September16,2013 DearProvostMarlin, We are writing out of concern for academic freedom on the San Diego State University campus.

As students, we expect that our professors willnotbesubjecttocensorshiporhavetheirfreedom of expression violated. It hascometo ourattentionthatoneSDSUlecturer,GhassanZakaria,was forced to change the label on a map he presented to his class in ordertosatisfythe concernsofa single SDSU student and one offcampus political organization, StandWithUs, which has no role onourcampusandhasnobusinessrepresentingusasstudents. Professor Zakaria is a wonderful professor whoiscarefulnottolethispersonalopinionsspillover into what he teaches in his classes. According to a large number of his students, his manner of teachingisinclusiveofallbackgrounds,andpoliticsisleftoutinthislinguisticscourse. That being said, it is perfectly reasonable that while teaching a class on Arabic language and culture, Lecturer Ghassan Zakaria would include a view of the Middle East and North Africa aligned with the perspectiveofmostArabicspeakers.IthappensthatmanyintheArabicspeaking world do not recognize the state of Israel, but instead understand the region to be historic Palestine. If one oftheaimsofsuchclassesistounderstandhowArabicspeakersthemselvesview theregion,thismapwillaidstudentsinthatunderstanding.Infact,Mr.Zakariwouldberemissifhe did not include this perspective. Mr. Zakarias personal and political opinions, whatevertheymay be, are irrelevant and should not have any bearing on how he is treated as an employee of the university, and as an academic. His right to free speech shouldnotbeinfringeduponorcensored inanyway. We hope you will agree that itwouldbeshamefultothinkthatStandWithUs,andasmallnumber of students could jeopardize a professors entire career simply because he exercised his right to portraythevalidpoliticalopinionofmillionsofpeopletohisclass. There are countless maps in the universitys books and classrooms that label the region solely as Israel, which is not only completely inaccurate, but also very offensive. These maps label the

entire area as Israel without even the slightest mention of East Jerusalem,theWestBank,orthe Gaza strip which eventhe stateofIsraelrecognizesasPalestinianterritories.Palestine/Israelisnot the only region in which land and naming are controversial. The situations of Tibetans, Kurds and Western Saharansareafewinstancesthatshouldbefamiliartostudents.WehopeallintheSDSU communitywilltakethisopportunitytolearnmoreabouttheissue. Additionally, we absolutely reject all attempts to conflate Zionism (a racist political ideology) with Judaism or the Jewish people. There are many Jews around the world who oppose Zionism, including here at SDSU, and who do not feel that theirpoliticalopinionsareincludedintheZionist depiction of Jews as unquestioningly aligned with the state of Israel. Such a cynical politicallymotivatedstereotypeexcludesandsilencesproPalestinianJewsandisinitselfoffensive. Finally,anyattempttotarnishprofessorZakariasreputationasaprofessorwithfantasticacademic credentials is a purely political and uninformed act of slander thatshouldnotbe acceptableonour campus.Weasa diversegroupofstudentsarenotrepresentedbythisnarrowmindedopinionand ask that the university take note of the wide support that professor Zakaria has received from his studentsandfromtheSanDiegoStatecommunityingeneral. Sincerely, StudentsforJusticeinPalestine,SDSU AmnestyInternational,SDSU ArabStudentAssociation,SDSU MovimientoEstudiantilChicano/adeAztln,SDSU AfrikanStudentUnion,SDSU AssociationofChicanaActivists,SDSU MuslimStudentAssociation,SDSU StudentsoftheWorld,SDSU InternationalSocialistOrganization,SDSU StudentsforJusticeinPalestine,UCSD AlAwdaFoundation,SanDiego StudentsforJusticeinPalestine,CSULB StudentsforJusticeinPalestine,CSUF StudentsforJusticeinPalestine,UCLA MuslimStudentAssociation,CSUSB StudentsforJusticeinPalestine,UCSB StudentsforJusticeinPalestine,UCD StudentsforJusticeinPalestine,UCR MuslimStudentAssociation,UCR

GeneralUnionofPalestineStudents,SFSU