Dear President Conoley

I am writing this letter because I found your statement in opposition to the ASI resolution on socially responsible investing and BDS very troubling and misleading. I will try to be brief and to the point.  You begin your criticism of the resolution and BDS by saying that the adoption of such resolutions has often been “accompanied by increases in anti-Jewish graffiti, vandalism and physical attacks.” Really? This is an inflammatory statement and requires much more than a simple assertion. First, and most obviously, because there has been a huge increase in anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant, and anti-LGBT attacks on and off campuses for the better part of a year, tying any particular incident to BDS is very problematic.  For several years student groups at CSULB that are critical of Israel have voiced their opposition clearly and openly by bringing a replica of the Israeli border wall to campus. The wall does not contain swastikas and I do not remember ever hearing of swastikas being posted on doors in the dark of night until we entered the Trump era.

Secondly, and more importantly, critics of BDS and similar groups, routinely conflate criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism, and have even attempted to criminalize criticism and boycotts of Israel and Israeli products through Assembly Bill 2844. I know this well since as a former member of the New Jewish Agenda, and a former supporter of Peace Now, I was often called an anti-Semite or a self-hating Jew. If I had a nickel for every time I was thus labeled I would not have to teach at CSULB.

I will add here that I am associated with two organizations, the American Anthropological Association and Unitarian Universalists of America which both considered BDS–like resolutions in the last year. In both cases the resolutions were narrowly defeated after lengthy investigation, deliberation and debate. [In the case of the UUs, the resolution was only defeated because passage required a two-thirds majority.]  I know many of the people involved in these debates, both Jews and non-Jews. They are decent people, as are BDS supporters on campus. They are students, scholars, and human rights activists, Muslims, Christians, Atheists and Jews. If there are any anti-Semites in this group, I have yet to meet them.   

I am also bothered by your comments about “our Jewish students,” and what they report about BDS. I don’t doubt that you have engaged in candid discussions with Jewish students on campus, and that you are accurately conveying these discussions; however, there are many different views among Jews on and off college campuses. Indeed, a growing number of rabbis and Jewish organizations are now supporting BDS or BDS-like resolutions. In the US the largest group is Jewish Voices for Peace; however, other groups including Jews Say No!, Americans for a Just Peace, Independent Jewish Voices (Canada), and Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods have also spoken out on this issue. Locally there is LA Jews for Peace, a group that has sponsored talks on campus by the Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions that attracted many CSULB students, including Jewish students. Other Jewish groups do not explicitly endorse BDS, but, like the editors of Tikkun, have strongly denounced the practice of labeling BDS supporters as anti-Semites.  

Finally, I know well that the Jewish people have been “targets of suspicion, violence, discrimination and ostracism for centuries.” I was married to a child of Holocaust survivors for twenty years so my feelings run deep, but your contention that “only the Jews [are] picked out for condemnation” is just not true. There are many, many organizations working to defend human rights and the environment through boycotts, divestment strategies and other forms of non-violent direct action in different parts of the world. I get emails daily from groups seeking justice for the murder of Berta Casares in Honduras, or for trade unionists murdered in Colombia or El Salvador, and, yes, to protest the coup in Brazil, and the many, many inhumane policies of the Trump administration. I also get daily requests to divest in banks and corporations involved in the Dakota Access Pipeline Project and in the Monsanto corporation. And long before BDS there was the successful divestment campaign aimed at companies doing business in South Africa, something I proudly supported although opponents said it would never succeed. I do not believe that one’s inability to fight every injustice at the same time is a good reason to do nothing.

Finally, and I think this is the most important point pertaining to our campus, you said that your goal is to promote inclusion, excellence and public good. I agree with these goals; however, taking a political issue that involves good people on both sides, and presenting it as an ethnic or religious issue, does not promote inclusion. In my view it does the opposite. I know that I am not alone, but as you can well imagine, some people on campus are very concerned about speaking in favor of an issue the president of their university opposes.

I would be happy to discuss these issues in person at your convenience.

Sincerely yours,

Ronald Loewe

Anthropology Professor