Letter to Chancellor Garcia

May 28, 2024

Dear Chancellor Garcia and California State University Board of Trustees,

We, the undersigned, are faculty and staff members from diverse California State University campuses. We are deeply concerned about the safety and well-being of Jewish and Israeli students, staff, and faculty as anti-Jewish hate and anti-Israel rhetoric and violence continues to grow and run rampant on our campuses and have been normalized in routine processes and instruction. Since the massacres of October 7^th, we have watched in horror and bewilderment as individual faculty and even whole departments have fomented a hostile and threatening climate for Jewish and Israeli members of the CSU community. In recent weeks, this has been further exacerbated by new anti-Israel rallies and illegal encampments on several campuses, which are fueling antisemitism.

While many of these events have been promoted under the banner of free speech and academic freedom, the reality is that the organizers of these events, many of whom come from beyond our own campuses, have sought to deny Jewish and Israeli students, staff, and faculty their freedom of speech and their academic freedom, seeking to purge them from campus life altogether.

At the same time, freedom of speech and academic freedom have been dangerously conflated. As defined by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) academic freedom “is a professional right extended to members of the profession and is subject to certain limitations. Academic freedom means that faculty are free to engage in the professionally competent forms of inquiry and teaching that are necessary for the purposes of the university. It does not mean that individual faculty members are free to teach or publish whatever they want without repercussions.” Under the guise of academic freedom, some faculty have pushed a partisan, antisemitic, and anti-Israel political agenda in and out of the classroom and have encouraged their students to do the same.

For example, over the last eight months there have been numerous incidents targeting Jewish and Israeli students in the CSU:

Images of paragliders used by the October 7^th massacres have been posted on campuses.
Violent calls for “intifada, revolution,” and “globalize the intifada” have been chanted on numerous campuses.
Protesters have blocked Jewish and Israeli students, faculty, and staff from crossing their campus or entering buildings.
Posters have been put up on campuses targeting Jewish and Israeli faculty, staff, and students with their images and calling for them to be removed from campus.
Antisemitic slogans such as “go away Zionist pigs” have been chalked on campus walkways.
Jewish-identified campus spaces (such as bulletin boards and Holocaust memorials) have been vandalized and defaced.
Antisemitic speakers have been invited to various campuses, paid honoraria, and faculty have encouraged their students to attend their antisemitic talks (e.g., speakers who claimed that “Jews are not a real people,” “liberatory Jewish feminism is impossible,” or that the “myth” of Jewish identity was created by Zionists to perpetuate scientific racism on behalf of global capitalism).
Students have been given loaded or one-sided prompts regarding on-campus antisemitic and anti-Israel actions or events to which to respond in class.

Over the same time period, there have been numerous incidents targeting Jewish and Israeli faculty and staff:

Some departments have become so hostile that Jewish and Israeli faculty no longer feel comfortable attending departmental meetings.
Jewish and Israeli lecturers have had their jobs directly threatened.
Jewish and Israeli faculty have been denied the opportunity to participate in grants or have been denied the ability to teach classes in their area of specialty or have been threatened with adverse actions in the Reappointment, Tenure, and Promotion process.
Jewish and Israeli Faculty attempting to teach classes have been prevented from doing so and instead were involuntarily evacuated by campus police.
As of this writing, two campuses have issued statements in support of divestment from Israel, statements that violate California law (AB 2844).
The concerted effort to include Palestine Studies as part of Ethnic Studies, in violation of AB 1460, which limits the field to Native American, African American, Asian American, and Latinx Studies (a limitation pressed by Ethnic Studies in part to exclude Jewish Studies).

Much of this antisemitic activity is linked to the establishment of Faculty for Justice in Palestine (FJP) chapters on various CSU campuses in response to a call from the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI). These chapters’ chief aim is to bring about the academic boycott of Israel – a key component of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement – and establish it on their campuses, in their classrooms, and in other educational spaces. FJP works with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and other radical antisemitic and anti-Israel groups to push any faculty, staff, or students who disagree with them off campus.

USACBI has stated that its goal is to stop “the normalization of Israel in the global academy.” It tries to achieve this goal through promoting the boycott of educational programs in or about Israel, cancelling or otherwise shutting down pro-Israel events and activities that aim to educate participants about Israel’s policies and progress, promoting academic programming and campus events that demonize and delegitimize Israel, and by condoning the denigration and exclusion of pro-Israel individuals on campus. All of these actions not only violate the free speech and academic freedom of faculty, staff, and students who wish to either learn or teach in or about Israel, they also violate California law (AB 2844 http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/15-16/bill/asm/ab_2801-2850/ab_2844_bill_20160924_chaptered.html ), which bars the CSU system, inter alia, from BDS. They also have a devastating effect on Jewish and Israeli students, faculty, and staff who identify with the Jewish state.

