Thirty-six professors from seven University of California campuses signed a letter to Professor Robert Anderson, Chair of the system-wide Academic Senate at the University of California, calling on the Academic Senate to issue a statement clarifying whether UC academic freedom rules protect faculty who use their classroom or class resources to advance personal political agendas. (You can find the letter here).

The letter was precipitated by correspondence between AMCHA Initiative co-founders, Tammi Rossman-Benjamin and Leila Beckwith, and the head of the UCLA Academic Senate, Andrew Leuchter, regarding UCLA professor David Delgado Shorter, who had used his official class website to promote the academic and cultural boycott of Israel.  Tammi and Leila requested that Dr. Leuchter determine whether the UC rules of academic freedom protect a faculty member who uses his class resources to promote the boycott of Israel.  Dr. Leuchter responded to AMCHA’s question by writing 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.” (Information about the correspondence can find that correspondence here).

Although Dr. Leuchter’s statement is an unprecedented acknowledgement by a UC faculty leader 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, further requests by AMCHA for clarification of the limits of the UC Academic Freedom rules went unanswered. In an attempt to clarify these rules, Leila Beckwith, herself an emeritus professor at UCLA and a member of the Academic Senate, wrote a letter and circulated it among other concerned Senate members before submitting it to Professor Anderson.  Leila and the 35 other UC professors who signed the letter hope that the system-wide Academic Senate will determine, once and for all, whether the UC academic freedom rules protect faculty who use their classroom or class resources to advance a political agenda.

Yesterday, AMCHA Initiative co-founders Tammi Rossman-Benjamin and Leila Beckwith sent a letter to CSU Chancellor Charles Reed, informing him that CSU Northridge Professor David Klein and Interim President Harold Hellenbrand had unlawfully used taxpayer resources and the name and prestige of the University to publish defamatory remarks about the AMCHA Initiative and them, and they urged Chancellor Reed to take immediate action.

Tammi and Leila informed Chancellor Reed that Professor Klein had posted on his CSUN-hosted webpage, “Boycott Israel Resource Page,” a link to an article that verbally assaults Tammi and includes false and defamatory statements comparing her to a Nazi collaborator and accusing her of being a “McCarthyite apparatchik” and a “junk academic,” among other disparaging epithets.

The AMCHA Initiative’s last Action Alert called for the community to urge Chancellor Reed to remove Professor Klein’s “Boycott Israel” webpage.  Despite our February letter to the Chancellor, co-signed by 1,800 members and supporters of the Jewish community, he has not responded to our concerns. This latest personal attack on an AMCHA Initiative co-founder underscores the need for Professor Klein’s webpage to be removed from the CSUN server.

In addition, Tammi and Leila alerted Chancellor Reed to the actions of CSUN Interim President Harold Hellenbrand, who had recently posted on the website of the CSUN Office of Academic Affairs a statement attacking the AMCHA Initiative. Entitled “J’ACCUSE! THE NEW ANTI-ANTI-SEMITISM,” the statement disparages the AMCHA Initiative and its efforts to protect Jewish students and contains wild and false charges, including that AMCHA Initiative co-founders are religious zealots and agents of a foreign government.

Finally, the AMCHA co-founders urged Chancellor Reed to take the following immediate action:

• Remove Professor Klein’s “Boycott Israel” webpage from the CSUN server.
• Remove President Hellenbrand’s “J’ACCUSE” statement from the CSUN Academic Affairs website and issue an apology to the AMCHA Initiative.
• Post on the Chancellor’s website and circulate widely a statement articulating the state and federal laws and CSU policies prohibiting the use of University resources for political purposes and insisting on their proper enforcement.

(You can see Tammi and Leila’s letter to Chancellor Reed here).

Please consider writing a respectful letter to Chancellor Reed, expressing your own feelings about Professor Klein’s and President Hellenbrand’s misuse of taxper-funded resources and urging him to take the steps outlined above. We encourage you to copy your letter to other CSU leaders and state and federal legislators, and we provide you with a relevant list here for your convenience.

