Salem on the Thames

This compelling volume focuses on the story of Andrew
Pessin, a tenured philosophy professor at Connecticut College, who was accused
by students and faculty of having “directly condoned the extermination of a
people” based on a deliberate misreading of his 2015 Facebook post on the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict. Salem on the Thames captures the events as they unfolded and
discusses topics such as Western sentiments concerning Israeli-Palestinian
relations, academics and free speech, antisemitism and diversity on the college
campus, and social media and politics. The Pessin affair offers us a case study
in a tendency towards “public shaming” reminiscent of the Salem witch trials
that deeply compromises the integrity of academia.