What makes this so alarming now is that the academic BDS movement is not only being promoted by individual faculty members and groups like FJP and SJP, but by whole departments, which have embraced efforts to dismantle the Jewish state as core elements of their discipline. These activities corrupt our CSU mission. That the presidents of two CSU campuses (Sonoma State and Sacramento) have either fully or partially embraced this movement, while the Academic Senates at several other campuses have endorsed it, is profoundly frightening.

All these actions have made our own campuses inhospitable, threatening, and unsafe for the vast majority of Jewish and Israeli students, faculty, and staff who identify with the Jewish state and the Jewish people.

The responsibility for strenuously safeguarding the free speech and academic freedom of faculty, staff, and students falls squarely on the CSU administration. The failure of campus administrators to enforce policies prohibiting faculty from using their positions and university resources for political advocacy and activism has emboldened these faculty to continue carrying out their antisemitic campaign to purge our campuses of Jewish supporters of Israel.

This failure also exposes the CSU system to the embarrassment of a potential Department of Education Office of Civil Rights investigation or to potential civil liability.

We therefore implore the Chancellor and the Board of Trustees to

Establish and enforce robust procedures that ensure campus administrators are held accountable for addressing violations of university policy regarding faculty abuse.
Ensure that content on bias and prejudice is integrated into existing training at all levels to ensure that all administrators, faculty, staff, and students are aware of the norms and biases as defined by the Office of Civil Rights of the Department of Education.
Expand existing training to include mandatory annual training in Title VI and Title VII for all administrators, faculty, staff, and students to ensure that all members of our campus community understand what Title VI and Title VII requires of them.
Create tools to address what the governor has called a “climate of antisemitism, bias, harassment, and violence” on university campuses (https://www.sdjewishworld.com/2024/04/05/governor-gavin-newsom-unveils-plan-to-counter-antisemitism-and-other-forms-of-hate/ ) in a manner consistent with the Golden State Plan to Counter Antisemitism (April 2024) (https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Golden-State-Plan-to-Counter-Antisemitism.pdf ). These include promoting student safety, belonging, and mental health; strengthening codes of conduct, engaging key stakeholders with intent and purpose, and collaborating with the State of California’s Community Conflict Resolution Unit (https://calcivilrights.ca.gov/community-conflict-resolution-unit/ ).
Hold individual faculty or departments that violate these policies accountable and impose significant disciplinary consequences.Similarly, administrators unwilling to enforce CSU policy or worse, embrace its violation, should themselves be sanctioned for dereliction of duty.

Furthermore, we call upon the Chancellor and the Board of Trustees to be proactive to ensure that the protections of Title VI and Title VII, which include protection from antisemitism, be fully enforced on our campuses. Toward that end, we call upon the CSU administration to follow the path blazed by the UC system and create a system-wide Office of Civil Rights (OCR) that will monitor the campuses of the system and make sure that the rights of all students, faculty, and staff are protected. Consistent with the policies being adopted by the UC system, this will:

Support the CSU policy on the use of university administrative websites.
Enforce all university policies, including non-discrimination policies, student and faculty codes of conduct, and student group policies to protect all members of the university community, including Jewish and Israeli students, staff, and faculty, from discrimination and harassment based on their shared ancestral, ethnic, and religious identity connected to Israel.
Ensure necessary action is taken to revoke official recognition and funding of any student or faculty group that engages in discriminatory practices and/or violates the code of conduct (including the use of university logos, facilities, and funding).
Protect the right of all to speak, and thus have zero tolerance for threats or violence. There should be no toleration for the “heckler’s veto” that would deny others the right to speak. Freedom of speech does not include the right to silence others.
Support the education of faculty on the responsibilities that accompany the right to academic freedom, including the requirements of providing space for multiple, diverse viewpoints, and ensuring the factual accuracy of the information and materials they present to students.
Work with campuses to ensure that the academic freedom of not only faculty but also students is fully protected.
Empower CSU administrators to immediately speak out to condemn all forms of hate.
Assist campuses with tools to promptly address violations of Title VI and/or Title VII on campus, creating a clear process and timelines for incident responses and reporting protocol.
Create a directive, working with the Office of the Chancellor, that all Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, as well as anti-harassment/anti-discrimination education and training for higher education employees, and state employees, include a component on Jewish identity and antisemitism. In consultation with one or more respected and recognized Jewish organizations, it will develop training modules on religious and ethnic discrimination and antisemitism as part of the onboarding process for students, faculty, and staff.
Work with campuses to establish a standing Advisory Committee on Jewish Life on each campus, composed of Jewish leaders, including students, faculty, staff, as well as other stakeholders such as Hillel, who can help provide guidance and support for a thriving Jewish campus life.

