Simeon Chavel | University of Chicago (original) (raw)
Books by Simeon Chavel
BINS 212, Brill, 2023
Varied voices on and approaches to the Song as an unusual work of promise. Ed. with Elaine James.
FAT II, Mohr Siebeck, Nov 2014
Papers by Simeon Chavel
Vetus Testamentum, 2024
Combines source criticism of Genesis 10 and critical study of race and ethnicity to argue that th... more Combines source criticism of Genesis 10 and critical study of race and ethnicity to argue that the idea of "Semites" and "Semitic" things has no basis in the Bible, has been dangerous, and should be dismantled.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC BY 4.0 license.
Cambridge Companion to Law in the Hebrew Bible, ed. Bruce Wells, 2024
On the idea of divine speech as law and how the series and sets of Yahweh's laws each contribute ... more On the idea of divine speech as law and how the series and sets of Yahweh's laws each contribute to the Pentateuchal source that presents them.
This is the pre-publication draft.
For a pdf of the published version, email me.
The Pentateuch and Its Readers, 2023
Argues that: (1) The idea of intergenerational punishment rests on the idea of Yahweh’s patience ... more Argues that: (1) The idea of intergenerational punishment rests on the idea of Yahweh’s patience and love, imagining Yahweh to bear offense and manage it piecemeal over time. (2) The terms and concepts of intergenerational punishment come from the family sphere of life, expressing the anxieties around family circumstances and family longevity. (3) Its application to the nation is a metaphorical extension, which may actually concern social spheres: one group behaves one way and another suffers the consequence. (4) Criticism arose in the late Neo- Babylonian period, when life in Judea had deteriorated grievously and Judeans felt Yahweh’s management to have gone awry. (5) The prophetic texts depicting this criticism give Yahweh *opposite* responses to it. In Jer 31 he accepts it; in Ezek 18 he rejects it. (6) In the Persian period, the social conditions that undergirded the ideas of intergenerational accountability and were ruptured by the Babylonians were reconfigured so as to produce a whole new set of ideas.
Reading the Song of Songs in a #MeToo Era, 2023
Argues that the entire Song is one single poem, in which a young woman conveys her erotic dream a... more Argues that the entire Song is one single poem, in which a young woman conveys her erotic dream as she has it. Draws on literary theory (Smith, Harshav, Cohn), dream research (Domhoff and others), and Hebrew linguistics (Pardee) to make its case.
Vetus Testamentum, 2023
Paper draws upon literary theory to revisit the two phrases that, traditionally, make up Song 1:1... more Paper draws upon literary theory to revisit the two phrases that, traditionally, make up Song 1:1. The first phrase evaluates the work as the song-most of songs, which refers to the work’s manifold form of simulation—a literary work representing the speech of a dreamer, who speaks from both inside and outside the dream. The second phrase may be understood as the beginning of the character’s speech. URL: https://brill.com/view/journals/vt/73/2/article-p220_4.xml
Like ’Ilu Are You Wise”: Studies in Northwest Semitic Languages and Literatures in Honor of Dennis G. Pardee (ed. H.H. Hardy II, J. Lam, and E.D. Reymond; Oriental Institute Publications; Chicago: The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago), 2022
A survey of examples of an understudied device hereby dubbed "alternation" found throughout the B... more A survey of examples of an understudied device hereby dubbed "alternation" found throughout the Bible, its genres and periods.
Contextualizing Jewish Temples (ed. Tova Ganzel & Shalom Holtz; Brill), 2021
Argues that in the statement ואהי להם למקדש מעט, the initial element, ואהי להם ל־, refers to how ... more Argues that in the statement ואהי להם למקדש מעט, the initial element, ואהי להם ל־, refers to how Babylonian Judeans now view Yahweh (i.e. his accessibility), and the second element, מקדש מעט, refers to one of three possible things: (1) against MT (Aleppo, Leningrad) it's a construct phrase (Radak) that means a "temple of the few," i.e., the שארית remaining in Judea; (2) with MT (Aleppo, Leningrad) it's a rare use of מעט as attributive adj. and it means a "limited-use temple" like that presented in some letters from Elephantine (Cunningham); (3) or, again with מעט as attributive adj., it refers to the kinds of temple-evoking artifacts found throughout the region (Ziffer) and depicted on Sennacherib's Lachish panels, "holy trinkets."
