Aug 19 2019
The California Scholars for Academic Freedom,• a group of over 200 academics working in Higher Education in California, are writing to express our appreciation of and support for the inclusion of the Arab and Arab American experiences in the new ethnic studies curriculum being proposed for the state of California. There are now 3.5 million Arab-Americans in the United States while California has the largest population of any state with 33% of Arab-Americans living here. In these times when Arab and Muslim Americans are vilified by some of our political leaders and media it is especially important to teach students the truths about Arab American experiences. We applaud the inclusion of the “Arab American Course Outline” on pages 252-259 in the “Sample Course Models” document. We also applaud the inclusion of these other sections in the document: “Arab-American Immigration and Labor” on pages 262-264, the inclusion of three narratives by Arab Americans in the section “Immigration Narratives” on pages 265-268, the ”Activity: Arab-American Settlement” on page 269 and the section on “Hip-hop as Resistance” on pages 273-276, which discusses the role of Hip-hop music and culture in the Arab American experience. Ethnic Studies is an important part of the education of California’s students and we support fully the inclusion of these elements in the new curriculum.
• CALIFORNIA SCHOLARS FOR ACADEMIC FREEDOM (cs4af) defends academic freedom, the right of shared governance, and the First Amendment rights of faculty and students in the academy and beyond. We recognize that violations of academic freedom anywhere are threats to academic freedom everywhere. California Scholars for Academic Freedom investigates legislative and administrative infringements on freedom of speech and assembly, and it raises the consciousness of politicians, university regents and administrators, faculty, students and the public at large through open letters, press releases, petitions, statements, and articles.
https:/cascholars4academicfreedom.wordpress.com
Dennis Kortheuer Ph.D.
Emeritus, Dept of History
Cal State University, Long Beach
dennis.kortheuer@csulb.edu
Sang Hea Kil, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
“Justice” Studies Department
San José State University
Phone: (415) 390-652
Email: sang.kil@sjsu.edu
Professor Emeritus Lisa Rofel,
Department of Anthropology,
University of California, Santa Cruz,LROFEL@ucsc.edu
CALIFORNIA SCHOLARS FOR ACADEMIC FREEDOM 