SFSU Ethnic Studies Dean Condemns AMCHA Attacks
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Ethnic Studies Dean at SFSU condemns AMCHA Initiative’s attacks on students and faculty across California Campuses.
PSLS commends San Francisco State University (SFSU) Dean Ken Monteiro for his strong statement standing up to smear campaigns intended to silence advocacy for Palestinian rights on campus. SFSU has been under intense pressure from the right-wing Israeli advocacy group the AMCHA initiative, which has called for the University to investigate and censor Professor Rabab Abdulhadi’s scholarship on Palestine. SFSU cannot cede to AMCHA’s demands because such censorship would violate Professor Abdulhadi's First Amendment and Academic Freedom rights. More importantly, SFSU would not censor Dr. Abdulhadi because her research on marginalized voices from the Palestinian diaspora advances the core mission and values of SFSU’s College of Ethnic Studies. San Francisco State University Dean of Ethnic Studies Kenneth Monteiro released a strong statement condemning AMCHA’s targeting of Professor Abdulhadi "for uniquely malicious bullying." Dean Monteiro said:
[F]or a number of years, AMCHA has gone well beyond just expressing its views, and developed a reputation for misrepresentation of facts against individuals and institutions. Moreover, it appears to also try to provoke very powerful people to punish those with whom it disagrees. It has done that to individuals at San Francisco State University and campuses across California. Recently, AMCHA has made a number of sensationalized and false claims about students and faculty at our campus. ... Without dignifying AMCHA’s claims with recitation here, in brief, I admonish them for their continued ill intent and propaganda style tactics. Moreover, I recommend that AMCHA cease its bullying and encourage it to find a more productive, collegial and humane manner with which to express its political views without sensationalism, vitriol or malice.