Vetus Testamentum, 2020
New: Accounts for each plus through the end of MT 1 Sam 18. Results: (1) Recovers a complete and ... more New: Accounts for each plus through the end of MT 1 Sam 18. Results: (1) Recovers a complete and independent second story of "David, Saul, and the Philistine" that concludes with David marrying Saul's daughter as the reward promised. (2) Identifies and explains all harmonizing additions. (3) Categorizes an unusual set of unnecessary interpolations made to enrich the story. General implications: (1) parallel stories did exist and circulate in written form outside "biblical" scrolls, (2) scribes did meticulously splice written sources to incorporate perceived parallels, and (3) scribes did insert material to enrich plot-lines, apart from solving narrative problems.
Biblical Poetry and the Art of Close Reading (ed. JB Couey & ET James; Cambridge), 2018
Argues that Qohelet's famous bit of speech on the seasons at 3:1-8 mimics and mocks proverbial po... more Argues that Qohelet's famous bit of speech on the seasons at 3:1-8 mimics and mocks proverbial poetry, as part of his larger, prosaic denial that life has discernible and usable rhythms and rhymes.
KNOW, 2018
Uses staging and voicing to present biblical genre-breakers against the backdrop of biblical (and... more Uses staging and voicing to present biblical genre-breakers against the backdrop of biblical (and non-biblical) genre-makers, all of which turn on divine knowledge.
Journal of Ancient Judaism, 2017
The paper argues that the pesaḥ is a ritual with no origins in the literature we have, from the e... more The paper argues that the pesaḥ is a ritual with no origins in the literature we have, from the earliest recoverable fragment, through the first revision that introduces as many problems as it aims to solve, to subsequent extensions in multiple directions, with no arc, no trajectory, no telos, but recurrent hermeneutic expressive engagement.
Vetus Testamentum, 2015
Argues parts of Exod 19; 20; 24 to comprise together a new ritual configuration that rallies Isra... more Argues parts of Exod 19; 20; 24 to comprise together a new ritual configuration that rallies Israelite nationhood around divine kingship, and circumvents and obviates human kingship.
Journal of Hebrew Scriptures, 2014
Offers a reading of Isaiah 40–48 as a coherent and complete text, soon after Cyrus' conquest of B... more Offers a reading of Isaiah 40–48 as a coherent and complete text, soon after Cyrus' conquest of Babylon, meant to compete with the traditional royal construction of localized, embodied divinity and persuade expatriate Judeans to move to Judea.
Jewish Studies Quarterly, 2012
Argues the social poetics of looking to stand behind the motif of looking and not looking at the ... more Argues the social poetics of looking to stand behind the motif of looking and not looking at the deity.
Literature of the Hebrew Bible: Introductions and Studies (ed. Z Talshir; Ben-Zvi), 2011
An introductory overview of the legal texts in the Hebrew Bible, their literary, legal, and relig... more An introductory overview of the legal texts in the Hebrew Bible, their literary, legal, and religious qualities. Focused on laws of camp, town and city, rather than tabernacle and temple, the chapter emphasizes reading the laws subordinate to the compositions in which they appear, the agrarian setting that animates their ideas, and intertextual aspects.
The Pentateuch: International Perspectives on Current Research (ed. TB Dozeman, K Schmid, BJ Schwartz; FAT, Mohr Siebeck), 2011
This paper argues that the law of centralization underwent successive stages of qualification. Th... more This paper argues that the law of centralization underwent successive stages of qualification. These stages are evident in the different paragraphs of Deut 12. The series of successive qualifications and expansions suggest that the people could not or would not fulfill the terms of centralization.
