On Sept. 17, American diplomat Dennis Ross spoke at Case Western Reserve University as part of the university’s Office for Diversity, Equity and Inclusive Engagement’s “Power of Diversity Lecture Series.” Mr. Ross spent years engineering Middle East policy for various U.S. presidential administrations and, in that time, helped to underwrite the ability of Israel to vastly expand the number of settlers living in the occupied Palestinian territories in violation of international law. He is also involved with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (with Martin Indyk), where he currently holds a position as a distinguished fellow. This is a think tank that was funded with support from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the pro-Israel lobbying group bent on denying the Palestinian people their freedom.

It is one thing for Mr. Ross to speak on the CWRU campus. But for him to be invited as part of a so-called “Power of Diversity Lecture Series”—during Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza, no less—is an insult to the meaning of diversity and demonstrates, yet again, the strong anti-Palestinian prejudice that dominates the thinking of the university’s administration.

Ananya Dasgupta, Associate Professor of History

Ted Steinberg, Adeline Barry Davee Distinguished Professor of History