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SDSU faculty, staff blast Hirshman in open letter

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Dozens of faculty and staff members at San Diego State University have signed an open letter demanding SDSU President Elliot Hirshman to issue a statement denouncing posters on campus that linked some students to terrorists.

The letter, signed by 78 SDSU employees, was highly critical of how Hirshman handled the controversy around fliers posted on campus that accused seven students by name of having “allied themselves with Palestinian terrorists” and perpetrating “Jew Hatred on this campus.”

Students on the posters were supporters of a boycott, divestment and sanction effort against Israel, known as a BDS campaign. The posters were created by the David Horowitz Freedom Center and were similar to ones that appeared at UCLA and other schools.

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The letter signed by faculty and staff members condemned the allegations against the students as false and defamatory, and said the claims had caused the students harm and distress.

“We are disappointed that the administration has refused to defend students from charges of ‘Jew-hatred’ and of being linked to ‘terrorists,’” the letter read. “This is not only offensive, it leaves the targeted students exposed to harassment, discrimination, and other bias-motivated offenses.”

Hirshman issued a statement Thursday that read: “We appreciate the engagement of our faculty and staff on these important issues. We are working with the University Senate to pursue a campus dialogue that provides members of our community a full opportunity to consider these issues.”

Among the people who signed the letter were Ronnee Schreiber, chair of the Department of Political Science; Michael Borgstrom, chair of the Department of English and Comparative Literature; Huma Ahmed-Ghosh, chair of the Department of Women’s Studies; and Glen McClish, chair of the Department of Rhetoric and Writing Studies

The letter refers to a statement from Hirshman and Vice President of Student Affairs Eric Rivera made on April 27, which was seen by some on campus as not going far enough because it didn’t condemn the fliers.

That statement said the university supports free speech, but Hirshman and Rivera questioned whether naming students who are against a certain viewpoint could discourage them from taking part in political discussions.

That afternoon, some students followed Hirshman to a police cruiser as he tried to leave campus, then surrounded the car until he came out to talk with them.

The two-hour incident was followed May 2 with a meeting between Hirshman and students, including some who were named on the posters, that also left some on campus unsatisfied.

Two days after the meeting, some students and representatives of the Council for American-Islamic Relations and the National Action Network, a civil-rights organization founded by the Rev. Al Sharpton, held a news conference on campus to call for Hirshman’s resignation.

The letter from faculty and staff members released Thursday did not call for Hirshman’s resignation, but blamed him for the protest that came after his original statement about the posters.

“The unrest that followed was entirely avoidable,” the letter read. “All you needed to have done was promptly meet with the students and denounce the individual targeting by David Horowitz’s group. Indeed, the administration at UCLA had done just that.

“We commend you for your commitment to free speech and for eventually issuing a public apology and meeting with a few of the targeted students,” the letter continued. “Yet, these positive steps will end up ringing hollow until the flyers are properly condemned as both defamatory and expressly designed to shut down speech on behalf of boycott, divestment, and sanctions campaigns.”

Supporters of the BDS campaign see it as a nonviolent way to pressure Israel into changing its policies toward Palestinians.

Others see the campaign as anti-Semitic and an attempt to delegitimize Israel’s right to exist. The fliers referred to BDS as “a Hama-inspired, genocidal campaign to destroy Israel, the world’s only Jewish state.”

Jonathan Graubart, a professor of international security and conflict resolution, said he and geography professor Anne-Marie Debbané created the letter.

Horowitz defended the fliers on Thursday as free speech and said the allegations in them were true.

“Holding individuals accountable for their actions doesn’t threaten people’s free speech,” he wrote in an email to The San Diego Union-Tribune. “Taking the president of a university hostage does.”

Horowitz also said that if faculty members who signed the letter want to support free speech, they should invite him to debate him on the allegations.

gary.warth@sduniontribune.com

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