If the CSU administration cannot curb the unchecked antisemitic activism of faculty and departments, then the CSU will soon become wholly inhospitable and unsafe for its Jewish and Israeli members. The CSU system will lose a vital part of its research and teaching staff and its student body, and will suffer irreparable reputational and financial harm.

Sincerely,

The undersigned are current and emeritus CSU faculty and staff.

Cc: Chancellor Mildred Garcia

Board of Trustees

Signatories:

Alissa Ackerman, Criminal Justice, CSU Fullerton

Stephen Adams, Advanced Studies in Education and Counseling, CSU Long Beach

Kathleen Addison, History, CSU Northridge

Benjamin N. B. Alexander, Management, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

Heather Altfeld, Comparative Religion and Humanities, CSU Chico

Mark Barash, Justice Studies, San Jose State University

Ken Barclay, Student Affairs, ret., Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

Lawrence Baron, History, ret., San Diego State University

Dorna Basiratmand, Social and Behavioral Sciences, CSU Northridge

Cecile Bendavid, Computer Science, CSU Northridge

Clarisa Bercovich, Physics, CSU San Marcos

Raymond Berger, Social Work, ret., CSU Long Beach

Lynne Berman, Art, CSU Los Angeles

Stephen Bittner, History, Sonoma State University

Nancy A. Blum, Psychology, CSU Northridge

Jeffrey Blutinger, Jewish Studies and History, CSU Long Beach

Alexis Boutin, Anthropology, Sonoma State University

Stephen Branz, Chemistry, ret., San Jose State University

Jill Rachuy Brindel, Music, Sonoma State University

Glen Brodowsky, Business, CSU San Marcos

Dan Brook, Sociology and Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, ret., San Jose State University

Jon Bruschke, Human Communication, CSU Fullerton

Sakina Bryant, English, Sonoma State University

Danielle Cain, Theater Arts, Sonoma State University

Nathalie Carrick, Child and Adolescent Studies, CSU Fullerton

David Cline, History, San Diego State University

Fred Cohen, Music, San Jose State University

Lynn Cominsky, Physics and Astronomy, Sonoma State University

Arik Davidyan, Biological Sciences, CSU Sacramento

Deb Donig, English, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

Heidi Livingston Eisips, Marketing and Business Analytics, San Jose State University

Victoria Eruhimovitz, Art, CSU Los Angeles

Gary Epstein, Mathematics, ret. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

Merav Efrat, Health Sciences, CSU Northridge

Rafael Efrat, Accounting, CSU Northridge

Lillian Faderman, English, ret. CSU Fresno

Mark Filowitz, Academic Programs and Enrollment, ret., CSU Fullerton

Steve Finley, Jewish Studies, Sonoma State University

Dennis G. Fisher, Psychology, CSU Long Beach

Dustin Garnet, Art, CSU Los Angeles

Missy Garvin, Psychology, Sonoma State University

Sara Gershwin-Razo, Health Science, CSU Long Beach

Ann Glazer, School of Education, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

Deborah Glick, Management, ret., CSU Northridge

Randall Goldberg, Music, CSU Fullerton

Cora Sol Goldstein, Political Science, CSU Long Beach

Nina Golden, Business Law, CSU Northridge

Anne Goldman, English, Sonoma State University

Jesse Goldstein, Religious Studies, CSU Long Beach

Elaine Goodfriend, Religious Studies, CSU Northridge

Catherine L. Gottlieb, Informational Technology, CSU Long Beach

Cindy Gotz, Health Care Management, CSU Long Beach

Paulette Green, Social Work, San Jose State University

Robin Gurien, Human Communication, CSU Fullerton

Kambiz Hamadani, Chemistry and Biochemistry, CSU San Marcos

Sheri Hamrell, Agribusiness, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

Karen Hanen, Management, ret., CSU Northridge

Ricardo Harris-Fuentes, Art, CSU Los Angeles

Victoria Harrison, Jewish Studies and History, San Jose State University

Philip Heller, Computer Science, San Jose State University

Peter C. Herman, English Literature, San Diego State University

Heloiza Herscovitz, Journalism and Public Relations, CSU Long Beach

Olivia Herstein, Strategic Communications & Brand Management, CSU Northridge

Laree A. Huntsman, Psychology, San Jose State University

Lisa Iyer, Liberal Studies, CSU Fullerton

Bryon Jackson, Informational Technology, CSU Long Beach

Heather Jaffe, Child and Family Development, San Diego State University

Jennifer Jaffe, Dance and University Studies, Sonoma State University

Troy Jollimore, Philosophy, CSU Chico

Dwayne Jones, College of Agriculture, Food & Environmental Sciences, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

