As San Francisco State University continues to stand with radical professor Rabab Abdulhadi and her "Palestine solidarity tour," a number of professors from the University of California at San Diego have addressed their concerns to California State Controller John Chiang. Below is the full text of the letter the professors sent concerning the potential misuse of $7,000 of US taxpayer money on Professor Abdulhadi's trip that involved meeting with two terrorists:
Dear Mr. Chiang,
If the allegations made by AMCHA, Simon Wiesenthal Center and six other organizations about SFSU Professor Rabab Abdulhadi's recent trip to the Middle East, which she herself described as a "political solidarity tour, " are accurate, then SFSU President Wong's justification of this abuse of California taxpayers' money as legitimate "research" is outrageous and so broadens the term "research" as to make it meaningless. If President Wong's interpretation of Professor Abdulhadi's trip is allowed to stand then there will be no activity, regardless of how blatantly political, that Professors will not be able to engage in using public funds, under the guise of "academic freedom" and "research." We, the undersigned, urge you to bring some clear-minded reasoning to this issue and send a message that there, indeed, are some activities that are clearly political and, while perfectly appropriate for academics to engage in as private citizens, are not appropriate uses of public educational funds.
Sincerely,
David Feifel, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences Program, University of California, San Diego
Nora Laiken, PhD, Assistant Dean for Educational Support Services, Lecturer in Medicine and Pharmacology, UCSD School of Medicine
Pamela Cosman, PhD, Professor and Vice Chair, Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Associate Dean for Students, Jacobs School of Engineering, University of California, San Diego
Shlomo Dubnov, PhD, Professor, Department of Music, University of California, San Diego
Sonia Ancoli-Israel, PhD, Professor Emeritus, University of California, San Diego, Neal R. Swerdlow, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Psychiatry, Vice Chair, Education & Training, UCSD School of Medicine
Ami Berkowitz, Ph.D., Research Professor, Physics Dept., UCSD
Guershon Harel, PhD, Professor, Department of mathematics, UCSD
Alex Groisman, PhD, Associate Professor of Physics, UCSD
Sidney Zisook, MD, Professor, UCSD School of Medicine
Brian Keating, PhD, Associate Professor of Physics, University of California, San Diego
Ruth Covell, MD, Clinical Professor of Family and Preventive Medicine, UCSD