CALL TO ACTION: Arkansas Tech must say no to Holocaust Denial
In December, 2018 Arkansas Tech University (ATU) received a $190,000 donation from the estate of a Holocaust denier. Despite being presented with evidence by the Jewish community, the ADL, and numerous scholars of the Holocaust and antisemitism, ATU is refusing to return the money. Now local white supremacists are using this as a platform to spread more vicious antisemitism on campus and elsewhere.
Please email ATU President Robin Bowen, urging her to return the money and apologize to the Jewish community.
President Bowen’s email address and a sample letter can be found below:
rbowen@atu.edu
Dear President Bowen,
I am writing to urge you and Arkansas Tech University to reject funding from the estate of late Professor Michael Link. ATU has been presented with clear evidence that Professor Link promoted Holocaust denial and other forms of antisemitism. It is outrageous that ATU would legitimize such hatred by accepting money in Link’s name. Furthermore, I am disturbed that the weak response of your administration has emboldened local white supremacists to more openly espouse their hateful rhetoric on campus and beyond.
According to the ADL , Link assembled a curriculum that promoted Holocaust denial. Notable among the assigned books were:
1. “Debunking the Genocide Myth,” published by a group the denies the Holocaust.
2. “The Holocaust Industry”, by Norman Finklestein, which posits that American Jews use Holocaust memory for political and financial gain.
3. “Made in Russia”, also published by a Holocaust denial advocacy group. Its central thesis is that Jews invented war time atrocities to force Germans to pay reparations.
The ADL also investigated claims from students and faculty members such as Sarah Stein, and found these to be credible. Passages from his dissertation, and other written works indicate that Link did not take seriously the threat of Nazism towards Jews and actively minimized it.
Antisemitism is rising throughout the country, as evidenced by the recent white supremacist terrorist attack in San Diego. It is inconceivable that an institution of higher learning would honor a person whose scholarship and legacy on campus perpetuates this hatred. I urge you to refuse the funds from Michael Link’s estate and apologize to Arkansas’ Jewish community.
