By: Cheryl Thurston
The UNC College Republicans are petitioning Chancellor, Carol Folt; Professor, Beverly Taylor; UNC Department of English and Comparative Literature; UNC Board of Trustees; and the UNC Board of Governors, in an attempt to remove a professor, and a course, from the UNC Chapel Hill roster. The course is titled: English 72, “Literature of 9/11”, and is taught by Neel Ahuja. Texts for the course include: In the Shadow of No Towers by Speigelman, Poems from Guantanamo: Detainees Speak by Falkoff, Reluctant Fundamentalist by Hamid, Sand Opera by Metres, Sirens of Baghdad (Trans Cullen) by Khadra, and Stuff Happens by Hare.
To quote the UNC College Republicans petition, “it deeply troubles us when this system is used to indoctrinate students against the very civilization that supports our studies financially and defends the freedoms we enjoy. This indoctrination is evident in a First Year Seminar currently being offered called English 72, “Literature of 9/11.”
Traditionally, college is the accepted place for people to express diverse ideas, to participate in debate, and to learn to think critically about the world in which they live. BladenOnline looked into the course, it’s required reading list, and it’s current professor.
The UNC Chapel Hill University website lists the description of the course thusly:
This seminar will explore representations of the 9/11 attacks and their aftermath in literature and popular culture. Following an introduction to the concept of terrorism and to the production of knowledge about political violence in the fields of law, politics, religious studies, and terrorism studies, we will explore a diverse array of themes related to the 9/11 attacks and the “war on terror” as depicted in memoirs, poetry, novels, public art, graphic novels, film, and music: explanations of the causes and consequences of political violence; the role of religion in public culture and state institutions; national security discourse; mourning and public trauma; depictions of the US military in Iraq, Pakistan, and Afghanistan; and the perspectives of detainees and minority communities on the attacks and their aftermath. Students will read and discuss both critical scholarship and literary texts, discuss major controversies in organized debates, compose two papers, and complete group presentations on topics of their choice.
First-year seminars are often esoteric in nature, and typically hone in on narrow and unique topics. They are meant to introduce new students to college-level courses, and “offer an introduction to the intellectual life of the university and focus on how scholars pose problems, discover truths, resolve controversies, and evaluate knowledge,” UNC’s website states.
Here is a short book review of the required reading list:
Spiegelman’s, In the Shadow of No Towers, illustrates his own personal account of the WTC bombing, as he rants out his frustration over the political exploitation of the catastrophe, in comics and text form. Spiegelman’s daughter was in a school at Ground Zero on 9-11-01.
Falkoff’s, Poems from Guantanamo: The Detainees Speak, gives voice to the men held there, indefinitely, some without charges. The blurb for the book for sale on Amazon online bookseller includes this comment, most likely written by the author: “Since 2002, at least 775 men have been held in the U.S. detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. According to Department of Defense data, fewer than half of them are accused of committing any hostile acts against the United States or it’s allies.” Gore Vidal wrote an Editorial Review of the book saying, “At last, Guantanamo has found it’s voice.”
Hamid’s, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, is a monologue, told by a young Pakistani to an unnamed American in a café in LaHore. The Pakistani is educated at Princeton, employed by a first rate firm, and living the American Dream for years before the WTC bombing. He travels back to Pakistan and gets caught up in the symbolism of a force great enough to bring America to her knees. When he returns to New York, his name and face make him suspect in the rising tide of Islamophobia that sweeps the nation.
Metres’, Sand Opera, depicts the redactions of official documents even in the title, which is a redaction of the words Standard Operating Procedure. Metres’ writing has brought him 2 NEA Fellowships, the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, the Beatrice Hawley Award, the Anne Hailey Prize, the Creative Workforce Fellowship, 5 Ohio Arts Council Grants, and 2 Arab American Book Awards.
Khadra’s, The Sirens of Baghdad, is a novel set in Iraq, in the wake of the American Invasion. Reviews for the book call it a powerful look at the effects of violence on ordinary people, showing what can turn a decent human being into a weapon, and how the good in human nature can resist.
Hare’s, Stuff Happens, is an anti-war play about the looting of Baghdad. In April 2003, when Donald Rumsfeld was asked about the rampant looting, his response was, “Stuff Happens.” The play was first performed in the Olivier Auditorium of the National Theater, on September 1, 2004.
The above list represents what one would expect to read in a class that is intended as an introduction to the intellectual life of a university, with a focus on how scholars pose problems, discover truths and resolve controversies. After reviewing the course literature, one might conclude that the crux of the issue here is the instructor, Neel Ahuja, whom his students portray as rigid, inflexible, and intolerant of other viewpoints.
Neel Ahuja, is an associate professor of English, comparative literature, and geography at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. “Neel grew up in Topeka, Kansas. He studied transnational cultural studies at the University of California, San Diego and gender studies at Northwestern University, where he was a student organizer and labor solidarity activist,” according to his online faculty bio.
The reviews left for him by his English 72 students with UNC, date back to 2010. Nearly every student who posted a comment, prior to the petition, paints him as a dictator when it comes to disagreeing with his views and rhetoric.
One student commented that parents who are footing the bill should voice their opinions and get these creeps out of our once great universities. Students should feel free to voice their opinions without feeling that their grades will be jeopardized.
Still others advise students who find themselves in Ahuja’s class to agree with his perspective to get an easy A.
None of the reviews indicate that students are being indoctrinated into Ahuja’s belief system, but then if they were, those students wouldn’t post any negative comments about him, would they? Read the reviews at the above UNC link and see for yourself, none of the comments are very positive, and there have been a spate of new comments since the petition has been circulating.
Perhaps, the students at UNC Chapel Hill have simply accepted that this is one of “THOSE” classes you try to pass and forget, but everything we experience leaves its mark on us, and since we know that to be true, perhaps we should take a closer look at English 72, and Professor Ahuja. The UNC Republicans are making their effort by sending a petition to the Chancellor and the others listed in the first paragraph of this article. Let’s see if this petition has a lasting effect.
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