An Israeli student won a significant victory against Britain’s BDS-infected academia.
The background: Smadar Bakovic had repeatedly complained to Warwick University that she wasn’t comfortable with pro-BDS professor Nicola Pratt supervising her Master’s degree dissertation on Israeli Arab identity. Eventually, Pratt gave a low mark to Bakovic’s dissertation, Bakovic had it re-evaluated on appeal, and received a substantially better mark.
An adjudicator has now upheld Bakovic’s complaint against the university, reports Harry’s Place.
The Office of the Independent Adjudicator has now ruled that Smadar Bakovic’s complaint against Warwick University is partly justified, and advised that the University offer her £1000 in compensation, together with an apology. . .
There were aspects of this case which were outside the Adjudicator’s remit – commenting on the conduct of an individual staff member for example, or the accuracy of marks. But it did conclude that the University could have been more flexible in the way it dealt with Smadar Bakovic’s request for a different supervisor.
Bakovic told HonestReporting:
I think the adjudicator’s ruling wasn’t strong enough, but in terms of the university’s responsibility regarding Nicola Pratt, the apology and compensation are a great victory. I hope this sets a precedent for future complaints for other Jewish and Israeli students in UK academia. There’s a lot of discrimination. Some students are intimidated physically and others are verbally silenced.
Bakovic currently works for MediaCentral, an HonestReporting initiative providing support and services for journalists working in Israel. The re-evaluation of her dissertation took place five months before she joined the MediaCentral staff.
For more background reading on the issue, see HonestReporting, the Jewish Chronicle, and Times Higher Education.
