Dr. Elliot Hirshman
President
San Diego State University

Dear President Hirshman,

My organization, “JewHatredonCampus.org,” has published a list of the 10 Most Anti-Semitic college campuses, which includes San Diego State University. Our list has been published on websites that reach more than 100 million viewers.

The specific events meriting the inclusion of San Diego State on this list include:

The organization by Students for Justice in Palestine of a “Palestine Solidarity Village” as part of “Palestinian Solidarity Month” at San Diego State.  The Village featured a mock apartheid wall plastered with anti-Israel propaganda designed to portray Israel, the only liberal democracy in the Middle East, as an apartheid state. It also included a mock Israeli checkpoint designed to harass students with anti-Israel propaganda as they attempt to move freely about campus. This event is part of an international genocidal campaign to delegitimize and destroy the state of Israel.

The introduction over multiple student government meetings of a Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) resolution against Israel. The BDS movement is an anti-Semitic campaign – described as such by former Harvard president Larry Summers - whose purpose is to destroy the Jewish state.

SJP’s violation of the Student Code of Conduct by dropping leaflets from the top of several campus buildings mean to simulate an Israeli air strike.  According to the campus paper, “The papers fluttering to the ground were meant to resemble leaflets dropped over Gaza ordering Palestinians to flee the region because of an imminent air strike.”

Nirit Revzin, president of Aztecs for Israel, described in a campus newspaper column how he has “been rejected numerous times in creating a dialogue toward progress or cooperating with Students for Justice in Palestine, as I have been told ‘SJP officers do not socialize with sympathizers of a brutal apartheid state.’”

An event featuring Alison Weir, the founder and executive director of If America Knew, an organization which demonizes Israel. Weir has said that America’s support for Israel makes us an “accomplice to war crimes and an accessory to oppression.”

Student reports that SJP members interrupted pro-Israel speaker Dumisani Washington and harassed pro-Israel students who were tabling on campus.

An event titled “Remembering Gaza” which featured a “die-in” in protest of Operation Protective Edge, an Israeli initiative launched as a defensive measure in response to unceasing rocket attacks from Gaza. Inflammatory/hateful social media posts were made by SJP during and right after the operation.

An event featuring Greta Berlin, co-founder of the Free Gaza Movement.  Berlin recently tweeted a blatantly anti-Semitic video. She has also claimed that Americans give foreign aid to Israel in order "to occupy, kill, starve, humiliate and drive out a native population in favor of white European colonists." 

We believe that these activities violate San Diego State University’s policy on “Standards for Student Conduct” which states that:

The university is committed to maintaining a safe and healthy living and learning environment for students, faculty, and staff. Each member of the campus community should choose behaviors that contribute toward this end. Students are expected to be good citizens and to engage in responsible behaviors that reflect well upon their university, to be civil to one another and to others in the campus community, and contribute positively to student and university life… Student behavior that is not consistent with the Student Conduct Code is addressed through an educational process designed to promote safety and good citizenship and, when necessary, impose appropriate consequences.

Additionally, San Diego State’s policy on Diversity holds that:

San Diego State University is a community diverse in race, ethnicity, language, culture, social class, national origin, religious and political belief, age, ability, gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation. As a university committed to learning in all its forms, San Diego State University recognizes the need to attract and retain a critical mass of diverse persons who will advance its goals and ideals. This fundamental commitment to diversity 1) enriches the institution and provides an atmosphere in which all human potential is valued, 2) promotes learning through interactions among people of different backgrounds and many perspectives, and 3) better enables the university to prepare all members of its community to promote social responsibility, equity, freedom, and productive citizenship in a global society. Diversity means not only the opportunity for all groups to be represented among faculty, student, staff, and administration but also the support for these persons as they seek the highest achievements. Attitudes, actions, programs, and policies that foster diversity engender the vigorous exchange of ideas, enhance respect and consideration for individuals and groups, strengthen the understanding of our mutual dependence, and form the core of the university. Diversity promotes enriched learning and produces positive educational outcomes for all.

References: https://studentaffairs.sdsu.edu/SRR/conduct1.html; https://newscenter.sdsu.edu/home/mission_and_goals.aspx

Evidently, in the eyes of the San Diego State administration, Jewish students are not protected under these policies. This is the primary reason for San Diego State’s inclusion in the list of 10 Most Anti-Semitic campuses, and one we would like you to remedy.

These actions, which have been led by Students for Justice in Palestine on your campus, violate San Diego State’s diversity policy and create a hostile environment for Jewish and pro-Israel students on your campus. Why is Students for Justice in Palestine receiving funding and other campus privileges from San Diego State, when its very purpose violates San Diego State University policy?

As an organization dedicated to combating campus anti-Semitism, we offer our assistance in rectifying this disturbing situation on your campus and ensuring that Jewish students at San Diego State University can live and study in an environment free from fear and harassment.

I would recommend that your first step be to conduct an immediate inquiry into whether the organization Students for Justice in Palestine, which is responsible for these actions, is violating your “Standards for Student Conduct” and “Diversity” policies. If you conclude this is the case, then you should remove their campus privileges and funding. This will send a strong message that harassment and intimidation of any minority, including Jews, will not be tolerated at San Diego State.

Please contact me at the address below to let me know your plan of action, or if there is any way we can assist you to ensure that San Diego State University once again becomes a safe and welcoming environment for Jewish students.

Respectfully,

David Horowitz
www.jewhatredoncampus.org