addressed.”
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Elizabeth Troutman | Mar 28, 2024 | Education, News
By Elizabeth Troutman |
Arizona State University’s business school is launching a Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence in Business degree. Applications for fall 2024 admissions are now being accepted.
The school announced Monday that the W. P. Carey School of Business will present the first AI graduate degree program from a business school in the United States.
“There is no doubt that AI is quickly becoming a vital business skill. We are excited to meet the needs of students and employers through our new graduate degree program within our top-ranked information systems department,” said Ohad Kadan, Charles J. Robel dean and W. P. Carey distinguished chair in business.
The program will be held on the Tempe campus. It incorporates an applied curriculum and career coaching.
The degree aims to help students develop technical AI and professional skills needed to thrive in the technology and business world.
“Students will learn to understand and plan for the implications and possibilities enabled by artificial intelligence, in addition to the importance of governance, ethics and principled innovation,” said Pei-yu Chen, chair of the Department of Information Systems and Red Avenue Foundation professor. Chen also serves as the co-director of the Center for AI and Data Analytics for Business and Society.
Students in the program will learn to analyze diverse business situations and apply AI to further business goals; understand and effectively communicate the impact of AI transformations; practice mindful AI and pay attention to ethics, bias, welfare, privacy and trust; and lead cross-functional conversations and collaboration for effective implementation.
“W. P. Carey has been at the forefront of integrating AI into its academic programs, showcasing a commitment to leadership in AI education and its applications in business,” said Dan Mazzola, faculty director of the MS-ISM program. “The school’s offerings of AI-focused degrees, alongside various AI-related certificates and concentrations, highlight its active role in shaping the conversation around AI and fostering innovation and entrepreneurship in technology.”
W. P. Carey also offers a certificate in artificial intelligence in business. Credit completed in the certificate program can later be transferred toward several W. P. Carey master’s degrees.
Elizabeth Troutman is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send her news tips using this link.
by Corinne Murdock | Mar 20, 2024 | Education, News
By Corinne Murdock |
A coalition of Arizona State University (ASU) students, Students Against Apartheid at ASU (SAGA), plan to protest the suspension of a pro-Palestine student group, MECHA de ASU.
The planned protest to reinstate MECHA de ASU is scheduled to occur on Thursday at 11:30 am on the student services building lawn. ASU suspended the group for a since-deleted Instagram post calling for the death of certain groups in February. The university’s Student Rights and Responsibilities Office and police force are investigating the incident.
“Mecha believes in revolution. Not reform. We do not condemn the Al Aqsa flood. We do not condemn Hamas. We do not condemn resistance. Death to boer. Death to the Pilgrim. Death to the zionist. Death to the settler. Glory to the Martyrs! Freedom to the prisoners! Victory to the resistance!”
“Al-Aqsa Flood” was the formal operation name for the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel last October. “Death to boer” is a reference to a traditional chant calling for the genocide of white South African farmers, famously sang last fall by Africa’s Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) at a political rally. Based on the inclusion of the “boer” reference, then, “death to the Pilgrim” could be referring to those who make their pilgrimage to Israel to worship, or it could be referring to America’s first English settlers.
In a press release issued on Sunday, SAGA said that MECHA de ASU’s post was mainly about comparing police brutality in Arizona to the violence of the Israel-Hamas conflict.
SAGA also took issue with the amount of time ASU has taken to conduct its investigation into the incident, specifically its delay in responding to MECHA de ASU’s appeal of their suspension. ASU reportedly promised to respond within five business days of the appeal, but had yet to do so as of SAGA’s press release.
“The university is using this fraudulent investigation process to silence and surveil MECHA for protesting an ongoing genocide ASU is complicit in,” said SAGA.
SAGA has the explicit goal of stopping “ASU’s investment in the settler colonial state known as ‘Israel’.” In a more recent statement, the coalition accused ASU of being complicit in “the zionist occupation and genocide of Palestinians.” SAGA demanded that the university cease all partnerships and investments with companies and institutions supportive of Israel, as well as cease its investigation and suspension of MECHA de ASU.
Masks will be required for Thursday’s protest, as a means to prevent the transmission of COVID-19 and other communicable airborne diseases.
In addition to advocating for MECHA de ASU’s return, SAGA has been coordinating in a boycott of Starbucks for its support of Israel. Like with Thursday’s protest, SAGA meetings and events have required masking.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Elizabeth Troutman | Feb 29, 2024 | Education, News
By Elizabeth Troutman |
Arizona State University requires employees to complete inclusiveness training every two years.
This includes three modules: Inclusive Communities, preventing harassment and discrimination, and Title IX duty to report.
Mandatory training videos include “Fighting Gender Bias at Work,” and “Understanding Intersectionality.”
