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**