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How a Facebook status led to chaos on campus

April 23, 2015 12:17
Professor Andrew Pessin
1 min read

A month-old Facebook post written by a Jewish college professor about last summer's Gaza conflict has triggered a debate on intolerance at a liberal arts college in Connecticut.

The controversy over philosophy expert Andrew Pessin's remarks is seen as a microcosm of the tension between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian advocates on American campuses.

Prof Pessin, who has worked at Connecticut College for a decade, said students had misrepresented words he wrote last summer about the violence in Gaza.

"You've got a rabid pitbull chained in a cage" that when freed "comes roaring, bounding out, snarling, going for the throat," Prof Pessin, a self-described off-campus advocate for Israel, wrote on the social media site.