Please remember to BCC administrator@amchainitiative.org when sending any letters.

The need to combat harassment and intimidation of Jewish students at American universities is urgent.  But the success of those efforts depends on the persistent identification, exposure, and careful documentation of abuses.  Tammi Rossman-Benjamin and Leila Beckwith, cofounders of the AMCHA Initiative, are pleased to announce that they have expanded their efforts to include a crucial investigative arm, entitled “The Investigative Taskforce on Campus Antisemitism (ITCA) (www.campusantisemitism.org).

ITCA is a non-profit research project whose investigations underpin AMCHA’s efforts and expand the work to institutions of higher education across the country. ITCA acts to:

• identify, uncover, and investigate incidents of anti-Semitism at American colleges and universities
• serve as a trusted repository of information on manifestations of anti-Jewish bigotry that violate university policy, Title VI of the 1964 Civil Right Act, and other federal or state laws.
• make its research available to legal and advocacy groups, journalists, and legislators, and collaborates with them to address the problem of campus anti-Semitism.

Student reports of anti-Jewish bigotry are essential to ITCA’s work.  The Taskforce’s website contains two options for students to report information about anti-Jewish bigotry they may have experienced or witnessed:

• Students are encouraged to fill out the Student Civil Rights Survey, which assesses the campus climate for college and university students, with a particular focus on potential civil rights violations.
• Students and other concerned individuals can use the “Report a Concern” page to report an anti-Semitic incident on a college campus.

All information is confidential and no information or submitted materials will be disclosed or disseminated without the consent of the student.

In the coming weeks, members of the Muslim Student Association and Students for Justice in Palestine will be holding anti-Israel rallies, talk, and exhibits on several campuses throughout the state. These events  may well be accompanied by expressions of anti-Jewish bigotry which some students find intimidating and harassing.

Please inform and encourage students you know to visit the ITCA website, to answer the Civil Rights Survey, and to report incidents of anti-Jewish bigotry they may have experienced or witnessed.

Your support is vital to the success of the ITCA. Please consider contributing. ITCA is a nonprofit organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. All donations are tax deductible. Its Federal Identification Number is 45-3327365.  Contributions can be made through the website or by check to P.O. Box 7223, Santa Cruz, CA,95061.

Thank you!

Dear Dr. Leuchter,

We are aware that you have received a letter from representatives of “California Scholars For Academic Freedom,” alleging that you violated the academic freedom of UCLA Professor David Delgado Shorter. The letter’s signatories also impugned our motivation and credibility for writing to you, calling us a “partisan duo” and members of “a biased political group,” and they suggested that because of our bias we had no right to ask a question about the appropriateness of a professor using his class website to promote the academic boycott of Israel.

In truth, it is the representatives of the California Scholars For Academic Freedom (CS4AF) whose motivation and credibility must be questioned.

In their letter to you, CS4AF is described as a group of academics whose primary goal is to protect California scholars from violations of academic freedom. This is simply not the case.

CS4AF was founded by UCLA Professor Emerita Sondra Hale, a co-signer of the letter to you. Professor Hale is also the co-founder of the U.S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel. CS4AF’s first two official statements, both condemning Israel, were issued on January 3rd and January 18th 2009, respectively. These statements were signed by Professor Hale and three other California academics, who were also co-founders of the U.S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel: Sherna Berger Gluck (CSU Long Beach), Rabab Abdulhadi (SFSU), and Jess Ghannam (UCSF). In addition, if you look at the homepage of the organization’s website – http://cascholars4academicfreedom.wordpress.com/ – you will see that the the “Academic and Cultural Boycott Campaign” is the top category of interest.

It is clear that the primary concern of CS4AF is not the protection of academic freedom, but rather the protection of academics like Professor Shorter, who wish to exploit the privilege of academic freedom in order to promote an academic boycott of Israel which, ironically, has itself been declared a violation of academic freedom by the AAUP.

