The Middle East Forum is among eighty organizations that have signed an AMCHA Initiative letter to California State University (CSU) Chancellor Timothy White alerting him to San Francisco State University (SFSU) professor Rabab Abdulhadi’s latest Israel-bashing posting to the University’s Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diaspora’s Program (AMED) Facebook (FB) page.
Last year, the AMED director shared a discriminatory post from her own FB page opposing then-SFSU President Wong’s belated acknowledgement that Zionists are welcome on campus. Although White promised at the time to take “corrective action,” the post remains in place to this day.
This time, Abdulhadi--a well-known BDS activist---shared a photograph of a large banner reading “Zionism = Racism” and “Boycott! Divest! Sanction!” As AMCHA points out, her use of an official SFSU FB page is “a flagrant breach of academic conduct” that, “unless the CSU Trustees provided their permission . . . appears to be a clear violation of [the] California Education Code” prohibiting “promotional activity of any kind” that endorses a boycott of any “political movement, activity, or program.”
Given the illegality of Abdulhadi’s conduct, the letter notes that, in addition to CSU Chancellor White, “The concerns are also being raised to CSU General Counsel Andrew Jones, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, and key state legislators.”
By aligning SFSU with a boycott of Israel that the University, like others across the country, most certainly does not endorse, perhaps Abduhlhadi has finally gone too far.
