Campaigns

AMCHA Initiative’s Letter to CSU Chancellor Charles Reed

After CSUN President Jolene Koester refused to remove Mathematics Professor David Klein’s anti-Semitic web pages from the University website, the AMCHA Initiative expanded the campaign’s focus to the CSU systemwide administration.

February 6th, 2012

The AMCHA Initiative sent a letter signed by over 1,800 members and supporters of the California Jewish community to Chancellor Reed, urging him to exercise his authority to ensure that the web pages are removed.

AMCHA Initiative’s letter to Chancellor Reed, sent February 6th, 2012

February 13th, 2012

On February 13th, AMCHA co-founders sent a letter to the Presidents of CSU Fresno, CSU Northridge, and Cal Poly, as well as Chancellor Reed, urging them to revoke administrative sponsorship of a speaking tour by Ilan Pappe.

AMCHA Initiative’s letter to CSU Presidents and Chancellor Reed, sent February 13th, 2012

April 16th, 2012
In February, the AMCHA Initiative sent a letter signed by over 1,800 members and supporters of the California Jewish community to Chancellor Reed, urging him to remove several anti-Semitic websites from CSU servers. Two months later, Chancellor Reed has neither taken action nor acknowledged the concerns and demands of the Jewish community expressed in that letter. On April 16th, AMCHA co-founders responded to this rebuff, asking Chancellor Reed a simple question: Do the CSU rules of academic freedom protect faculty and administrators who use their university positions and state resources to engage in political activities that promote anti-Semitic actions, such as the boycott of Israel?

AMCHA Bulletin update regarding the letter, posted April 16th, 2012
AMCHA Initiative co-founders’ letter to Chancellor Reed, sent April 16th, 2012

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AMCHA Initiative’s Correspondence with CSUN President Jolene Koester

 

David Klein, a Mathematics professor at California State University Northridge, is a founding member of the Academic Boycott of Israel campaign, and authored an open letter to CSU Chancellor Reed, urging him to rescind the newly revived CSU-Study Abroad Program in “apartheid” Israel. Professor Klein uses the official website of the CSUN Mathematics department to post anti-Semitic text and pictures, which are intended to incite hatred of Israel and her supporters and encourage political activism to harm the Jewish state.

In November, the AMCHA initiative’s co-founders took this issue up with CSUN administration. Here is the correspondence between AMCHA co-founders and CSUN President Jolene Koester regarding this issue.

November 22nd, 2011

AMCHA co-founders sent a letter to President Joelene Koester, apprising her of Professor Klein’s anti-Semitic webpages and urging her to have them removed from the CSUN server:

AMCHA co-founders’ initial letter to President Koester, sent November 22nd, 2011

December 5th, 2011

President Koester sent AMCHA co-founders a response to our initial concerned email. While graciously acknowledging our concerns, she failed to address them, instead excusing the hateful content Professor Klein’s inappropriately promotes on a CSUN website.

President Koester’s response to AMCHA’s initial letter, sent December 5th, 2011

December 7th, 2011

Two days later, AMCHA co-founders sent President Koester a response. It thanked President Koester for her attention but criticized her for not not removing Professor Klein’s anti-Semitic webpages.

AMCHA co-founders’ response to President Koester, sent December 7th, 2011

December 8th, 2011

President Koester responds to AMCHA co-founder, Tammi Rossman-Benjamin, in a dismissive email that simply says: “Too bad.”

President Koester’s dismissive email, sent December 8th, 2011

December 9th, 2011

After President Koester received numerous emails from AMCHA Initiative supporters regarding her message to Tammi containing the words “too bad,” President Koester sent out the “message of apology” linked to below.

President Koester’s “message of apology”, sent December 9th, 2011

December 12th, 2011

AMCHA co-founder Tammi Rossman-Benjamin responds to President Koester’s apology. In her response, Tammi reiterates CSUN’s obligation to remove defamatory and offensive content from its websites.

