An Najah National University hosted a videoconference between students of the Department of   English Language and Literature and Ithaca College, New York.  The University was pleased to welcome Mr. Mark Turner and the Research Journalism Initiative (RJI) back to campus for its first activity of the new semester.

The event was facilitated by Dr. Nabil Alawi of the English Department at An-Najah and Dr. Beth 

Harris of Ithaca College. The two met in Nablus this past summer during RJI’s Leadership Training Institute, a two week program designed to lay the foundations for a sustainable global studies program at An Najah. With RJI, these educators are working to create an international curriculum, taught cooperatively via videoconference. They plan to continue developing this concept in the coming months.

The videoconference brought together students of Dr. Alawi’s “Autobiography” course with Dr. Harris’ “Political Justice” unit.  Students used American and Palestinian autobiographies to explore themes of perspective, personal history and justice. According to Dr. Harris, “U.S. citizens have been authorizing political and military strategies, both abroad and within the United States, that have placed certain groups of people and individuals outside the protection of international or constitutional law. Despite the enormous impact of these policies, within the United States there is very little awareness of how these policies are affecting the lives of others.”

Dr. Harris also noted that her students were particularly impressed with Ikhlas Ishtayyeh, a fourth-year student at An Najah, concerning her use of the term “terrorism” in describing occupation policies in Palestine. “Of course I am aware of the risks of generalizing, which can lead to prejudice,” Ishtayyeh explained, “but you must understand that our only interacting is with occupation soldiers. The frustration we feel is an honest, human reaction.”

This conference was the fourth between An Najah and Ithaca College, and an important part of RJI’s broader program. RJI’s videoconferences give students an opportunity to cooperate internationally on critical issues despite the restrictions of the occupation.  RJI is a project of the Office of Assistant to the President for International and Strategic Affairs at An Najah National University and is hosted as an independent global studies initiative at the Korean-Palestinian IT Institute for Excellence.