We therefore believe that now, more than ever, it is crucial for you to explicitly state the grounds on which you arrived at your conclusion 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 resource.”

Moreover, we call on the UCLA Academic Senate, whose committee heads were copied on the letter from the CS4AF representatives and are copied on this letter, to issue a definitive statement answering the question we initially posed to you regarding Professor Shorter’s class website:

Is Professor Shorter’s promotion of the academic and cultural boycott of Israel on his official UCLA class website protected by the University of California’s rules of academic freedom?

We believe this is a question which every tax-paying citizen of the state has a right to ask and have answered by those responsible for upholding the academic integrity of the University of California.

Sincerely,

Leila Beckwith
Professor Emeritus, University of California at Los Angeles
Co-founder the AMCHA Initiative
Leila@AMCHAinitiative.org

Tammi Rossman-Benjamin
Lecturer, University of California at Santa Cruz
Co-founder the AMCHA Initiative
Tammi@AMCHAinitiative.org

CC:
UCLA Executive Vice Chancellor Scott Waugh
UCLA Committee on Privilege and Tenure Chair James Waschek
UCLA Grievance Advisory Committee Chair Jill Klessing
UCLA Academic Senate Committee on Academic Freedom Chair David Teplow
University of California President Mark Yudof
University of California Chancellors
University of California Regents
University of California Chief Deputy Counsel David Birnbaum
UC Advisory Council on Campus Climate, Culture, and Inclusion (c/o Jesse Bernal)
California Speaker of the Assembly John A. Perez
California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson
California Senator Fran Pavley (UCLA)
California Senator Ted W. Lieu (UCLA)
California Senator Curren D. Price, Jr. (UCLA)
California Assembly Member Holly J. Mitchell (UCLA)
California Assembly Member Mike Feuer (UCLA)

Bcc: Members and supporters of the Jewish community

Three weeks ago, AMCHA initiative co-founders Tammi Rossman-Benjamin and Leila Beckwith posed a simple but very significant question to top University of California administrators and faculty.  They asked whether UCLA Professor David Delgado Shorter’s promotion of the academic and cultural boycott of Israel on his official UCLA class website was protected by the University of California rules of academic freedom. (For screenshots of Professor Shorter’s class website see HERE and HERE).

Their question succeeded in eliciting a statement from Dr. Andrew Leuchter, head of the UCLA Academic Senate.  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.

Dr. Leuchter’s email to AMCHA generated significant media coverage in the Los Angeles Times and Inside Higher Education.

On Tuesday, UC President Mark Yudof also spoke out publicly about this issue for the first time.  In a talk to the Chico Chamber of Commerce, which was reported in the Oroville Mercury Register, President Yudof condemned UC faculty who use their classrooms or class websites to promote their own political beliefs, stating: ”professors are there to educate — not to rouse the troops for their cause.”

The AMCHA Initiative is continuing to move forward on this matter by seeking further clarification of the University’s position regarding faculty who use their classroom and university resources for anti-Israel proselytizing, as well as steps the University intends to take to curb such behavior.

Over two months ago, 1,800 members and supporters of the California Jewish community – including hundreds of CSU students, parents, alumni, and donors – signed a letter to CSU Chancellor Reed expressing their outrage over the University-hosted web pages of CSU Northridge Mathematics professor David Klein, which include anti-Semitic material promoting the economic, cultural and academic boycott of the Jewish state. We turned to Chancellor Reed, whose jurisdiction covers all CSU campuses, after CSUN President Jolene Koester refused to take the hateful pages down on the grounds they were protected under academic freedom.

Chancellor Reed has neither removed the pages nor responded to the AMCHA Initiative letter, in effect rebuffing the Jewish community by ignoring their serious concerns.

