Israel Gaza Conflict
As the conflict in Israel and Gaza continues, Sonoma State University offers the following resources to students, faculty, staff, and media.
On this page:
- Message from SSU President Ming-Tung "Mike" Lee
- Joint Statement from CSU Chancellor Mildred Garcia and Board of Trustees Chair Wenda Fong
- Resources for Faculty, Staff, and Students
- Resources for Media
Message from SSU
Message from President Ming-Tung "Mike" Lee
Like most of the world, through various media outlets, I have been watching in abject horror following Hamas attacks on Israel this weekend. What I have seen is horrific and triggering. The number of deaths and injuries to innocent lives in Israel and within Gaza is appalling. We must condemn this violence unequivocally and completely.
We know that this ongoing conflict engenders strong perspectives and feelings, and will affect our community in different ways. As an educational institution, we recognize the complex historical relationships among peoples and countries, particularly in this contested region, and its myriad transformations over time. Politics are complicated, but the sanctity of human life should never be taken for granted. There is no political, religious, or cultural principle that merits the murder of the innocent, and the one battle we should all be engaged in is the fight for inclusion, respect, and freedom for all people, regardless of their background or identity.
For information and options about supportive measures, resources on and off campus, resolution options, and/or to file a report related to discrimination, harassment, or sexual misconduct, please contact the Office for the Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination at ophd@sonoma.edu or 707-664-4140.
Though we all hope for an immediate peaceful resolution, this current crisis may get worse before it gets better. As we attempt to make sense of the situation, we will grieve together, and must uphold one another in compassion, humanism, and kindness. During such challenging times, let us remember our Seawolf Commitment of integrity, respect, excellence, and responsibility while we stand strong for peace. SSU is committed to the safety and security of our Seawolf community.
Statement from CSU
Joint Statement from CSU Chancellor Mildred Garcia and CSU Board of Trustees Chair Wenda Fong
"The California State University stands unequivocally against hatred and bigotry and is committed to fostering dialogue and inquiry, as well as community, belonging and well-being. This includes a commitment to free thought and speech, including the right for all members of our university communities to protest and demonstrate lawfully. This commitment is sacrosanct even when — or perhaps especially when — many of us find the viewpoints to be repulsive or abhorrent, as long as the activity is lawful and comports with each university's time, place and manner policies. The expression of differing perspectives and worldviews, as well as earnest, informed and civil debate, is fundamental to the CSU's mission and core values and to democracy itself. Such expressions indeed are encouraged.
While the CSU steadfastly and unwaveringly supports the tenets of academic freedom and free speech, we recognize that this support comes with responsibility and accountability. We must — and we will — work to ensure the safety of our students, faculty, staff and guests. We must — and we will — work to ensure that all individuals within our community have the right and ability to participate, free from unlawful discrimination, harassment and retaliation, in all university programs and activities.
The CSU recognizes an additional responsibility. That is to have the courage and conviction to clearly denounce and challenge speech and behavior that reflect bias, hate, bigotry or intolerance or that contain misleading and untruthful assertions. Without challenge, we risk normalizing hateful or untruthful speech as acceptable viewpoints.
Balancing our commitments to academic freedom and free speech and to denouncing hate and untruth is often difficult, and lines of demarcation can be unclear. But the vile and deplorable acts of hatred, antisemitism and Islamophobia occurring on college campuses across the country in response to the ongoing and tragic events in Israel and the Gaza Strip are clearly and entirely antithetical to the CSU's core values. We condemn them in the strongest terms.
Hate has no place at the CSU.
During this challenging time, we have called upon our 23 universities to be even more vigilant in ensuring the safety of our community. Campus police departments are monitoring protests and threats, while also coordinating with state and federal agencies when needed to prevent unlawful incidents of discriminatory, disruptive or criminal behavior driven by hatred or bigotry. Any such incidents will be immediately and fairly investigated, with individuals found responsible held accountable through student, faculty or staff discipline processes, and the criminal justice system when appropriate. Counseling and other mental and emotional support services continue to be provided to all CSU community members in need of it.