“The view here is actually an expansive view of inclusion, not a very narrow one,” said Bryan Brayboy, vice president of social advancement at ASU in an introduction video.
The stated goal of training on inclusive communities is to “help create awareness, develop skills to meet the needs of diverse students and develop teams of people capable of working together to advance the ASU mission,” according to the webpage with the training modules.
Other available trainings at ASU include:
- Affirmative action
- Age discrimination
- Americans with Disabilities Act
- Diversity in the workplace
- How to strategically address social justice matters in the workplace
- Implicit bias and microaggressions
- Implicit bias in recruitment
- Tackling implicit bias and microaggressions
The webpage says ASU has more than 80,000 students on its campuses and more than 90,000 learners online. ASU is home to students from all 50 states and nearly 150 different countries.
“That creates a rich blend of backgrounds, making ASU highly inclusive and socioeconomically diverse,” the site says.
Arizona’s three public universities all promote diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, according to a Goldwater Institute report.
In the fall of 2022, ASU began requiring diversity statements from approximately 81% of job applicants.
Northern Arizona University required diversity statements from almost 73% of job applicants, and the University of Arizona required diversity statements from almost one third of job applicants.
The universities also encouraged applicants to incorporate critical race theory in written portions of their applications.
In August 2023, all three universities eliminated the use of diversity statements for job applicants after the Goldwater Institute’s report.
Elizabeth Troutman is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send her news tips using this link.
by Corinne Murdock | Feb 21, 2024 | Education, News
By Corinne Murdock |
An Arizona State University (ASU) professor is among the 38 law professors petitioning the Department of Justice (DOJ) for the release of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.
ASU law professor Gregg Leslie and 37 other professors submitted their petition days ahead of Tuesday’s hearing on Assange’s extradition from the U.K. Should the court deny his request to block his extradition, Assange will be taken to the U.S. to face 17 espionage charges over his 2010 publication of classified materials.
Among the leaked materials were footage of a 2007 airstrike in Baghdad revealing that soldiers shot 18 civilians from a helicopter, including a Reuters journalist and his assistant; nearly 391,900 Iraq War logs spanning 2004 to 2009; and the “Cablegate” files consisting of diplomatic cables revealing U.S. espionage against the United Nations and other world leaders, tensions with allies, and corruption in other countries.
The DOJ accused Assange of working with former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to obtain classified information. The DOJ charged Assange with espionage in 2019, alleging that he used Manning to secure certain sets of classified Secret documents: about 90,000 Afghanistan war-related significant activity reports, 400,000 Iraq war-related significant activities reports, 800 Guantanamo Bay detainee assessment briefs, and 250,000 State Department cables.
In 2020, the DOJ issued a second superseding indictment broadening the scope of the charges to include allegations that Assange recruited computer hackers to benefit Wikileaks. The indictment cited an alleged unauthorized access to a government computer system of a NATO country in 2010, and a contract with a hacking group to obtain materials from the CIA, NSA, or New York Times.
Last week’s letter from the 38 law professors made the case that Assange qualified as a journalist and, therefore, the First Amendment protected Assange’s actions. The law professors countered that Wikileaks’ openness to receiving information didn’t qualify as Assange recruiting sources or soliciting confidential documents
“Award-winning journalists everywhere also regularly ‘recruit’ and speak with sources, use encrypted or anonymous communications channels, receive and accept confidential information, ask questions to sources about it, and publish it,” said the professors. “That is not a crime — it’s investigative journalism. As long as they don’t participate in their source’s illegality, their conduct is entitled to the full protection of the First Amendment.”
The law professors further warned that Assange’s prosecution served as an “existential threat” to the First Amendment and would, in time, enable the prosecution of other reporters. They cited the police raid of a local Kansas newspaper that occurred last August based on verbal allegations of identity theft.
“It could enable prosecution of routine newsgathering under any number of ambiguous laws and untested legal theories,” said the professors.
In that case, a disgruntled local restaurant owner had told the city council and the county attorney — the brother-in-law of the hotel owner housing her restaurant — that the local newspaper had illegally obtained documentation of an unresolved DUI charge that proved she had been driving without a valid license for over a decade. At the time, the newspaper had also been investigating claims of sexual misconduct by the police chief. Within days, the police conducted their unlawful raid. The newspaper had obtained the documentation legally through public records.
Similarly, editors and publishers of a number of news outlets, including The New York Times and The Guardian, argued that Assange engaged in journalism by obtaining and disclosing sensitive information for the public interest.
In a 2019 press release announcing Assange’s charges, the DOJ dismissed the claim that Assange qualified as a journalist.
“Julian Assange is no journalist. This is made plain by the totality of his conduct as alleged in the indictment — i.e., his conspiring with and assisting a security clearance holder to acquire classified information, and his publishing the names of human sources,” stated the DOJ.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
