A dispute between a student and senior lecturer at the University of Queensland has led to a complaint being lodged against the university with the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC).
Senior lecturer Joel Katzav, who is Jewish, says a letter of complaint written about him by the student was “anti-Semitic” and labelled the university’s response “inappropriate”.
“The university said it would handle it as a case of lack of respect, but in my view anti-Semitism is more serious,” Dr Katzav told The Australian.
The dispute stemmed from a hearing of academic professionals, chaired by Dr Katzav, that instructed the student to change the thesis of one of their papers, which included reference to the work of 19th century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.
In response, the student accused Dr Katzav of seeking to “whitewash” Nietzsche due to the lecturer’s Jewish background.
“The chair is supposed to have read my chapter in the context of my thesis question, and not in the context of someone trying to casuistically xjmtzywrehabilitate or whitewash what Nietzsche said for any number of agendas that some academics may have,” the student wrote in a nine-page letter.
Last year, Dr Katzav lodged a complaint with the AHRC calling the student’s letter anti-Semitic and claiming UQ’s reaction breached anti-discrimination laws and its own anti-racism policy.
The association of Nietzsche’s work with Nazi ideology has led some to label his arguments as fascist.
However, the student claimed Nietzsche had also become popular among certain groups in Israel.
“Due to various agendas, Nietzsche appears to be one of the most highly revered philosophers in Israel,” the student wrote.
“I am aware the chair was trained at the University of Tel Aviv, Israel, and I deeply sympathise with people whose families suffered such terrible and unimaginable torment, trauma and loss of life on such a scale as a result of the Nazi war machine.”
“However, while I deeply sympathise, the comment that was made was professionally inappropriate, irrelevant and unhelpful as part of the thesis review process.”
Dr Katzav, who lived in Israel from age nine to 25, rejects the idea he was influenced by his background in asking the student to change their thesis, as well as that the philosopher is widely popular in Israel.
“Because I was Jewish, I was participating in whitewashing, from this student’s perspective, Nietzsche’s fascist political philosophy,” he told The Australian.
“The student also associated me with a broader Jewish movement to support this kind of fascist philosophy, which in the thesis the student described as genocidal.
“On one hand, I’m whitewashing Nietzsche, on the other I’m associated with its promotion.”
“At best it’s unclear whether Nietzsche was anti-Semitic,” he said. “It would be odd if Nietzsche was a very popular figure in Israel.”
Dr Katzav is seeking compensation, apologies, racial discrimination education for UQ staff and a review of its discrimination policy.
He is also considering lodging a claim in the Federal Court.
University of Queensland was contacted for comment.