Tammi Rossman-Benjamin’s response to President Koester’s apology, sent December 12th, 2011

 

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AMCHA Initiative’s Correspondence with UC President Mark Yudof

AMCHA Update: UC President Yudof condemns anti-Israel bigotry


September 19th, 2011

The AMCHA Initiative co-founders sent a letter signed by over 5,200 members and supporters of the California Jewish community to UC President Yudof, urging him to address the problem of anti-Jewish bigotry on UC campuses forcefully, publicly, and promptly:

AMCHA Initiative’s letter to UC President Yudof, sent September 19th, 2011

October 12th, 2011

President Yudof responded to the AMCHA Initiative letter.  Unfortunately, his response did not at all address the key concerns of the Jewish community:

President Yudof’s response to the AMCHA Initiative on October 12th, 2011

October 31st, 2011

The AMCHA Initiative co-founders responded to President Yudof’s letter, detailing why his response was wholly inadequate and offering recommendations for addressing the serious and worsening problem of antisemitism on UC campuses:

AMCHA co-founders’ response to UC President Yudof’s letter to the Jewish community, sent October 31st, 2011

December 16th, 2011

On November 4th, President Yudof addressed the Anti-Defamation League on anti-Semitism and hatred on campus. However, his speech was not only dismissive of the AMCHA Initiative’s serious concerns, it contained several misleading and misinformed statements about his efforts to protect Jewish students at the University of California. On December 16th, AMCHA co-founders sent him a reply to address these problems.

AMCHA co-founders’ reply to UC President Yudof’s address to the Anti-Defamation League, sent December 16th, 2011

January 20th, 2012

On January 19th, Israel arrested Aziz Dweik, a Hamas leader who met with UC students on a University-funded Olive Tree Initiative trip in 2009. In light of Dweik’s arrest, the AMCHA Initiative sent a letter to President Yudof on January 20th reiterating our call for the University of California to rescind all support for the Olive Tree Initiative.

AMCHA Initiative’s letter to UC President Yudof, sent January 20th, 2012

March 6th, 2012

In February, UC Davis and UC San Diego saw vicious anti-Israel demonstrations, including organized hecklers attempting to shut down a Jewish-organized event. AMCHA called on President Yudof to condemn these incidents of harassment and denounce the economic and academic boycott of Israel.

 

March 8th, 2012

Two days after AMCHA co-founders and supporters sent letters urging him to condemn a series of harassments against Jewish students at the UC, President Yudof did just that. In his open letter he addressed specific incidents and both condemned them and noted their terrible effects on the Jewish community across the UC.

 

March 16th, 2012
President Yudof’s condemnation of the series of harassments of Jewish students across the UC incorrectly asserted that the UC Davis officials “dealt appropriately” with the organized attempted shutdown of a Jewish event. In response, AMCHA co-founders sent a letter thanking him for the appropriate condemnations and outlining suggested steps to improve campus officials’ response to future attempts to disrupt and harass Jewish students’ events.
Later, in light of the murders in Toulouse, AMCHA co-founders sent another letter to President Yudof regarding campus climate.

 

March 29th, 2012

The AMCHA Initiative uncovered evidence that a UCLA professor has been using his official class website to promote an anti-Semitic boycott of Israel. AMCHA Initiative co-founders sent UC President Yudof, UCLA Chancellor Block,  and leaders of the UC and UCLA Academic Senates the evidence, and posed one simple question to each of them: Is this protected by the UC rules of academic freedom?

 

April 19th, 2012

The AMCHA Initiative succeeded in eliciting a statement from Dr. Andrew Leuchter, head of the UCLA Academic Senate, regarding the promotion of an anti-Semitic boycott of Israel on a class website. After consulting with top UCLA administrators, he wrote in an email to the AMCHA Initiative that “it is not appropriate for a faculty member to post a political petition on which he is a signatory as part of a course…and that posting of such materials was a serious error in judgment.” Professor Shorter, at the request of Dr. Leuchter, was then counseled by his department chair not to repeat the mistake.
Dr. Leuchter’s statement is an implicit acknowledgement by UC faculty and administration, for the first time, that promoting the boycott of Israel is a political action and therefore subject to state laws and university policies that prohibit the use of public resources for political activities.

 

April 25th, 2012

In a letter to Dr. Andrew Leuchter, head of the UCLA Academic Senate, AMCHA co-founders addressed a letter sent to Dr. Leuchter by a group called “California Scholars For Academic Freedom,” which alleged that Dr. Leuchter’s recent statements against the promotion of the boycott of Israel are a violation of academic freedom. AMCHA co-founders showed that the primary concern of CS4AF is not the protection of academic freedom, but rather the protection of academics who wish to exploit the privilege of academic freedom in order to promote an academic boycott of Israel, which, ironically, itself been declared a violation of academic freedom.