A recent letter to the Wednesday Journal [Viewpoints, Feb. 26] supports Nathan Mellman and Joshua Gertz’s candidacy for the District 200 school board stating, “What you want is a board member … who can listen openly to the experience of all. … The board must … respond to all voices at the school and make sure none are negated or dismissed. None! The board must be able to recognize when student or faculty views cross a line and threaten the legitimacy of other perspectives.”
Do Mellman and Gertz have these qualities?
Last year, Mellman, Gertz, and others filed a complaint with the Illinois State Board of Education and the Illinois Attorney General against District 200, OPRF High School, and the faculty advisors of an OPRF student club. The complaint claims that the club and its advisors (one of whom is Jewish) engaged in numerous antisemitic activities. These are extremely serious charges. Do Mellman and Gertz really “listen openly to the experience of all”?
For example, the complaint attacks as antisemitic presentations at OPRF by Rashid Khalidi, a Columbia University emeritus professor, an expert on Palestinian history. The student club wanted to hear Professor Khalidi’s perspective. Before filing the complaint, Mellman, Gertz, and others unsuccessfully lobbied OPRF to bar Khalidi’s presentation. This effort was misguided; Khalidi is generally recognized as a preeminent scholar, and he has lectured at many schools.
Cancel culture and censorship have no place in Oak Park. D200 school board members must firmly support students’ exposure to diverse viewpoints. Does the complaint against Professor Khalidi and attempts to ban him raise concerns that on the school board Mellman and Gertz might “cross a line and threaten the legitimacy of other perspectives” that conflict with their own? Students must have opportunities for critical thinking on subjects beyond their comfort zone.
Sources:
The link to the complaint is in this letter to Wednesday Journal:
Here’s the link directly to the complaint:
Jim Poznak
Oak Park
