The professors, whose supporters are calling “the CSU-5,” appear to have been targeted, not because they amplified their voices at a campus protest but because, along with another faculty member, they co-wrote a critical piece for Mondoweiss and CounterPunch.
By Joshua Frank, CounterPunch
Last month, in a tangible victory for the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) movement, San Francisco State University (SFSU) agreed to pull its investment from four companies tied to weapons manufacturing and Israel’s genocide in Gaza. The four include Lockheed Martin, aerospace company Leonardo, military contractor Palantir, and construction equipment maker Caterpillar, whose bulldozers have been tearing up Gaza and the West Bank for decades. The success was four years in the making, as SFSU students successfully passed a divestment resolution in 2020.
“I want to thank all the work group participants who dedicated time this summer to the creation of this plan, including the representatives from Students for Gaza and members of our Investment Committee,” said SFSU Vice President Jeff Jackanicz.
While the sun may be setting on SFSU’s complicity in Israel’s genocidal mayhem, the situation isn’t as pleasant at Cal State Long Beach (CSULB), the second-largest school in California’s Cal State system, despite that students passed a similar divestment resolution in 2017. School administrators have done their best to stifle criticism of Israel and recently went as far as to send an email warning five faculty members for allegedly violating the school’s 2023-2024 “Time, Place, Manner” (TPM) rules by using a megaphone and a microphone at a Palestinian solidarity protest. While students have been cited in the past, this appears to be the first time professors have been accused of violating the policy.
As college protests erupted around the country, over 500 pro-Palestine activists and dozens of faculty at CSULB held a teach-in on May 2. While many other faculty spoke at the peaceful teach-in on a megaphone, only five were targeted for their participation. The professors, all members of CSULB FJP, are predominantly faculty of color and disproportionately Muslim. They include Araceli Esparza, Professor of English; Jake Alimahomed-Wilson, Professor of Sociology; Azza Basarudin, Associate Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; Sabrina Alimahomed-Wilson, Professor of Sociology, and Steven Osuna, Associate Professor of Sociology.
Recent Posts
Presidential Debates And Taxing The Rich, Then And Now
Take Action Now Some unasked questions might have helped prevent the last half-century’s massive concentration of income and wealth By Sam…
‘An Act Of Terror’: Israel Behind Pager Explosions That Killed 11, Wounded Thousands
Take Action Now “Israeli intelligence services planned to use the booby-trapped pagers it managed to ‘plant’ in Hezbollah’s…
Secret Plans Make Western Australia Vital For Fighting U.S. Wars
Take Action Now The public has not been told that these US military facilities have made Western Australian locations targets for attack in the event…
University’s Act To Silence Pro-Palestinian Demonstrators
Take Action Now From the early stages, the campus anti-war protests were confronted by a number of malign actors who sought to silence or discredit…