SFSU Update on Professor Rabab Abdulhadi

The saga of San Francisco State University Professor Rabab Abdulhadi continues. If you recall, when offensive messages about Zionists were chalked around the SFSU campus recently, many Jewish organizations wrote to SFSU President Les Wong. In response, he issued a public announcement to the university that defended Jewish students and announced that Zionists were welcome on campus.



Abdulhadi issued a response that Wong's support of Jewish/Zionist students was a "declaration of war against  Arabs, Muslims and Palestinians". What's more, her message was put out on a SFSU web server.

The above information was described in the below post a few days ago.

http://garyfouse.blogspot.com/2018/03/the-latest-outrage-from-sfsus-rabab.html


Below is how Wong replied to Abdulhadi's outburst (March 26):


https://news.sfsu.edu/announcements/message-president-wong-your-voice-our-identity

Message from President Wong: Your voice, our identity

Monday, March 26, 2018

Dear SF State Community,

We are aware of a post by faculty member Rabab Abdulhadi responding to my recent comments to the campus community. Dr. Abdulhadi’s post expressed her opposition to my comments and to Zionism generally.  While she is entitled to voice her own opinion, it cannot be done in a way that implies university endorsement or association.

Dr. Abdulhadi’s post does not reflect the opinions, values, or policies of San Francisco State University.  To the contrary, SF State promotes the principles of inclusion, thoughtful intellectual discourse, and sharing of ideas that are central to our academic environment.  All are welcome at SF State and a diversity of perspectives helps us grow as an institution. 

Yet, this important message can be lost or obscured when individuals within the university post contrary personal beliefs on campus-affiliated web pages, as is the case with this post. As a result, SF State is taking corrective action and will affirm this core principle in its social media policies and practices to avoid confusion and better safeguard the university’s web presence in the future.

Leslie E. Wong

President

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Here is how the AMCHA Initiative (a pro-Jewish-Israel organization based in California) reported it.  In addition, they responded with a letter to CSU Chancellor Timothy White and the CSU trustees protesting Abdulhadi's response (using SFSU web pages no less), which was followed by more anti-semitic activity on campus.

https://amchainitiative.org/60-groups-to-white-CSU-trustees

Dear Chancellor White and CSU Trustees, We are 60 Jewish, Christian, education, and civil rights organizations, representing hundreds of thousands of individuals across the country. We are writing out of deep concern for the safety and well-being of Jewish students at San Francisco State University, following the posting of an incendiary message on the official Facebook page of the Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas (AMED) program at the university’s College of Ethnic Studies.  Written by Professor Rabab Abdulhadi, the founding director and sole faculty member associated with AMED, the message clearly targeted Jewish students at SFSU for vilification and discrimination, and could be read by many as a frightening incitement to violence. As you undoubtedly know, for years Jewish students at SFSU -- particularly those who identify as Zionists by religious belief, ethnic identity, national origin and/or political persuasion -- have been subject to numerous acts of harassment, discrimination, intimidation and suppression of speech, primarily at the hands of members of the anti-Zionist group General Union of Palestine Students (GUPS). Just last month, over a dozen Jewish students affiliated with the SFSU Hillel, including the organization’s student president, wrote a letter to President Wong claiming that the university “has been complicit in allowing hate and discrimination against [the Jewish] community to go unaddressed.”  In response to the concerns expressed by the Jewish students, President Wong sent an email to the campus community, in which he acknowledged, “The last couple of years have been difficult for our Jewish students.” He also apologized for his own “past comments and actions that were deeply hurtful” to Jewish students, including “comments about Zionists and whether or not they are welcomed at San Francisco State University,” and he wrote, “Let me be clear: Zionists are welcome on our campus.”  Shortly after President Wong had issued his statement, Professor Abdulhadi posted a statement on her personal Facebook page that included the following:  “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, [and] Palestinians…” Abdulahadi prefaced her statement with the words: “URGENT: We need your support. Please see statement by SFSU president welcoming Zionists to campus below and my reply. Please share widely!” and she signed the statement as “Director and Senior Scholar, Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Studies.”  By afternoon, Professor Abdulhadi’s posting was shared by the official Facebook page of AMED, where it is still visible.  That same day, it was also posted on the Facebook page of GUPS, a group for which Professor Abdulhadi serves as faculty advisor. Later in the afternoon, the message “Zionists are not welcome here” was chalked in huge letters on a campus walkway, with similar messages chalked and posted in numerous other places across campus.  In addition, in a posting on her personal Facebook page a few days later, Prof. Abdulhadi further clarified her position, stating, “Zionists are NOT welcomed on our campus.” It is appalling and deeply disturbing that Professor Abdulhadi would, in her role as director of AMED, promote a statement that denigrates Jewish and non-Jewish students who identify as Zionists and state that they are unwelcome at the university. Even more disturbing is Abdulhadi’s highly inflammatory suggestion that the mere presence of students who identify as Zionists constitutes a “declaration of war” against Arabs, Muslims and Palestinians -- a statement which could be understood as incitement to violence and a direct threat to Jewish students at SFSU. Most disturbing of all, however, is that AMED, an academic unit in the College of Ethnic Studies at SFSU, would re-post such a hateful message and give it both academic and institutional legitimacy.  We believe that AMED’s reposting of Professor Abdulhadi’s hateful message violates Jewish students’ inalienable rights to freedom of expression and full participation in campus life, rights that are guaranteed to each and every CSU student. When an academic unit at a state university uses its official online presence to attack students on its campus for their religious beliefs, ethnic identity or political opinions, it is clearly out of control and must be stopped. We urge you to thoroughly investigate AMED and its administration, and to inform California taxpayers exactly how you intend to address this shameful violation of student rights and university standards. Sincerely,  The Undersigned 60 Organizations:

