University professors’ troubling endorsement of El-Sayed
Vatzian Baltimore Sun Op-Ed on Far Left Turn of AAUP
University professors’ troubling endorsement of El-Sayed
Richard E. Vatz, Ph.D.
On July 30, a day that will live in infamy for the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), the once-impressive national educational organization "announced [its] first-ever national electoral endorsement in the Association’s 110-year history" for Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan's U.S. Senate race.
For any cave-dweller, Sayed is the radical left-wing Democratic candidate in the race. The AAUP’s endorsement is not a shock to those of us AAUP members, including this one for over half a century, who have seen the decline of ethics and neutrality of the AAUP over the last decade, nationally and locally.
Comparable to the Democratic Socialists of America's support for "free" commerce and groceries, the AAUP argues its support for El-Sayed on the basis of his promotion of “debt-free and tuition-free higher education” as well as his backing of unionism in the United States generally.
Never mind that El-Sayed campaigns closely with his blatantly and openly antisemitic and anti-American friend, commentator Hasan Piker, who is infamous for saying that America deserved 9/11 among other anti-American and anti-Jewish remarks, such as claiming it "doesn’t matter" if Hamas perpetrated rape during its Oct. 7, 2023 terror attack against Israel.
Never mind that El-Sayed, along with Piker, falsely says that Israel is practicing genocide in Gaza.
Never mind that Piker has more than doubled down on his hatred of American Jewish citizens. In a recent stream on Twitch, as reported by The Hill, he appalled even previously silent mainstream Democrats with his hair-raising screed that “if Jews in America keep putting this idea out there that they are singularly invested in Israel, eventually someone’s going to come around and take action, not against the state of Israel, mind you, but against American Jews.” El Sayed responded by saying that no one speaks for him except his campaign.
Never mind that El Sayed supports the radical agenda of the Democratic Socialists of America. He says he simply believes in "regulated capitalism," but he has attended the DSA's events and fundraisers.
The American Jewish Committee says that “of particular concern to the Jewish community is El-Sayed’s portrayal of supporters of Israel as illegitimate and morally corrupt, while simultaneously demonizing Israel itself.”
How could the AAUP break precedent to support antisemitism and anti-Americanism? None of this is surprising for those who have followed El-Sayed and the AAUP in recent years. My first reaction was to write a critique of the AAUP for publication in their publication, Academe Magazine, but they responded by writing back, “Thank you for your comments. Your dissent has been noted to leaders in a compilation of member responses to the endorsement.” I responded, “You mean to say it will not be published in an AAUP publication for all members to read?" There was no further response from them.
The AAUP, remember, has never endorsed a candidate, but now they have for the first time in El-Sayed, a radical left-winger, supported by socialists and Piker. This at a time when the association's website now proudly touts its lurch to the left, in contradistinction to its claims of academic freedom and fairness: “Political interference in U.S. higher education has reached an alarming level," the site reads. "In a number of states, including Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas, Republican majorities in the legislature, alongside Republican governors, have made explicit their intention to reshape colleges and universities.”
Such goals are demonstrably invalid, says the new AAUP. Hardly. It is just to provide some countervailing persuasion and rhetorical equity, absent in most public education but at one time supported by the AAUP.
Richard E. Vatz (rvatz@towson.edu) is Distinguished professor emeritus at Towson University and author of “The Only Authentic Book of Persuasion: The Agenda-Spin Model.”
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