Clio, 2009
Theoretical considerations about law and narrative and their combination in biblical literature l... more Theoretical considerations about law and narrative and their combination in biblical literature lead to a brief overview of biblical texts, prophetic and historiographical, advancing law (broadly construed), then to an analysis of four Priestly stories about the generation of new law, Lev 24:10-23 (about cursing the deity), Num 9:1-14 (about the secondary date for performing the Pesah), Num 15:32-36 (about Sabbath observance), and Num 27:1-11 (about inheritance by women), with implications for understanding the Priestly history.
Harvard Theological Review, Jan 1, 2009
The paper argues against connecting the "second Passover" to Hezekiah as per 2 Chronicles 30 or t... more The paper argues against connecting the "second Passover" to Hezekiah as per 2 Chronicles 30 or to Yehud as a merchant community with members ever away on business trips. It delineates the requirement to offer a make-up Passover on a secondary date as a repercussion of the centralization of the cult -- and as a stringency.
BINS 212, Brill, 2023
Varied voices on and approaches to the Song as an unusual work of promise. Ed. with Elaine James.
FAT II, Mohr Siebeck, Nov 2014
Vetus Testamentum, 2024
Combines source criticism of Genesis 10 and critical study of race and ethnicity to argue that th... more Combines source criticism of Genesis 10 and critical study of race and ethnicity to argue that the idea of "Semites" and "Semitic" things has no basis in the Bible, has been dangerous, and should be dismantled.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC BY 4.0 license.
Cambridge Companion to Law in the Hebrew Bible, ed. Bruce Wells, 2024
On the idea of divine speech as law and how the series and sets of Yahweh's laws each contribute ... more On the idea of divine speech as law and how the series and sets of Yahweh's laws each contribute to the Pentateuchal source that presents them.
This is the pre-publication draft.
For a pdf of the published version, email me.
The Pentateuch and Its Readers, 2023
Argues that: (1) The idea of intergenerational punishment rests on the idea of Yahweh’s patience ... more Argues that: (1) The idea of intergenerational punishment rests on the idea of Yahweh’s patience and love, imagining Yahweh to bear offense and manage it piecemeal over time. (2) The terms and concepts of intergenerational punishment come from the family sphere of life, expressing the anxieties around family circumstances and family longevity. (3) Its application to the nation is a metaphorical extension, which may actually concern social spheres: one group behaves one way and another suffers the consequence. (4) Criticism arose in the late Neo- Babylonian period, when life in Judea had deteriorated grievously and Judeans felt Yahweh’s management to have gone awry. (5) The prophetic texts depicting this criticism give Yahweh *opposite* responses to it. In Jer 31 he accepts it; in Ezek 18 he rejects it. (6) In the Persian period, the social conditions that undergirded the ideas of intergenerational accountability and were ruptured by the Babylonians were reconfigured so as to produce a whole new set of ideas.
Reading the Song of Songs in a #MeToo Era, 2023
Argues that the entire Song is one single poem, in which a young woman conveys her erotic dream a... more Argues that the entire Song is one single poem, in which a young woman conveys her erotic dream as she has it. Draws on literary theory (Smith, Harshav, Cohn), dream research (Domhoff and others), and Hebrew linguistics (Pardee) to make its case.
Vetus Testamentum, 2023
Paper draws upon literary theory to revisit the two phrases that, traditionally, make up Song 1:1... more Paper draws upon literary theory to revisit the two phrases that, traditionally, make up Song 1:1. The first phrase evaluates the work as the song-most of songs, which refers to the work’s manifold form of simulation—a literary work representing the speech of a dreamer, who speaks from both inside and outside the dream. The second phrase may be understood as the beginning of the character’s speech. URL: https://brill.com/view/journals/vt/73/2/article-p220_4.xml
Like ’Ilu Are You Wise”: Studies in Northwest Semitic Languages and Literatures in Honor of Dennis G. Pardee (ed. H.H. Hardy II, J. Lam, and E.D. Reymond; Oriental Institute Publications; Chicago: The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago), 2022
A survey of examples of an understudied device hereby dubbed "alternation" found throughout the B... more A survey of examples of an understudied device hereby dubbed "alternation" found throughout the Bible, its genres and periods.
