Today at the California State University Board of Regents meeting in Long Beach, the AMCHA
Initiative will be calling on California State Attorney General Kamala Harris to investigate
the use of university resources by a math professor to conduct his personal agenda against Israel.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AMCHA CALLS FOR CA DOJ INVESTIGATION OF CSUN PROF
New Evidence Exposes CSUN Mathematics Prof may be Violating State and
Federal Law
ZOA and StandWithUs Will Also Express Concerns About CSUN Prof's
Activities
Long Beach, CA, January 29, 2014 - At the California State University
(CSU) Board of Trustees meeting today, the AMCHA Initiative will
announce it is asking California Attorney General Kamala K. Harris to
investigate CSU Northridge’s Professor David Klein. AMCHA Initiative
contends that for four years Klein has illegally used CSUN’s name and
resources to promote a personal, political agenda. The Zionist
Organization of America (ZOA) and StandWithUs will also speak at the
meeting.
“Professor Klein is a math professor. You wouldn’t hire him as an
International Affairs lecturer. You wouldn’t offer course credit to
students if he decided to teach a class on Middle Eastern studies.
His boycott websites are not educational; they are part of his
personal mission to indoctrinate,” said AMCHA co-founder, Tammi
Benjamin. “They’re not state business and should not be promoted on
the taxpayer dime.”
The following new evidence demonstrates that Klein’s anti-Israel
postings are personal, political propaganda and do not qualify as
state business:
CSU Trustees Did Not Give Permission: On September 25, 2013, CSU
Interim General Counsel Andrew Jones confirmed that CSU Trustees did
not give Klein permission to post his webpage promoting the boycott of
Israel on the CSUN website. A violation of CAL. EDUC. CODE 89005.5(a)
(2)(C) occurs if an individual uses the CSU name, without the
permission of the CSU Trustees, "to display...this name publicly at,
or in connection with any...propaganda, advertising, or promotional
activity of any kind which has for its purpose or any part of its
purpose the support, endorsement, advancement...of...boycott."
Klein uses CSU website for character defamation: In March 2012, Klein
posted a link comparing AMCHA co-founder Rossman-Benjamin to a Nazi
collaborator. The author of the link writes, "Rossman-Benjamin
reminds me of the court academics who prostituted themselves in 1933
when the Nazis came to power." The author posted three photographs of
Rossman-Benjamin next to a photograph of Martin Heidegger, whose
caption reads: "famous philosopher who lent his talents to the cause
of the 3rd Reich," and he accused her of "climbing into bed with
Hitler supporters." The author also calls her a “junk academic,” a
“zombie,” and a “fruit cake.”
Violates Federal Law: Federal law prohibits any state from engaging in
the type of anti-Israel boycott activities advocated by Klein. Were
the University to engage in such activities, it would be subject to
federal sanctions, including fines and tax penalties. As a result,
Klein’s advocacy may trigger an obligation by CSUN to report the anti-
Israel boycott campaign to the U.S. Treasury and Commerce Departments.
“Freedom of speech is essential, but an attempt to demonize Israel and
its Jewish supporters is antisemitic,” said Leila Beckwith, AMCHA’s
other co-founder. “Antisemitism has no place on a college campus and
certainly not on an official university website.”
The promotion of non-state business on official CSUN websites violates
the following state and federal laws:
CAL. GOV’T CODE 8314: Prohibits any state employee from using public
resources for personal benefit.
CAL. EDUC. CODE 89005: Prohibits the use of state-owned name CSUN for
the purpose of promoting personal or political activities and
propaganda, including boycotts.
50 U.S.C.App. § 2402 (5) and § 2407 (c): Make it illegal to for a
state agency to engage in anti-Israel boycott activities.
A copy of the AMCHA Initiative’s letter to Attorney General Harris and
the remarks that will be delivered at this afternoon’s CSU Trustees
meeting are attached.
AMCHA Initiative is a non-profit organization dedicated to
investigating, documenting, educating about, and combating
antisemitism at institutions of higher education in America. AMCHA
Initiative identifies antisemitism using the U.S. State Department’s
“Defining Anti-Semitism.” AMCHA Initiative's efforts are bolstered by
a network of more than 5,000 members and supporters of the Jewish
community -- including university alumni, parents and grandparents,
rabbis, religious school principals and synagogue members -- who have
joined together to speak in one voice to ensure the safety and well-
being of Jewish students on college and university campuses across the
country.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As much as I support the AMCHA initiative and do so in this effort, I hold out little hope
for success with Kamala Harris. She is a liberal ideologue much in the mold of Eric Holder. That notwithstanding, I think it is good to bring legal pressure to bear on the universities.
University resources are not for professors to abuse and utilize for their personal political
agendas.
