The San Francisco Bay Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SFBA), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called on San Francisco State University (SFSU) to immediately reverse its decision to cancel the Arab Muslim Ethnicities Diaspora (AMED) Studies’ Palestine course and reinstate Dr. Rabab Abdulhadi, Director and Senior Scholar of the AMED Studies program, as the instructor of the “Colonialism, Imperialism and Resistance” course.
Earlier this month, SFSU canceled Dr. Abdulhadi’s course titled “Palestine: Ethnic Studies Perspective,” the only course on Palestine in the AMED Studies program and all of SFSU, and reassigned her signature course, “Colonialism, Imperialism and Resistance,” which she has taught over 10 years, to a fellow professor despite both of their objections.
The university’s actions follow a disturbing pattern of bias against Dr. Abdulhadi and the AMED Studies program. For over a decade, the university failed to uphold its obligation to hire two new faculty members to the program, a condition of Dr. Abdulhadi’s employment, in an apparent attempt to dismantle the program. Dr. Abdulhadi filed a breach-of-contract grievance that was heard and unanimously sustained by the Faculty Hearing Panel. The impartial Faculty Hearing Panel recommended immediate redress and a public apology.
In a statement, AMED Director Dr. Abdulhadi said:
“I am being punished by SFSU for my advocacy for the AMED Studies program that I was scouted to build and direct, despite–and perhaps because of– the unanimous rulings of three independent faculty panels that faulted the university.
“There is no justification for the cancellation of my Palestine course. It is a very popular class that students can’t wait to take year after year. Not only does the course fulfill several General Education (GE) requirements but it is the only class at SFSU that teaches the history, dynamics and social movements in/of Palestine from an Ethnic Studies perspective.”
CAIR-SFBA Executive Director Zahra Billoo added:
“CAIR-SFBA is deeply concerned by SFSU’s actions. Its measures against Dr. Abdulhadi, including the cancellation of her course on Palestine, raise serious concerns about academic freedom and the suppression of Palestinian voices on the SFSU campus. We urge SFSU to reinstate AMED’s Palestine course and reinstate Dr. Abdulhadi as the instructor of the ‘Colonialism, Imperialism, and Resistance’ course.”