The San Diego City College Academic Senate passed a resolution on Mar. 4 calling on the San Diego Community College District to affirm its commitment to free speech and academic freedom concerning the expression of Palestinian solidarity.
San Diego community members, including those from the Council on American-Islamic Relations and Al-Qalam Institute, lined the walls of the meeting room, where they spoke in favor of the resolution during an extended public comment section to begin the meeting.
“Since October 7, the silencing of Arab, Muslim and Palestinian voices is astounding on school campuses,” said Tazheen Nizam, executive director of CAIR. “We urge you to not do the same on this campus, to allow students and faculty to express themselves.”
After the debate period in which a majority of the feedback from faculty and community spoke in favor, the resolution passed in an anonymous ballot vote with 21 in favor, four against and four abstentions.
Before the resolution debate, SDCCD Chancellor Greg Smith attended the meeting as a guest speaker, he said, to be transparent in the district’s decision-making process for taking a Palestinian solidarity poster down from a public-facing window in the MS Building.
“I’m here with two intentions. One is to understand, to hear from you, and the other is to help create understanding,” Smith said.
The chancellor used his time to clarify the decision process behind taking the student-made Palestine solidarity poster down from the window.
He also listened to comments and feedback from attendees who expressed their support for the resolution.
Brin Balboa, a project assistant at Mesa College who saw a Palestine solidarity teach-in canceled at Mesa said, “I would hope that with this resolution being passed, it will also push for the protection of new faculty, project assistant part-timers like myself for being able to practice our First Amendment, as well as academic freedom.”
Associated Student Body President Diego Bethea and Inter-club Council President Irela Cota were present, as well as members of M.E.Ch.A. of City College.
The debate period started with a motion to change the traditional open public voting method to an anonymous ballot vote, which was approved.
Around the same time as the City debate, faculty at Mesa College were introducing a similar resolution calling on the district and Mesa to reaffirm their commitment to free speech and academic freedom in relation to Palestine solidarity speech.
Mesa College will hold the debate and vote on Mar. 18.
City Times Media Managing Editor Keila Menjivar Zamora contributed to this story