Contextualizing Jewish Temples (ed. Tova Ganzel & Shalom Holtz; Brill), 2021
Argues that in the statement ואהי להם למקדש מעט, the initial element, ואהי להם ל־, refers to how ... more Argues that in the statement ואהי להם למקדש מעט, the initial element, ואהי להם ל־, refers to how Babylonian Judeans now view Yahweh (i.e. his accessibility), and the second element, מקדש מעט, refers to one of three possible things: (1) against MT (Aleppo, Leningrad) it's a construct phrase (Radak) that means a "temple of the few," i.e., the שארית remaining in Judea; (2) with MT (Aleppo, Leningrad) it's a rare use of מעט as attributive adj. and it means a "limited-use temple" like that presented in some letters from Elephantine (Cunningham); (3) or, again with מעט as attributive adj., it refers to the kinds of temple-evoking artifacts found throughout the region (Ziffer) and depicted on Sennacherib's Lachish panels, "holy trinkets."
Vetus Testamentum, 2020
New: Accounts for each plus through the end of MT 1 Sam 18. Results: (1) Recovers a complete and ... more New: Accounts for each plus through the end of MT 1 Sam 18. Results: (1) Recovers a complete and independent second story of "David, Saul, and the Philistine" that concludes with David marrying Saul's daughter as the reward promised. (2) Identifies and explains all harmonizing additions. (3) Categorizes an unusual set of unnecessary interpolations made to enrich the story. General implications: (1) parallel stories did exist and circulate in written form outside "biblical" scrolls, (2) scribes did meticulously splice written sources to incorporate perceived parallels, and (3) scribes did insert material to enrich plot-lines, apart from solving narrative problems.
Biblical Poetry and the Art of Close Reading (ed. JB Couey & ET James; Cambridge), 2018
Argues that Qohelet's famous bit of speech on the seasons at 3:1-8 mimics and mocks proverbial po... more Argues that Qohelet's famous bit of speech on the seasons at 3:1-8 mimics and mocks proverbial poetry, as part of his larger, prosaic denial that life has discernible and usable rhythms and rhymes.
KNOW, 2018
Uses staging and voicing to present biblical genre-breakers against the backdrop of biblical (and... more Uses staging and voicing to present biblical genre-breakers against the backdrop of biblical (and non-biblical) genre-makers, all of which turn on divine knowledge.
Journal of Ancient Judaism, 2017
The paper argues that the pesaḥ is a ritual with no origins in the literature we have, from the e... more The paper argues that the pesaḥ is a ritual with no origins in the literature we have, from the earliest recoverable fragment, through the first revision that introduces as many problems as it aims to solve, to subsequent extensions in multiple directions, with no arc, no trajectory, no telos, but recurrent hermeneutic expressive engagement.
Vetus Testamentum, 2015
Argues parts of Exod 19; 20; 24 to comprise together a new ritual configuration that rallies Isra... more Argues parts of Exod 19; 20; 24 to comprise together a new ritual configuration that rallies Israelite nationhood around divine kingship, and circumvents and obviates human kingship.
Journal of Hebrew Scriptures, 2014
Offers a reading of Isaiah 40–48 as a coherent and complete text, soon after Cyrus' conquest of B... more Offers a reading of Isaiah 40–48 as a coherent and complete text, soon after Cyrus' conquest of Babylon, meant to compete with the traditional royal construction of localized, embodied divinity and persuade expatriate Judeans to move to Judea.
Jewish Studies Quarterly, 2012
Argues the social poetics of looking to stand behind the motif of looking and not looking at the ... more Argues the social poetics of looking to stand behind the motif of looking and not looking at the deity.
Literature of the Hebrew Bible: Introductions and Studies (ed. Z Talshir; Ben-Zvi), 2011
An introductory overview of the legal texts in the Hebrew Bible, their literary, legal, and relig... more An introductory overview of the legal texts in the Hebrew Bible, their literary, legal, and religious qualities. Focused on laws of camp, town and city, rather than tabernacle and temple, the chapter emphasizes reading the laws subordinate to the compositions in which they appear, the agrarian setting that animates their ideas, and intertextual aspects.
