Colorado university distances from department's accusation Israel is engaged in "genocidal attack'
A Colorado University university official on Thursday sought to distance the educational institution from a department's accusation that Israel's retaliatory strikes amounted to an "unprecedented genocidal attack," a development that mirrors the tension roiling America's colleges after Hamas militants crossed the border from Gaza earlier this month and killed 1,400 Israelis.
Israel's retaliatory strikes killed 8,000, according to Gaza's health ministry.
Philip DiStefano, chancellor of University of Colorado Boulder, stopped short of admonishing the Department of Ethnic Studies — which called Israel's response following the Hamas attack "another unprecedented genocidal attack on the Palestinian people" — but he said the latter's position does not reflect the university's stance on the conflict.
"While the principles of academic freedom and freedom of expression protect the speech of University of Colorado Boulder faculty, staff and students, that does not mean their points of view represent the perspectives of the university — nor that we endorse them," DiStefano said.