Rebecca Joseph, Curriculum and Instruction, CSU Los Angeles

Arnold P. Kaminsky, History and Asian and American Studies, ret., CSU Long Beach

Liz Kaplan, Business Administration, CSU Long Beach

Jonathan Karpf, Anthropology, ret., San Jose State University

Gary S. Katz, Psychology, CSU Northridge

Brian Kennelly, World Languages and Cultures, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

Kate Kurtin, Communication Studies, CSU Los Angeles

Linda Landau, English and Comparative Literature, ret., San Jose State University

David M. Lang, Economics, CSU Sacramento

Luba Levin-Banchik, Political Science, CSU San Bernardino

Daniel Levine, History, CSU Long Beach

James G. LoCascio, Mechanical Engineering, ret., Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

Richard Marcus, International Studies, CSU Long Beach

James McDonald, Admissions, ret., Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

Scott Meltzer, Study of Religion, San Diego State University

Ilan Mitchell-Smith, English and Medieval/Renaissance Studies, CSU Long Beach

Asa Mittman, Art and Art History, CSU Chico

Andrew Morris, History, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

Jimmy Moss, Art, CSU Los Angeles

Joshua Moss, Media Arts, Design, and Technology, CSU Chico

Ron Mullisen, Mechanical Engineering, ret., Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

Seth Murawsky, Leadership & Service, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

Saeed Niku, Mechanical Engineering, ret., Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

Shohreh Niku, Food Science and Wine, Nutrition, and Viticulture, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

Danya Nunley, Recreation, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

Christine Palmier, Biological Sciences, Chemistry and Biochemistry, CSU Long Beach

Greg Pascal, University Police, CSU Long Beach

Suzanne Perlitsh, Geography, CSU Long Beach

Benjamin Perlman, Biological Sciences, CSU Long Beach

Adrian Praetzellis, Anthropology, ret., Sonoma State University

Dmitry Rachmanov, Music, CSU Northridge

Sarah Rapp, Educational Leadership, Sonoma State University

Michael Ray, Physics and Astronomy, CSU Sacramento

Scott Reaves, Food Science and Nutrition, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

Grace Reynolds-Fisher, CHHS Deans Office, CSU Long Beach

Marcelle Rocker, Center for Teaching and Learning, CSU Sacramento

Ella Rohde, Human Resources, CSU Sacramento

Alan Rifkin, English, CSU Long Beach

Arlene Ring, American Studies, CSU Fullerton

Jonathan P. Roth, History, San Jose State University

Sandor Samuels, Business Law, CSU Northridge

Sarah Schrank, History, CSU Long Beach

Justin Schneider, Nursing, CSU San Bernardino

Don Schwartz, History, ret., CSU Long Beach

Sharon Seidman, Child and Adolescent Studies, CSU Fullerton

Shari Selnick, Communication Studies, CSU Fullerton

Patty Seyburn, English, CSU Long Beach

Rami Shani, Management, Human Resources, and Information Systems, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

Jonathan Shapiro, Mathematics, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

Fay Shin, Teacher Education, CSU Long Beach

Carol Shubin, Mathematics, CSU Northridge

Norah P. Shultz, Sociology, San Diego State University

Henry Shreibmann, Jewish Studies, Sonoma State University

Angelos Sikalidis, Food Science and Nutrition, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

Cherryl Smith, Rhetoric and Composition, ret., CSU Sacramento

Scott Spitzer, Political Science, CSU Fullerton

Mary Sramek, Japanese Garden, CSU Long Beach

Harry Stark, Psychology, CSU Northridge

Mark Stevens, Educational Psychology and Counseling, CSU Northridge

Andrew Surmani, Music Industry Studies, CSU Northridge

Susan Swadener, Food Science and Nutrition, ret., Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

Katalin Szeker, Linguistics and ASLD, CSU Long Beach

Shira Tarrant, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, CSU Long Beach

Audrey Thacker, English, CSU Northridge

Esther Vogel, Spanish, Cal Poly Pomona

Gerry Wachovsky, College of Liberal Arts, CSU Long Beach

Ivor Weiner, Special Education, CSU Northridge

Brian Wilson, Music and Jewish Studies, Sonoma State University

Ruth Wilson, Music, Sonoma State University

Jed Wyrick, Comparative Religion and Humanities, CSU Chico

Sagit Yemini, Industrial Engineering and Management, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

Anonymous, CSU Long Beach

Anonymous, CSU Los Angeles

Anonymous, CSU Northridge

Anonymous, CSU San Bernardino

Anonymous, CSU San Marcos

Anonymous, CSU Sacramento

Anonymous, San Diego State University

Anonymous, San Jose State University

Anonymous, Sonoma State University

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