This resolution is reprinted from the website of the California Faculty Association: https://www.calfac.org/item/resolution-defense-academic-freedom-professor-abdulhadi-0
1. Whereas, Prof. Abdulhadi has been listed as a defendant, along with several campus administrators including President Wong in a lawsuit initiated by the Lawfare Project on June 19th 2017 accusing SFSU of anti-Semitism; and
1A. Whereas, all expressions of Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, racism, LGBTQ discrimination, etc. must be strongly condemned, and any and all charges of such forms of prejudice must be evidence-based; and
2. Whereas, the lawsuit makes the unsubstantiated claim that the SFSU College of Ethnic Studies, which was created as the result of the 1968 student strike and which solidified SFSU’s reputation as a social justice institution, was responsible for pervasive anti-Semitism on campus; and
2A. Whereas the lawsuit also makes the unsubstantiated claim that Professor Abdulhadi is anti-Semitic; and
3. Whereas, the lawsuit repeats the false accusation of AMCHA that Prof. Abdulhadi traveled to Jordan and Palestine with public money to meet with “representatives of designated Islamist terror organizations,” despite President Wong’s conclusion on the basis of multiple investigations that the accusation had “no merit;” and
4. Whereas, the lawsuit condemns Prof. Abdulhadi for her academic collaboration with An-Najah National University in Nablus, Palestine wherein the lawsuit cites the unsubstantiated claim of Campus Watch/Middle East Forum that that university is “a recruitment facility for terrorism;” and
5. Whereas, Prof. Abdulhadi, in addition to being falsely accused by AMCHA, has been targeted by vicious fliers posted on campus on three separate occasions by the David Horowitz Freedom Center and Canary Mission, falsely accusing her, as well as student advocates of being a “collaborator with terrorists” and of fomenting “Jew Hatred;” and
6. Whereas, these repeated and spurious attacks create an adverse climate to Prof. Abdulhadi’s safety and full exercise of academic freedom; and
7. Whereas, Prof. Abdulhadi opposes anti-Semitism as something that is “ugly and must be challenged on principled grounds of the indivisibility of justice;” and
8. Whereas, Prof. Rabab Abdulhadi was initially hired at SFSU in 2007 to build and direct the Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas (AMED) Studies Program but has systematically been denied the two additional faculty lines she was promised and other support she needs to fulfill this task; and
9. Whereas, an academic program needs sufficient resources to operate properly, including multiple faculty positions, staff, and an operating budget; and
10. Whereas, Prof. Abdulhadi has been severely overworked running the program without additional faculty or staff support; and
11. Whereas, academic freedom cannot be properly exercised without sufficient resources; nor can it be exercised when a faculty member feels unsafe on her own campus and
12. Whereas, CSU Chancellor White’s Task Force on the Advancement of Ethnic Studies (2016) recommended that the Chancellor’s office fund 50 new positions in ethnic studies in the CSU system, to be matched by campuses;
14. Be It Therefore Resolved that CSU and SFSU assure Prof. Abdulhadi the full right of academic freedom by making a public statement defending her academic integrity; and
15. Insofar as Islamophobia is as much of a pernicious threat to academic freedom on our campus as anti-Semitism, be it Further Resolved that CFA statewide leadership asks California State Legislature to appoint an independent, transparent and public commission to investigate the perennial Islamophobia, anti-Arab, anti-Palestinian racist and unsafe campus climate at SFSU as well as any actual instances of anti-Semitism; and
16. Be it further resolved that we call on the administration to keep all of its hiring promises to everyone including assuring Professor Abdulhadi the full rights of academic freedom by immediately providing the AMED Studies Programs with two additional faculty positions.in addition to a budget and a staff position, as reflected in her grievance.
17. Be It Further Resolved that CSU and SFSU defend Prof. Abdulhadi’s right to academic freedom by doing everything possible to prosecute as a hate crime the individuals responsible for repeatedly posting the fliers on campus that libeled Prof. Abdulhadi, GUPS (General Union of Palestine Students) and SFSU advocates for justice in Palestine; and
18. Be It Finally Resolved that this resolution shall be communicated to CSU Chancellor White, SFSU President Wong, CFA statewide leadership, the San Francisco Labor Council for its ratification, and to the CFA membership at SFSU.