The Pentateuch: International Perspectives on Current Research (ed. TB Dozeman, K Schmid, BJ Schwartz; FAT, Mohr Siebeck), 2011
This paper argues that the law of centralization underwent successive stages of qualification. Th... more This paper argues that the law of centralization underwent successive stages of qualification. These stages are evident in the different paragraphs of Deut 12. The series of successive qualifications and expansions suggest that the people could not or would not fulfill the terms of centralization.
Clio, 2009
Theoretical considerations about law and narrative and their combination in biblical literature l... more Theoretical considerations about law and narrative and their combination in biblical literature lead to a brief overview of biblical texts, prophetic and historiographical, advancing law (broadly construed), then to an analysis of four Priestly stories about the generation of new law, Lev 24:10-23 (about cursing the deity), Num 9:1-14 (about the secondary date for performing the Pesah), Num 15:32-36 (about Sabbath observance), and Num 27:1-11 (about inheritance by women), with implications for understanding the Priestly history.
Harvard Theological Review, Jan 1, 2009
The paper argues against connecting the "second Passover" to Hezekiah as per 2 Chronicles 30 or t... more The paper argues against connecting the "second Passover" to Hezekiah as per 2 Chronicles 30 or to Yehud as a merchant community with members ever away on business trips. It delineates the requirement to offer a make-up Passover on a secondary date as a repercussion of the centralization of the cult -- and as a stringency.
Strata of Priestly Writings (ed. S Shectman, JS Baden; Theologischer Verlag Zürich), 2009
An analysis of the Priestly story about the man caught gathering wood on the Sabbath. Highlighted... more An analysis of the Priestly story about the man caught gathering wood on the Sabbath. Highlighted are generic, intertextual, and ideological aspects of the passage and of the Priestly History. It also argues that though the story was composed with the Priestly History in mind, to be counted as part of the history, it was formulated on the premise it would not be incorporated into the scroll or set of scrolls that contained the History.
Journal of Biblical Literature, Jan 1, 2003
Source- and text-critical analysis of the story of David and the Gibeonites with implications for... more Source- and text-critical analysis of the story of David and the Gibeonites with implications for understanding the works preserved in the book of Samuel.
Priestly Texts and Traditions - Knohl, Sanctuary of Silence, Jerusalem, 2024
More on the question of how we know whether a work without its original paratext and context was ... more More on the question of how we know whether a work without its original paratext and context was meant to be history or literature and why it might matter. This time in honor of Israel Knohl's retirement and reflecting on his Sanctuary of Silence.
The Bible and Its World: An International Academic Conference in Israel, 2024
The Book of Ezekiel does not feel like a book of hope. It feels brutal. Someone who heard Yahweh'... more The Book of Ezekiel does not feel like a book of hope. It feels brutal. Someone who heard Yahweh's speeches over twenty years, by the time they hear his promises to reverse death and restart Israel, they are spent and the idea of revival is uninspiring. However, when one approaches the book from the point of view of its audiences, a different dynamic can emerge.
Yale -Chicago Pentateuch Colloquium, 2024
EABS Siracusa, 2023
Argues for a new reading of 1:5–7 as the lover addressing three fears right before she is intimat... more Argues for a new reading of 1:5–7 as the lover addressing three fears right before she is intimate with her beloved, as signaled in v. 4: (1) Is she beautiful enough for her beloved (vv. 5–6a)? (2) Should she really be fully intimate with him now (v. 6b)? (3) Will he be available to her afterwards (v. 7)? The argument offers new interpretations of אהלי קדר, the second ש clause, שחרחרת, and the business about guarding vineyards. New draft includes translation of vv. 1–7 and (hopefully) useful formatting.