In the absence of direction from Chancellor Reed, three CSU presidents have issued a statement claiming that academic freedom allows professors and administrators to use their University positions and tax-payer funded resources to engage in political activities whose goal is to harm the Jewish state, including anti-Semitic boycotts.
The AMCHA Initiative co-founders believe these CSU presidents are gravely mistaken in their understanding of academic freedom. They have written a letter to Chancellor Reed explaining why, and requesting that he answer the following 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?

You can see the letter sent to Chancellor Reed here.

Please consider writing a letter to Chancellor Reed, urging him to answer this crucial question. We encourage you to copy your letter to other CSU leaders and state and federal legislators, which you can find contact information for below:

CSU Chancellor Charles Reed - creed@calstate.edu

CSU Presidents - csulb-president@csulb.edu, president@sonoma.edu, presidentsoffice@calpoly.edu, corrigan@sfsu.edu, president@csum.edu, president@csudh.edu, alexg@csus.edu, whagan@fullerton.edu, president@csumb.edu, pres@csusm.edu, harry.hellenbrand@csun.edu, presidents.office@sdsu.edu, akarnig@csusb.edu, hmitchell@csub.edu, leroy.morishita@csueastbay.edu, president@csupomona.edu, Qayoumi@sjsu.edu, hsupres@humboldt.edu, jrosser@cslanet.calstatela.edu, Richard.Rush@csuci.edu, president@csustan.edu, johnw@csufresno.edu, pzingg@csuchico.edu
CSU Board of Trustees - lhernandez@calstate.edu
California Governor Jerry Brown - governor@governor.ca.gov
California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom - lt.governor@ltgov.ca.gov
California Speaker of the Assembly John A. Perez - Speaker.Perez@assembly.ca.gov
California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson - ttorlakson@cde.ca.gov
Congressman Brad Sherman - brad.sherman@mail.house.gov
Congressman Howard Berman - howard.berman@mail.house.gov
California State Senator Tom Berryhill (Fresno) - senator.berryhill@senate.ca.gov
California State Assemblyman Henry T. Perea (Fresno) - Assemblymember.Perea@assembly.ca.gov
California State Assemblywoman Linda Halderman (Fresno) - assemblymember.halderman@assembly.ca.gov
California State Senator Sam Blakeslee (San Luis Obispo) - senator.blakeslee@senate.ca.gov
California State Assemblyman Katcho Achadjian (San Luis Obispo) - assemblymember.achadjian@assembly.ca.gov
California State Senator Alex Padilla (Northridge) - Senator.Padilla@sen.ca.gov
California State Assemblyman Bob Blumenfeld (Northridge) - Senator.Padilla@sen.ca.gov

Here is the full list of emails:
creed@calstate.edu, csulb-president@csulb.edu, president@sonoma.edu, presidentsoffice@calpoly.edu, corrigan@sfsu.edu, president@csum.edu, president@csudh.edu, alexg@csus.edu, whagan@fullerton.edu, president@csumb.edu, pres@csusm.edu, harry.hellenbrand@csun.edu, presidents.office@sdsu.edu, akarnig@csusb.edu, hmitchell@csub.edu, leroy.morishita@csueastbay.edu, president@csupomona.edu, Qayoumi@sjsu.edu, hsupres@humboldt.edu, jrosser@cslanet.calstatela.edu, Richard.Rush@csuci.edu, president@csustan.edu, johnw@csufresno.edu, pzingg@csuchico.edu, lhernandez@calstate.edu,governor@governor.ca.gov, lt.governor@ltgov.ca.gov, Speaker.Perez@assembly.ca.gov, ttorlakson@cde.ca.gov, brad.sherman@mail.house.gov, howard.berman@mail.house.gov, senator.berryhill@senate.ca.gov, Assemblymember.Perea@assembly.ca.gov, assemblymember.halderman@assembly.ca.gov, senator.blakeslee@senate.ca.gov,
assemblymember.achadjian@assembly.ca.gov, Senator.Padilla@sen.ca.gov, Senator.Padilla@sen.ca.gov.

