Resolution Affirming the Values of San Francisco State University

RESOLUTION AFFIRMING THE VALUES OF SAN FRANCISCO STATE

UNIVERSITY

RSO1-181

At its meeting

of April 24, 2001, the Academic Senate unanimously approved the following

resolution on

Affirming the Values of San Francisco State

University:

Whereas              The Academic Mission and Goals for

San Francisco State University begins with the statement that the university is

dedicated to creating and maintaining "an environment for learning that

promotes respect for and appreciation of scholarship, freedom, human diversity,

and the cultural mosaic of the City of San Francisco and the Bay Area,"

and

Whereas              That statement of purpose also

speaks of "attracting, retaining, and graduating a highly diverse student

body" and of "providing curricula that reflect all dimensions of

human diversity, and that encourage critical thinking and social and cultural

awareness," and

Whereas              The invocation of cultural or

racial stereotypes is inimical to the spirit and language of that statement,

and

Whereas              The recent "spy plane

episode" has encouraged some people, including individuals on university

campuses (though not at San Francisco State University), to invoke cultural,

racial, or ethnic stereotypes directed both at China and at Asian Americans,

and

Whereas              Some of that reaction invokes

shameful memories of a century or more of anti-Asian actions including but not

limited to the Exclusion Act of 1882 and its successor exclusion acts, the

Alien Land Laws of 1913 and 1920, the Immigration Act of 1924; the segregation

of Chinese-American children in the San Francisco public schools; and the

relocation of

Japanese-Americans

during World War II, and

Whereas              Hate crimes based on race,

religion, sexual orientation, culture of origin, native language, or manifest

"difference" from a hypothesized norm in the United States

demonstrates the profound need for reaffirming the language and spirit of the

Academic Mission and Goals for San Francisco State University, therefore be it

Resolved             That the Academic Senate of San

Francisco State University condemn the recent expressions of cultural or racial

hostility heard and seen in the media, and further be it

Resolved             That the Academic Senate of San

Francisco State University applaud those articles and editorials in the media

that have condemned these expressions, and further be it

Resolved             That the Academic Senate of San

Francisco State University reaffirm its commitment to the words and spirit of

the Academic Mission and Goals for San Francisco State University and encourage

all members of the academic community to take similar action, and further be it

Resolved             That copies of this resolution,

along with the Academic Mission and Goals for San Francisco State University,

be forwarded to the Academic Senate of the California State University,

Chancellor Charles B. Reed, the Board of Trustees of the CSU, Governor Gray

Davis, Assembly Speaker Robert M. Hertsberg, and the editors of the San

Francisco State University Golden Gate

[X]Press, San Francisco Chronicle and

the San Francisco Examiner.

**APPROVED UNANIMOUSLY APRIL 24, 2001**