36 University of California faculty petition Academic Senate leaders to clarify whether academic freedom protects professors who use class resources for political advocacy

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).

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Action Alert: Ask that Chancellor Reed stop Professor Klein’s and President Hellenbrand’s use of CSU resources for political purposes

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.

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AMCHA Initiative Co-founders Establish
Investigative Taskforce on Campus Antisemitism
www.CampusAntisemitism.org

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.

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From: Tammi Rossman-Benjamin <tammi@amchainitiative.org>
To: "Andrew F. Leuchter" <afl@ucla.edu>
CC: evc@conet.ucla.edu, jwaschek@mednet.ucla.edu, jklessig@ucla.edu, dteplow@ucla.edu, president@ucop.edu, chancellor@conet.ucla.edu, robert.anderson@ucop.edu, leila@amchainitiative.org, chancellor@berkeley.edu, chancellor@uci.edu, chancellor@ucmerced.edu, chancellor@ucr.edu, chancellor@ucsd.edu, henry.yang@chancellor.ucsb.edu, chancellor@ucsc.edu, chancellor@ucdavis.edu, sue.hellmann@ucsf.edu, regentsoffice@ucop.edu, David.Birnbaum@ucop.edu, jesse.bernal@ucop.edu, Speaker.Perez@assembly.ca.gov, ttorlakson@cde.ca.gov, senator.pavley@senate.ca.gov, senator.lieu@senate.ca.gov, senator.price@senate.ca.gov, assemblymember.mitchell@assembly.ca.gov, assemblymember.feuer@assembly.ca.gov
Date: Wed, April 25, 2012 at 3:12 PM
Subject: Questioning the California Scholars for Academic Freedom

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. Read the rest of this entry »

UC President and UCLA Faculty Leader say anti-Israel proselytizing by professors is inappropriate

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.

AMCHA Action Alert: Urge Chancellor Reed to address problems at CSUN

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? Read the rest of this entry »

From: Tammi Rossman-Benjamin <tammi@amchainitiative.org>
To: President@ucop.edu
CC: leila@amchainitiative.org, chancellor@berkeley.edu, chancellor@uci.edu, chancellor@conet.ucla.edu, chancellor@ucmerced.edu, chancellor@ucr.edu, chancellor@ucsd.edu, henry.yang@chancellor.ucsb.edu, chancellor@ucsc.edu,chancellor@ucdavis.edu, sue.hellmann@ucsf.edu, regentsoffice@ucop.edu, jesse.bernal@ucop.edu, Speaker.Perez@assembly.ca.gov, ttorlakson@cde.ca.gov, senator.wolk@senate.ca.gov, assemblymember.yamada@assembly.ca.gov, assemblymember.nielsen@assembly.ca.gov, senator.kehoe@senate.ca.gov, assemblymember.fletcher@assembly.ca.gov
Date: Fri, Mar 22, 2012 at 2:04 PM
Subject: Re: UC Davis police did not protect Jewish students

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. Read the rest of this entry »

Congratulations to the AMCHA Initiative!

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

There is a serious misuse of taxpayer money to promote virulently anti-Israel activity on three California State University campuses. 

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. Read the rest of this entry »

Dear Friends,

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