If you do send a letter, please copy or blind-copy us at: administrator@amchainitiative.org

Dear President Yudof,

While we appreciate your acknowledgment of our letter to you regarding the failure of UC Davis police to protect Jewish students on that campus, we are disappointed that you did not outline specific actions that your administration intends to take to ensure that Jewish students are adequately protected.

In light of the recent murder of a rabbi and three small children outside of a Jewish school in Toulouse France, at the hands of a jihadi Islamist terrorist associated with Al Qaida, Jews worldwide feel particularly targeted and threatened.  On UC campuses, pro-Israel Jewish students, who have already expressed feeling unsafe because of the intimidation and harassment directed at them from members and supporters of the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and the Muslim Student Association (MSA), will now feel even more vulnerable and unsafe.

As you know, SJP and MSA groups have ties to individuals and organizations that call for the elimination of the Jewish state and the murder of Jews.  Several of their former leaders and members have been arrested for terrorist activities, and some are affiliated with Al Qaida. At the 2011 MSA convention at UCLA, Amir Abdul Malik Ali, a frequent speaker on UC campuses well-known for his virulently antisemitic rhetoric, led students in the MSA pledge, which is an obvious restatement of the Muslim Brotherhood Credo calling for Jihad and enjoining its adherents to seek death in order to establish Islam.

Many in the Jewish community were horrified that the campus police did absolutely nothing to protect the First Amendment rights of Jewish students at UC Davis from a pre-planned attempt by members and supporters of the SJP and MSA to disrupt and shut down a peaceful pro-Israel event. We are are deeply concerned that UC campus police and administrators are not able to control SJP and MSA students who intimidate, harass, and threaten Jewish students.

Given the growing threat to their safety and well-being, it is incumbent upon you to inform the Jewish community as soon as possible about the specific steps you intend to take in order to keep Jewish students safe on UC campuses.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Leila Beckwith
Professor Emeritus, University of California at Los Angeles
Co-founder the AMCHA Initiative
Leila@AMCHAinitiative.org

Tammi Rossman-Benjamin
Lecturer, University of California at Santa Cruz
Co-founder the AMCHA Initiative
Tammi@AMCHAinitiative.org

In direct response to letters from many AMCHA supporters, University of California President Mark Yudof just released an Open Letter to the University of California Community, in which he condemned recent incidents of harassment and hostility to Jewish students and their supporters that had occurred on several UC campuses.

President Yudof’s words are welcome.  His Open Letter informs every UC students at all 10 campuses that acts meant to disrupt the speech of others is unacceptable.  President Yudof stated that “It was wrong for hecklers to disrupt speakers on the UC Davis campus at an event titled “Israeli Soldiers Speak Out.   It was reprehensible that one of these hecklers accused the speakers of being associated with rapists and murderers.”

President Yudof also concurred with UC Riverside Chancellor White, that “it was wrong for a vandal or vandals on the UC Riverside campus to deface the Israeli flag displayed by the Jewish student organization Hillel, scrawling the word ‘terrorists’ across it.”

President Yudof did not address all of our concerns, but it was a good start.  He did—at last, as we have requested many times in the past—use his own first amendment rights to identify and condemn to the entire UC community specific acts of anti-Jewish bigotry, even when they appear under the guise of anti-Israelism.

The Associated Press has just released an article mentioning the AMCHA Initiative’s concerns, quoting AMCHA’s co-founder, Tammi Rossman-Benjamin, and President Yudof’s response.

Many thanks to all of you who wrote to President Yudof!

Sincerely,

Leila Beckwith
Co-founder the AMCHA Initiative
Leila@AMCHAinitiative.org

Tammi Rossman-Benjamin
Co-founder the AMCHA Initiative
Tammi@AMCHAinitiative.org

We need your help.

Dear AMCHA Initiative supporters,

Yesterday we sent a letter to the Presidents of CSU Fresno, CSU Northridge, and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, as well as CSU Chancellor Reed, urging them to revoke administrative sponsorship of a speaking tour by Ilan Pappe.

