Professors at Santa Monica College required students to adopt antisemitic views in their assignments, according to StandWithUs.
“Your students are so afraid of retaliation from SMC administration, faculty and other students that they have asked to remain anonymous,” the nonprofit told the public school in Los Angeles County.
StandWithUS noted two assignments in particular.
An introduction to ethnic studies course, which is required for most students at the school, taught by Elias Serna, called on them to adopt “his personal political point of view as objective truth,” StandWithUs said.
“What are your thoughts on the ongoing destruction and genocide by Israel in Palestine? What forms of protest have you witnessed or observed?” read part of an assignment in Serna’s course, according to StandWithUs. “What effect does protest have on the political situation in Gaza? What effect is it having on this generation?”
An art history course taught by Ali Ahmadpour included an assignment to design an art exhibition at an “often illegal” encampment on the college grounds “to educate the community about the ongoing conflict in Gaza on the occupied Palestinian lands,” said StandWithUs.
“These questions are premised on the factually incorrect assertion that Israel is committing ‘genocide’ in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, and that Israel is occupying Palestinian land,” the group said. “It is clear from both assignments that Serna and Ahmadpour proceed from the premise that their political opinions are facts that must be unquestioningly accepted by students as they complete their coursework.”
Requiring students to adopt antisemitic views “is constitutionally impermissible,” the NGO said.