Dear Dean Monteiro,
As you know, last week AMCHA Iniaitive sent a letter to
President Wong expressing our concern over an event sponsored by the
Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Initiative in the College of
Ethnic Studies, that occurred on November 7. At that event, students
were encouraged to engage in art projects which involved using a stencil
bearing the image of a notorious terrorist and another stencil that
stated "MY HEROES HAVE ALWAYS KILLED COLONIZERS."
It
has come to our attention that following our letter to President Wong,
which was copied to you and to AMED Senior Scholar Rabab Abdulhadi, a
statement clearly linked to AMED was posted on Facebook (see below),
bearing the header:
"Zionists: Hands off our San Francisco State University Students!""Support AMED and GUPS against a Zionist smear campaign/charges of Anti-Semitism"
The
Facebook statement, which makes clear that AMED and GUPS were
responsible for the two stencils, is a defense of the stencils and an ad
hominem attack on AMCHA Initiative for raising legitimate concerns
about their antisemitic nature.
Please understand that this AMED-linked Facebook statement defends, justifies, and glorifies murder and those who commit it.
President Wong has unambiguously condemned this behavior.
Therefore, we ask you to do the same:
Please
issue a public condemnation of student and faculty groups and
individuals affiliated with the College of Ethnic Studies, who use the
name and resources of the University to defend, justify, and glorify
murder and those who commit it.
We and the concerned Jewish community eagerly await your statement.
Sincerely,
Tammi Rossman-Benjamin
Co-founder, AMCHA Initiative
Leila Beckwith
Co-founder, AMCHA Initiative
Cc: SFSU President Leslie Wong
CSU Chancellor Timothy P. White
CSU Board of Trustees
CSU Interim General Counsel Andrew Jones
Professor Rabab Abdulhadi, Senior Scholar, AMED
Andrenike Hamilton, President SFSU Associated Students, Inc.
Guy Dalpe, Managing Director Cesar Chavez Student Center
California State Senator Leland Y. Yee (San Francisco)
California State Senator Mark Leno (San Francisco)
California Assembly Member Philip Y. Ting (San Francisco)
California Assembly Member Joan Buchanan, Chair of the Assembly Education Committee
California Jewish community leaders
BCC: Wide circulation in the Jewish community
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