The Chicago-Yale Pentateuch Colloquium, 2023
By the Hellenistic period, Judeans had become, in Moshe Halbertal's apt phrase, a textcentered so... more By the Hellenistic period, Judeans had become, in Moshe Halbertal's apt phrase, a textcentered society. By "text-centered," Halbertal means to avoid ideas like widespread literacy, a particular skill, and literalism and utter authority, particularly extreme attitudes. Rather, his expression refers to when large-scale texts-written scrolls and their contents-have broadbased status and coinage as sites of identity and power. 1 And this is what we see. They read texts aloud in book clubs, adopted norms found in texts, copied and improved texts in large quantities, wrote new versions and full-blown adaptations, co-opted and cannibalized texts as they produced new works altogether, used texts to define themselves and distinguish themselves from others, fought over their interpretation, and polemicized through them. 2
SBL, Helsinki, 2018
Analyzes the structure of the work as that of a compromised first person struggling to communicat... more Analyzes the structure of the work as that of a compromised first person struggling to communicate a troubled past. On a panel, "Silence and Violence in the Hebrew Bible," that draws on the very recent discovery of memory, trauma, voice and agency among so many.
SBL Boston, 2017
Aiming to contribute to the discussion of aniconism, the paper (1) proposes a set of concepts and... more Aiming to contribute to the discussion of aniconism, the paper (1) proposes a set of concepts and categories for describing institutionalized representation of divine presence as opposed to literary; (2) on that basis compares ideas of divine representation in the elohistic and priestly histories; (3) argues that [a] the elohistic history banned all direct representation and rich forms of indirect representation for political, not theological reasons, and [b] the priestly history advocated for those very forms of indirect representation; and (4) shows how in narrative terms each history situates Yahweh's whereabouts accordingly.
The Course, 2024
Episode 124 of UChicago-HongKong "The Course" just dropped. Interview with yours truly. Just 27mi... more Episode 124 of UChicago-HongKong "The Course" just dropped. Interview with yours truly. Just 27min. Shortest class I ever taught! Listen here: https://uchicago.hk/resources/podcast-course
The Bible Sleuth translates and analyzes selections from Psalms, Song of Songs, Proverbs, and Qoh... more The Bible Sleuth translates and analyzes selections from Psalms, Song of Songs, Proverbs, and Qohelet (actually), with more to come. https://voices.uchicago.edu/sbchavel/
UChicago Divinity School YouTube, 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORWM3WrHj\_o Public lecture in UChicago's "Wednesday Lunch" serie... more https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORWM3WrHj_o
Public lecture in UChicago's "Wednesday Lunch" series, Jan 16, 2019.
UChicago Divinity School YouTube, 2021
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORWM3WrHj\_o Commentaries by a philosopher and an artist. My rev... more https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORWM3WrHj_o
Commentaries by a philosopher and an artist.
My review is starts at 34:30 (and ends at 48:15).
Hosted by the Martin Marty Center for the Public Understanding of Religion.
Criterion, 2022
My view of religion inspired by Huizinga and by Spiro.
Sightings, Nov, 2023
On Jewish identity (race or religion, for God's sake?) and the trouble with Semites
Sightings, Dec., 2019
Placing President Trump's executive order to combat anti-Semitism in the long history of debates ... more Placing President Trump's executive order to combat anti-Semitism in the long history of debates about Jewish identity.
thetorah.com
A version of "The Literary Development of Deuteronomy 12: Between Religious Ideal and Social Real... more A version of "The Literary Development of Deuteronomy 12: Between Religious Ideal and Social Reality," in The Pentateuch: International Perspectives on Current Research (ed. TB Dozeman, K Schmid, BJ Schwartz; FAT, Mohr Siebeck, 2011).
Criterion, 2020
About teaching during covid.
Conference at the University of Chicago Divinity School, 2019
Video recordings & lecture transcripts here https://voices.uchicago.edu/songofsongs/ for interdis... more Video recordings & lecture transcripts here https://voices.uchicago.edu/songofsongs/ for interdisciplinary conference on the Song of Songs in historical and contemporary perspectives.
Maarav invites submissions for 2024. Maarav is devoted to the texts and verbal objects of the anc... more Maarav invites submissions for 2024. Maarav is devoted to the texts and verbal objects of the ancient Levant featuring Aramaic, Hebrew, Phoenician, and related languages. We welcome inquiry into their verbal features; their material, visual, locational, and social aspects; and their cultural horizons and relationships. We also welcome research about contemporary interests like the technological aspects of decipherment, storage, presentation, and analysis, and the history and current practices of acquiring and interpreting ancient objects.