Ilan Pappe is an Israeli Jewish academic who harbors deep animosity towards the Jewish state, has publicly called for its elimination, and engages in activities to harm its citizens, such as a campaign to boycott Israeli academics, which he helped to found.  In addition, he openly supports the terrorist organization Hamas and falsely accuses Israel of “crimes against humanity,” including “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing.”

On these three CSU campuses, Pappe’s talk is officially sponsored and funded by University departments and administrative offices.  In addition on each campus the event  is being organized and promoted by a faculty member or top university administrator who has publicly expressed his or her hatred of Israel and has participated in many anti-Israel events, including the campaign to boycott Israeli academics.

It is important to note that our concern is not with Ilan Pappe’s talk per se, but rather with the fact that his talk is being organized and promoted by faculty and administrators of the California State University system, using the name, resources, and imprimatur of CSU, in order to vilify and harm the Jewish state and its supporters. In this way, taxpayers like us are subsidizing the promotion of hateful indoctrination in our nation’s largest public university.

Please click here to view the letter.

You can also watch the following AMCHA video to learn about CSU’s support for Ilan Pappe’s speaking tour:

Please consider sending your own respectful letter to one or more of the following individuals, asking them to ensure that official university sponsorship and funding is withdrawn from Ilan Pappe’s talks at the three CSU campuses:

• CSU Fresno President John Welty: johnw@csufresno.edu
• Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong: presidentsoffice@calpoly.edu
• CSU Northridge Interim President Harold Hellenbrand:harry.hellenbrand@csun.edu
• CSU Chancellor Charles Reed: creed@calstate.edu
• CSU Trustees: lhernandez@calstate.edu
• California State Senator Tom Berryhill (Fresno): senator.berryhill@senate.ca.gov
• California State Assemblyman Henry T. Perea (Fresno):Assemblymember.Perea@assembly.ca.gov
• California State Assemblywoman Linda Halderman (Fresno): assemblymember.blumenfield@assembly.ca.gov
• California State Senator Sam Blakeslee (San Luis Obispo):senator.blakeslee@senate.ca.gov
• California State Assemblyman Katcho Achadjian (San Luis Obispo): assemblymember.achadjian@assembly.ca.gov
• California State Senator Alex Padilla (Northridge): Senator.Padilla@sen.ca.gov
• California State Assemblyman Bob Blumenfeld (Northridge): assemblymember.blumenfield@assembly.ca.gov

If you do send a letter, please copy or blind-copy us at: administrator@AMCHAinitiative.org

Thank you!

Tammi Rossman-Benjamin
Co-founder the AMCHA Initiative
Tammi@AMCHAinitiative.org

Leila Beckwith
Co-founder the AMCHA Initiative
Leila@AMCHAinitiative.org

With your help, today the AMCHA Initiative sent California State University Chancellor Charles Reed an open letter urging him to remove the anti-Semitic web pages of CSU Northridge Professor David Klein from the University server. Of the 1,800 signatures we received from the community, many had ties to the California State University system:

• 282 were CSU alumni and current students, including 139 from CSUN
• 200 were parents of CSU alumni and current students, including 64 from CSUN
• 60 were former or current faculty or staff from CSU, including 12 from CSUN
• 74 were donors to CSU, including 22 who donated specifically to CSUN, with several of those indicating they would no longer donate to the University

This is an important step in our campaign to ensure that tax-payer funded University resouces are not used to promote anti-Jewish bigotry that creates a hostile environment for Jewish students.

We encourage you to view the letter on AMCHA’s website here.

Thank you for helping us show the CSU leadership that the Jewish community will not remain silent while anti-Semitism goes unchecked on CSU campuses!

Tammi Rossman-Benjamin, Lecturer, University of California at Santa Cruz
tammi@amchainitiative.org

Leila Beckwith, Professor Emeritus, University of California at Los Angeles
leila@amchainitiative.org