Racism at Ben Gurion University? Channel 10 reported that one of the lecturers in a course on biological sciences sent an email intended for his Arab students - but which the Jewish students received, as well - in which he asserted that the Jews are "stealing answers" on tests.
In the letter, the lecturer wrote: "After checking the grades, I realized the Arab students had a problem. You don't have to be shy during the test. Raise your hand and ask about what is unclear. Your Jewish friends ask questions to verify, or "steal," answers from the lecturer. That's one of the reasons they can get higher grades."
The lecturer quickly realized his mistake, however, later sending another email in which he clarified that " the goal of the previous email was to encourage Arab students to ask questions because they are shy - and therefore make extraneous mistakes. In order to encourage them, I compared them to Jewish students who aren't embarrassed to ask questions on every topic, something which I view very positively. I apologize if somebody interpreted it differently and was hurt by it."
However, the student cited in the article said that "the email was written in a racist fashion, in which the lecturer represents the 'Jews' as those that know how to ask questions and 'steal' answers, while the Arab population is embarrassed to ask. After the email was posted on social media, the lecturer sent a 'letter of apology,' in which he basically threatened us by saying that posting private emails on social media is a criminal offense which is punishable."
"Furthermore, the grades are supposed to be hidden and checked only by serial ID number. How, then, did the lecturer know to attribute the low grades specifically to the Arab students?"