A biochemist and adjunct professor, Dr. Anne D’Aquino, was dismissed from her teaching role at DePaul University in Illinois after assigning an optional project to students in her Health 194 course on Human Pathogens and Defense, CBS Chicago reported. The cheeky assignment asked students to examine “the biological and health impacts” of Israel’s military operation in Gaza on the Gazan population.
The classroom where Dr. D’Aquino taught was situated across from a former pro-Hamas protest encampment on campus that has since been removed.
ENCAMPMENT GONE: Quad Closed Until Further Notice as Chicago Police clear out pro-Palestinian Protesters at DePaul University. The protest is now across the street in front of the Mobile Gas Station. pic.twitter.com/oJcKQ6c9Rb
— Mark Weyermuller (@publicpolicyman) May 16, 2024
A DePaul spokesperson stated that concerns were raised by students and faculty regarding the assignment and an accompanying email from Dr. D’Aquino that used the terms “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing” in reference to the assignment’s subject matter.
PhD Defended! I guess that makes me Dr. Dre. Thank you to my advisor @CHADNANO, my committee (@emilyweissNU), and all of my friends and family! Thank you to @edmundhfc for the incredible cake and to @NUBonDChem and @NUPrisonEd for all of your support! Now on to #thenextepisode pic.twitter.com/DlFkbL9xm3
— Andrea d’Aquino (@AndreadAquino7) November 9, 2019
Specifically, the assignment instructed students to explain, among other tasks, “the impact of genocide/ethnic cleansing on the health/biology of the people it impacts.”
“Students were distracted,” D’Aquino said. “A lot of them were volunteering at the encampment. A lot of them had friends that were at the encampment.” The topic was unavoidable, she said.
The course syllabus explores microbiology research and its relevance to everyday life, current events, and our knowledge of microbiology to “big picture impacts on individuals and communities.”
“Taking real-world examples and applying our biology to it, and then communicating that to the general public—since many of the students will be doing that in their profession,” D’Aquino said, explaining, “The day that I added the optional assignment, there was a large attack on Rafah, and I didn’t want that to be left unacknowledged.”
Did it occur to Dr. D’Aquino that by pre-suggesting an intent to commit genocide and ethnic cleansing she was skewing her assignment? Here’s her email from May 10, 2024:
“I am expanding the scope of assignment 6 to include a second option. Today Israel rejected a ceasefire deal and continues to bomb Rafah, where over 600,000 children are currently sheltering. This comes just four hours after ordering Palestinian families to evacuate the area. Many view this as the last phase of the genocide/ethnic cleansing of indigenous Palestinian people. I encourage students to use scientific analysis and critical thinking to understand and communicate the impacts of genocide on human biology, and the creation of a decolonized future that promotes liberation and resists systemic oppression.”
Mind you, the above text was not conceived in Gaza, Jenin, Cairo, or Tehran. It was part of the scholarship of a modern American university where the scientific method is shrined.
But wait, there’s so much more.
As additional background, Dr. D’Aquino provided links to some of the most blood libelous articles currently available online, with no effort to deal with the shocking bias that emanates from each headline, nor did she attempt to provide links to sources that contradict these largely antisemitic items:
- Quick Facts: The Palestinian Nakba
- Gaza Crisis: MSF’s Response to Israel
- Gaza War | Doctors Without Borders
- Trapped for 12 hours under rubble in Gaza: One woman’s story
- White Phosphorus Use in Gaza
- 23andMe: Palestinians are finding their heritage erased
- Pulitzer Center Stories: Experiments of Israel’s Arms Industry
- The Guardian: Organ harvesting without consent
“By terminating my employment, DePaul violated my academic freedom,” d’Aquino said in an email to Inside Higher Ed.
As to her choice of articles for the assignment, she argued, “It was a relevant assignment for the course. For months, scientists and physicians have been warning about the spread of infectious disease in Gaza.”
Of course, she had nothing to say about the connection between the spread of disease in Gaza and the 15 years of neglect under Hamas rule, which usurped the billions of dollars in contributions from around the world to build a spectacular network of hundreds of miles of underground tunnels, and a lavish industry producing weapons and ammunition intended to attack and murder Jews. In d’Aquino’s world, Israeli soldiers entered the Strip and a formerly healthy and thriving area turned overnight into a leper colony.
“The unique contemporary circumstances in Gaza offer an important opportunity to assess factors that accelerate the spread of disease (such as starvation and close living quarters),” she wrote, suggesting that microbiologists should “contribute to the public scientific discourse about how to mitigate any further detrimental health and biological impacts in Gaza and all humanitarian crises.”
We know the answer, destroy Hamas and free Gaza from its tyrannical and abusive rule. But that may be too much information for this livid antisemite in scientist’s clothes.
