Testing questions from a class at the Florida International University exiled Randy Fine, a state legislator approved by President Trump.
One of the questions, uploaded to social media by a student, said Palestine was a country before Israel was created. Another appeared to indicate that the Zionists invented terrorism. For Mr Fine, it was proof that the college manuals and the test materials that accompany them were full of anti -Semitism.
Mr Fine said he was wondering: “How many other terrorism manuals are used in our university system?”
Florida’s extensive state university system, which trains more than 430,000 students, is trying to discover.
Ray Rodrigues, the Chancellor of the System, removed the manual, “terrorism and internal security”, from the use of the system, pending revision. Subsequently, in August, he announced a remarkable effort that worried about some professors and supporters of academic freedom: all 12 universities that oversee were to create teaching panels to veterinary materials, including the Veterinary Courses, including .
For Mr Rodrigues, the test questions that Mr Fine opposed were not only biased or anti -Semitic, was also illegal according to a Florida statutes in 2024, which applies some Israeli criticism as an anti -Semitic.
The issue of class that triggered the state effort may seem unexpected. It was not in one of the disciplines, such as sociology, that the right to legislators have been aiming in recent years, arguing that they were the bastions of leftist ideology.
On the contrary, the course was for terrorism and domestic security, taught by a trainer who had served in the seafarers. And the primary author of the manual is a long -term security researcher who oversees local training efforts against training in a democratic administration.
“This is such a random, inappropriate choice,” said Martha Schoolman, an English professor who spoke against the book’s attempt to promote the book. “But it doesn’t matter. Because once you decide it’s your job to steal everything about anti -Semitism, nothing is going to pass.”
He added, “This is a policy based on the screenshot.”
The effort of state control is unfolding at a time when the academic world is still unfolding since October 7, 2023, an attack by Hamas and the military response from Israel. The campuses that wandered last spring with protests protesting Israel’s protest in Gaza have relaxed. But under the pressure of legislators, many colleges and universities have tightened their rules governing protests, excluded students for behavioral violations and examinations.
Florida’s effort stands out. At K-12 level, conservatives have pushed long school areas to ban books and publishers to examine the curriculum for inappropriate material. In higher education, however, this control was relatively rare. The examination of the materials of course has been occupied in the field of teachers and their departments.
Mr Fine, who is Jewish and is called “The Hebrew Hammer”, is a rising star in the Republican Party. Mr Trump approved him in November for his Congress headquarters that Mike Waltz resigned to become Mr Trump’s national security adviser.
In Mr Fine, the test questions published in the social media in June were examples of anti-Israeli prejudice. One question read: “In which country do Zionists buy land to create their new homeland?” The answer was Palestine. But Palestine was Ottoman territory before World War I and was granted by Britain after that. It was not a country.
Another test question seemed to imply that the Zionist organizations invented terrorism. But terrorism existed long before the conflict of the Middle East.
Mr Fine started looking for accountability. At first he looked at the lesson trainer, Mario Reyes, an assistant professor. Mr Fine wrote to the social media that Mr Reyes “should not buy green bananas for his office”, suggesting that his days at work were limited. But after learning that Mr Reyes, a veteran marine working for the Ministry of Defense, did not write the test questions, turned his attention to the manual and his authors instead.
The primary author of the book, Jonathan R. White, has credentials that does not appear to be linked to a pre-Palestinian prejudice. He served in the administration of George W. Bush after the terrorist attacks on September 11 and taught terrorism and domestic security for decades at the University of Grand Valley in Michigan. He conducted anti -terrorism training for police and military forces, according to his biography.
Dr. White, who recently left and became a pastor, did not respond to comments.
In an interview, Mr Fine acknowledged that he had not read the manual he described as “pre-Muslim terror”. But he said he was sure of university officials that the book was problematic.
Mr Rodrigues, who said in an interview that he had revised the book, was more measured. He said the book contained “anti-Israeli prejudice”, though he did not mention specific examples.
A New York Times manual review found that it was thinner than three test questions. The manual does not say or implies that Palestine was an independent country in modern times, nor that the Zionists invented terrorism.
In a book excerpt that seems to be the basis of one of the test questions under control, the author gave an Israeli prospect that terrorism in the region is linked to the Palestinian liberation organization. It also included a Palestinian perspective that the Israelis used terrorist tactics until they developed a conventional military force.
But it seems that the author of the manual was not behind the test questions.
The Cengage Group, the publisher of the book, said in a statement that it had used a third supplier to write questions aimed at students about the material contained in the book. The company said the questions “did not respond to our standards” and that they had stopped the book’s digital and printing sales, while conducting a “full academic review” to ensure that the content is free of prejudice.
Brian Connolly, a history professor at the University of Southern Florida, said the questions were poorly constructed, but fell from the most special writing of the manual.
“If we are going to focus on poorly written questions,” said Dr. Connolly, “then the state university system is going to take the rest of their lives to deal with it.”
The book remains under consideration by the state university system.
In August, Mr Rodrigues gave orders to the Presidents of the College to seek other examples of manuals and teaching materials containing anti-Semitism or anti-Israeli prejudice.
He said that the materials to be reviewed would be detected by searches for key descriptions and curricula. The search words included “Israel”, “Israeli”, “Palestinians”, “Middle East”, “Zionism”, “Judaism” and “Jews”.
Mr Rodrigues said that anti -Semitism would be identified using a definition resulting from the International Holocaust Memorial Alliance. Under this definition, calling for Israel’s creation a “racist effort” or holding Israel in a “double standard” will be regarded as anti -Semitic. The definition has been criticized in campuses by some who claim to protect Israel from legal criticism.
The academic groups of freedom, such as the American University Teachers’ Association, threw the effort of the state manual, calling the “policing thought” that “deepen Florida’s more and more authoritarian approach to higher education”.
Members of the School said they could violate their collective production agreement, which gives teachers the right to “define pedagogy”.
And the Union of Jewish Studies said that the effort is disproportionately distinguished for control trainers who teach Jewish studies and related areas.
Laura Leibman, the team’s president, said the effort represented good intentions. He said he was worried about having people without underlying material to specialize dark -based courses.
“This struck in the heart of academic freedom,” he said.
The professor, who is a Jew, said that the whole exercise may seem like a farce. “The whole system must turn upside down to find anti -Semitic needles in a haystack,” he said. But he was also worried that he could signal more political battles to come over what teachers can say and teach.
In the interview, Mr Rodrigues said that members of the school would carry out reviews and send their findings to the Board of Directors of the University System before the Board of Directors this week. If the bias is recognized, he said, experts will enter to further examine the materials.
“We need to determine if it is an abnormality,” Mr Rodrigues said about the home -to -home test questions, “or if it is part of a broader problem.”
