The president of San Francisco State University (SFSU) asserted that the anti-Zionist views of a professor expressed on the official Facebook page of one of the school’s programs were “contrary” to the university’s values in a letter published at their website Monday.
President Leslie Wong of SFSU said that the professor, Rabab Abdulhadi, was entitled to her own opinion but that her expressions cannot be done “in a way that implies university endorsement or association.” The school, he wrote, would be “taking corrective action” to ensure that it would be clear that SFSU does not, as an institution, endorse Abdulhadi’s anti-Zionist views.
In a public e-mail responding to the concerns of 60 campus-oriented and faith-based organizations, California State University Chancellor Timothy White expressed his support for Wong’s “corrective action,” however he acknowledged, “it is not yet clear whether this faculty member will comply with the request.” The matter was brought to the attention of the university by the AMCHA Initiative, an organization that fights anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism on campus.
As of this writing, the offending post remains up at SFSU’s Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas (AMED) Studies Facebook page.
White further asserted that should the professor not comply, “the University will explore all appropriate options with respect to this conduct.” He also wrote that the school would revise its web policies to ensure similar incidents do not occur again in the future.
“The fact that the hateful and exclusionary post remains is a clear indication that AMED and its administration need to be investigated thoroughly,” Tammi Rossman-Benjamin, the director of AMCHA Initiative said, “We hope SFSU will take the necessary step to fully investigate AMED, and any other academic unit on campus that would misuse the university’s name and resources to promote hatred and bigotry.”
In February, reacting to remarks by Wong welcoming everyone including Zionists to SFSU, Abdulhadi wrote on her Facebook page, “I consider the statement below from President Wong, welcoming Zionists to campus, equating Jewishness with Zionism, and giving Hillel ownership of campus Jewishness, to be a declaration of war against Arabs, Muslims, Palestinians and all those who are committed to an indivisible sense of justice on and off campus.” The post was accompanied by a graphic that included the text, “I am anti-Zionist, I’m not anti-Jew. So don’t call me anti-Semitic.” Both text and graphic from Abdulhadi’s post were then shared on the Facebook page of SFSU’s AMED program, which the professor heads.
[Photo: Rafael Castillo / Flickr]