For the safe advancement of women in academia. [in rtf and pdf formats]
This study takes the evaluative heading "the song of songs" at face value and asks: What makes th... more This study takes the evaluative heading "the song of songs" at face value and asks: What makes the work a single song and what makes it singular among songs? It reviews and draws on modern definitions of poetry, first to answer this compound question, then to provide a new framework for analyzing many of the work's standout devices, some of which are known but understudied and others of which have not been identified before. In this way, the study hopes to contribute a new interpretation of the The Song of Songs as a whole, new interpretations of various parts of the text, and a new set of categories for the techniques in the text.
Fall, 2024
An update on the nature of campus life in politically tumultuous times.
Properly enforce all rules. Stop violations immediately. 2. Hold violators fully accountable. Pun... more Properly enforce all rules. Stop violations immediately. 2. Hold violators fully accountable. Punish as warranted. 3. Have timely judgments. 4. Have clear rules on what falls under education and what counts as disrupting education. 5. Have clear rules on outside sources of funding for student groups, student activities, and adjacent organizations. 6. Limit the use of walls etc. for messaging. 7. Demonstrations must be planned with and receive permission from the university. 8. Campus police must always have access to demonstrations, to move freely within the campus spaces allotted to them, and to facilitate the safe and legal use of those spaces. 9. Time, place, and volume restrictions on all demonstrations. Limit number of days and hours per day. Limit the spaces that may be used. Prohibit megaphones and bullhorns. 10. Restrictions on who may participate. University Police should be allowed to check IDs and confirm university affiliation. 11. Demonstrators may not restrict types of people from the spaces allotted to them, like making Jew-free or Zionist-free zones. 12. Demonstrators may not restrict access to public spaces by demanding IDs, statements of belief, opinion, etc., or by locking arms, putting up barriers, and the like. 13. Restrictions on messaging. Prohibit incitement to violence, including sloganizing expressions that come from US-designated terrorist sources, like resistance by any means, globalizing the intifada, or freeing Palestine from the river to the sea. Private institutions do not have constitutional free speech rights and obligations. They literally write the rules. 14. No demonstrations on October 7. 15. The university should articulate and disseminate a list of values and best practices for all faculty, students, and staff, to shape the mission and culture on campus. In private institutions, this includes defining what the university means by "free speech." 16. The university should have a program that creates the culture of discourse that it values. 17. The university should establish a unit alongside and separate from Title IX depts, to protect faculty and students with departments more comprehensively. For instance, to prohibit and manage ostracizing and aggression, like boycotting courses and introducing political positions into courses on other subjects and into departmental functioning.
Sharing some thoughts after a visit in Israel.
College students don't know, yet they agree with the slogan.
Colleagues in Germany speak their mind
A call for action from an important colleague
Heads I Win, Tales You Lose, Jews
Colleagues who cannot say, "There is some violence that no human being should ever be subjected t... more Colleagues who cannot say, "There is some violence that no human being should ever be subjected to," with a full stop-They dehumanize some humans and support terrorist behavior.
Genocide & Crimes Against Humanity defined
An anti-Israel encampment took over the main quad of the University of Chicago. The president of ... more An anti-Israel encampment took over the main quad of the University of Chicago. The president of the university, Paul Alivisatos, wrote a letter to the university community expressing his ideas, understanding, and choices.
I wanted to let you know that I support you and I support the right of Jews, individually and col... more I wanted to let you know that I support you and I support the right of Jews, individually and collectively, to exist, to have a homeland, and to defend themselves from attempts to murder them. Hamas is a terrorist organization that must be removed from power so it cannot continue its campaign of murder and kidnapping. The events of 7 October were a massacre that cannot be justified. The root cause of murder is the murderers. Efforts to compel the cessation of support to Israel are wrong. Efforts to boycott, divest from, or sanction Israel are wrong. It feels silly writing these things, because they seem so self-evident. But I have allowed myself to be ignorant of the depths to which discourse and thought on this topic has sunk.
A brief letter to my president and provost about SJP and campus safety
Some of my colleagues have written and signed a "UChicago call for action for Palestine."