The Canadian Jewish Congress has denied that the Jewish community was in any way involved with the refusal of a Canadian university to hire an Arab political science lecturer because of his outspoken views on the Middle East conflict. Dr. George Haggar, a 34-year-old native of Lebanon, has publicly cited a letter he had received from Dr. Owen Carrington. of King’s College, rejecting his application for employment because “it would be impossible for us to have some body on the faculty who would be openly hostile to the state of Israel.”
Dr. Carrington’s letter explained that the Western Ontario college had been negotiating with the Canadian Jewish community for the establishment of a Center for Jewish Studies and could not “accommodate somebody who would be locked in battle with the Jewish community.” Dr. Haggar lodged a complaint against Kings College with the Ontario Human Rights Commission and has complained on similar grounds against Waterloo Lutheran University, Lake head University and York University which also turned down his applications.
Sidney Harris, chairman of the Central Region of the CJ Congress, said in a statement issued here last week that “to our knowledge there was no consultation on this matter with representatives of the Jewish community.” Mr. Harris said, “I want it clearly understood that we would not sanction such interference in a college’s hiring practices. An applicant’s views on the Middle East or his Arab origin is irrelevant to his engagement as a lecturer in political science. There are other, quite legitimate, criteria to determine this.”
Dr. Haggar, a vociferous Arab propagandist, taught at Ryerson Poly technical Institute for a year and for three years at Waterloo Lutheran University which fired him in 1967 after disputes over university philosophy and personnel. He was recently deported from the United States after participating in a student revolt in New Orleans. He acquired Canadian citizenship some time ago.
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