As the nation's largest and most diverse four-year university system, one that serves America's new majority, we recognize and embrace our responsibility to stand resolutely and unequivocally against hatred and intolerance, while upholding academic freedom and freedom of expression. We will meet that responsibility."
Resources for SSU Faculty, Staff, and Students
- Counseling and Psychological Services are available for any student seeking support at 707-664-2153.
- Our Employee Assistance Program, LifeMatters by Empathia, is available as a support resource for staff and faculty at 1-800-367-7474. Confidential Advocate is available at 707-664-2698.
- To learn more about working for peace across faiths, contact the Interfaith Council of Sonoma County, Infor@Interfaith.Sonoma.org, 707-206-2650
Reporting and Support
For information and options about supportive measures, resources on and off campus, resolution options, and/or to file a report related to discrimination, harassment, or sexual misconduct, please contact the Office for the Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination at ophd@sonoma.edu or 707-664-4140.
Resources for Media
Media/interview requests for the following faculty should be directed to the SSU Strategic Communications department. Please email stratcom@sonoma.edu with your request.
Wendy DeSouza
Education
Ph.D., Middle Eastern History, University of California, Los Angeles
Academic Interests
Women, Gender and Sexuality, Middle East, Iran, Iranian History, Slavery in the Persian Gulf, Nationalism and Gender
Biography
Before coming to Sonoma State, Wendy DeSouza (she/her/they/their) taught courses in Middle Eastern history, Islam, and Women and Gender at UC Davis and CSU Sacramento. From 2013-19 she was the Parsa Foundation Visiting Professor in Iranian Studies at UC Davis, where she helped develop the new Iranian Studies minor program and taught courses on Women and Gender in Iran. Her book Unveiling Men: Modern Masculinities in Twentieth-Century Iran (2019) explored the formation of modern discourses on masculinity and how secularism shaped modern gender roles and normative sexualities. Her current book project is a monograph of African slavery in Iran and the Persian Gulf, focusing on issues of race, gender, and sexual violence.
Allison Ford
Assistant Professor of Sociology
Education
Ph.D., Sociology, University of Oregon
Academic Interests
Environment, culture, gender, race, climate change, theory, qualitative methods
Biography
Allison Ford is an interdisciplinary environmental scholar with training in international environmental policy and environmental sociology, and women's and gender studies. She has expertise in teaching about difficult topics including racism, colonialism, gender oppression, and climate change. Dr. Ford previously studied Arabic and spent a summer in Jordan in 2008 learning about Middle Eastern environmental issues with Friends of the Earth Middle East. Her scholarship includes work on cultures of settler colonialism in the U.S. She has been teaching about Gaza/Israel in her lower-division classes this semester to help students make sense of the conflict.
Lena McQuade
Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies
Education
B.A., Women’s and Gender Studies/Liberal Studies (Hutchins), Sonoma State University, 1999
M.A., American Studies, University of New Mexico, 2003
Ph.D., American Studies, University of New Mexico, 2008
Academic Interests
Lena McQuade’s research interests include reproductive politics, gender and race in U.S. public health, feminist interdisciplinary methodologies, U.S./Mexico border studies, and feminist, critical race, and queer theory. She has published on the history of parteras (midwives) in New Mexico, health along the U.S./Mexico border, and the history of Jewish feminism and the bat mitzvah.
Brooke Lober
Lecturer, Department of Women's and Gender Studies
Biography
Brooke Lober is a teacher, writer, activist, and social movement scholar currently researching legacies of antiracist and anti-Zionist feminisms in the Bay Area, and teaching courses in Gender and Women's Studies. She is co-editor of a special issue of Sinister Wisdom, "Out of Control: Lesbian Committee to Support Women Political Prisoners" (2022). Her writing is published in the scholarly journals Feminist Formations, Women’s Studies, the Journal of Lesbian Studies and Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism, and on numerous websites of radical culture.