Now the chancellor of the California State University system, Timothy White, has responded directly to the AMCHA Initiative expressing his own concern and promising that the CSU will take corrective action.

On Mar 26, 2018, at 5:31 PM, White, Timothy <twhite@calstate.edu> wrote:

Ms. Rossman-Benjamin,

Thank you for reaching out to me and the Board of Trustees regarding a post by San Francisco State’s faculty member Rabab Abdulhadi, which was responding to President Wong’s recent comments to the campus community (http://news.sfsu.edu/announcements/message-president-wong-sf-state-community).  Because this post appears on a site that affiliates with the San Francisco State University name, it carries the implication that it reflects the views of the university - when in fact Professor Abdulhadi’s statement explicitly contradicts the principles of inclusion that are central to the values, mission and policies of San Francisco State and the California State University (http://news.sfsu.edu/sites/default/files/assets/announcements/Chancellor%20White%20Memo%20-%20CSU%20Commitment%20to%20Inclusive%20Excellence%201-29-18.pdf).

  

President Wong and his staff took immediate corrective action with this faculty member regarding the post, and have communicated on this matter to the campus community (https://news.sfsu.edu/announcements/message-president-wong-your-voice-our-identity ).  As I write you, it is not yet clear whether this faculty member will comply with the request. If not, the University will explore all appropriate options with respect to this conduct. SFSU is also updating its social media policies and practices to help prevent this type of situation and better safeguard the university’s web presence.

Again, thank you for contacting me on this matter.

Sincerely,

Tim

Timothy P. White, Chancellor

The California State University

Office of the Chancellor

401 Golden Shore

Long Beach, CA  90802

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And AMCHA's response (May 28):

Dear Chancellor White and CSU Trustees, 

Thank you very much for your swift and appropriate response to our groups' letter regarding the hateful and discriminatory message that was posted on the official social media page of the Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas program in the College of Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State University. We greatly appreciate your prompt attention to this matter, as well as President Wong’s statement clearly noting that the post was unacceptable, that corrective action would be taken, and that the university’s web presence would be better safeguarded from such misuse in the future. We commend you for standing up against this type of exclusionary behavior that fosters intolerance and puts all students at risk.  

We would also like to point out that such departmental misbehavior does not happen in a vacuum. If the head of an academic unit is willing to use her program’s official social media platform to target a group of students on campus with hateful and discriminatory messages, it is reasonable to ask whether such messages are also being conveyed in the classroom or conference hall.  We hope that you will fully investigate AMED, and any other academic unit on a CSU campus that would misuse the university’s name and resources to promote hatred and bigotry against CSU students.

Thank you again for your commitment to addressing this matter,

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Hopefully, some house cleaning is coming at SFSU. It would be long overdue. The actions of AMCHA Initiative over the past several years has shown that positive changes can be made to a university system badly in need of change.  It will take a long time to overcome the leftist teachings in our universities. When it comes to hatreds like anti-semitism, however, the changes must come promptly and fast.  In the past few years, that campus has experienced serious and threatening expressions of hate and violence expressed by pro-Palestinian students. Until, there has been virtually no action taken to make Jewish students feel safe on campus.  Hopefully, that is coming to an end, but the public needs to remain watchful.