E-Mail to SFSU President and California Board of Trustees

Today, I have sent the below e-mail to San Francisco State University President Les Wong and the California State University Board of Trustees:

Dear President  Wong and CSU Board of Trustees, 
 
My name is Gary Fouse, and I am an adjunct teacher at the University of 
California at Irvine Ext.  I am writing to express my deep concern at the chain 
of recent events at San Francisco State University in which anti-Israel rhetoric 
has taken on an especially violent tone.  Of course, I am referring to the 
recent placards declaring, "My heroes have always killed colonizers", as well as 
the vicious threats against Israeli soldiers expressed by the head of the 
General Union of Palestinian Students. 
 
In addition, today, an event is being held on the SFSU campus featuring people 
who recently traveled to the Middle East and met with Palestinians, some with 
reported  terror ties. In my view, this event brings discredit upon the Dept. of 
Ethnic Studies, which is sponsoring the event. It also strongly implies that the 
department, if not SFSU itself, is putting its imprimatur on the event and the 
message of the speakers. 
 
For the past seven years, I have been following anti-Israel events at UCI. Our 
campus has seen more than its share of hate speech directed toward Jews. It is 
an emotional issue and a volatile one at that. For years, I have been warning 
that our campus-or another campus in the US- may well yet experience a tragedy 
over this issue. It appears that SFSU is closest to that becoming a sad reality. 
 
This calls for strong leadership on your part. I am not calling for an end to 
free speech. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is complex, and both sides have 
their claims and arguments. However, this issue should never be an excuse for 
anti-Semitic behavior-especially when it becomes violent and threatening. 
 
I write as a concerned Gentile who knows well the history of the Holocaust and 
the anti-Semitism in Europe that led to it.  In my mind, we are seeing a repeat 
of the 1930s in Europe and a resurgence in anti-Semitism today in the US as 
well. Make no mistake: this campaign of vilification  of Israel, which is 
focused in our university campuses, is the leading cause of this resurgence. 
 
I hope you will take firm action to protect your Jewish students while 
protecting the right of free speech for those on both sides of this issue. 
 
Respectfully, 
 
 
Gary Fouse 
Irvine, Calif.