On Monday, April 14, the Daily Nexus featured a paid advertisement from an off-campus organization that constituted an unprincipled and grossly inaccurate attack against the UCSB Muslim Student Association. We, the undersigned faculty and staff at UCSB, affirm the right to freedom of expression as established in the First Amendment of the Constitution. However, we strongly denounce the inflammatory and unsubstantiated charges made in this ad. Reminiscent of the campaign of fear and intimidation waged against American citizens during the McCarthy Era in the 1950s, the ad only serves to cut off dialogue and create an atmosphere of fear and distrust. The MSA is registered as a campus organization funded by Associated Students and has, for many years, worked cooperatively with other campus organizations and departments. Unfortunately, rather than fostering a healthy climate for debate and dialogue on our campus, the ad published in the Daily Nexus was designed to target and intimidate our Muslim UCSB students through a series of unfounded charges. We would like to take this opportunity to stand in solidarity with our Muslim students, and express our support for their efforts to counter this hateful advertisement through campus-wide programs aimed at mutual understanding and inter-communal dialogue.

We, the undersigned, reject such campaigns to subvert the spirit of tolerance and religious freedom we have all worked so hard to foster on our campus over the years and urge the Daily Nexus to reconsider publishing such inflammatory paid advertisements from off-campus organizations in the future.

Signed,
Juan E. Campo, Religious Studies, MSA Faculty Advisor
Nancy Gallagher, History; Chair, Middle East Studies Program
Paul Spickard, History
Kathleen Moore, Law & Society; Director, Center for Middle East Studies
Elizabeth Robinson, KCSB-FM Radio Adviser
Cedric Robinson, Black Studies
Garay P. Menicucci, Office of International Students and Scholars
Walid Afifi, Communication
R. Stephen Humphreys, History
Lisa Hajjar, Law & Society
Carol Mosely, Women’s Center
Elizabeth Currans, Women’s Studies Program; Women’s Center
Magda Campo, Religious Studies
Richard Appelbaum, Sociology; Global & International Studies
Bassam Bamieh, Mechanical Engineering
Mark Juergensmeyer, Director, Orfalea Center for Global & International Studies
Victor A. Faessel, Program Director, Orfalea Center for Global & International Studies
Dwight Reynolds, Religious Studies
William I. Robinson, Sociology
John Foran, Sociology
Richard Hecht, Religious Studies
Zaveeni Khan-Marcus, Director, MultiCultural Center
Harold Marcase, History
Scott Marcus, Music
Howard Winant, Sociology
Anne Barnhart, Library
France Winddance Twine, Sociology
Leila Rupp, Chair, Women’s Studies
Chueh Jun-Fung, Assistant Director, LGBT Resources
Mustafa Khammash, Mechanical Engineering
Geoffrey Raymond, Sociology
Marguerite Bouraad-Nash, Political Science; Global Peace & Security
Erik Love, Sociology
Bishnupriya Ghosh, English
Marilyn Dukes, Associated Students
Robin Unander, Adviser, A.S. Legal Resource Center
Gary Colmenar, Library
Claudine Michel, Director, Center for Black Studies
Bryan D. Brown, KCSB Chief Engineer
Francesca Degiuli, Global & International Studies
Cindy Lopez, Associated Students
Meryle Gaston, Library
Richard Flacks, Sociology
Sharon Hoshida, Women’s Center
Carl Gutiérrez-Jones, English
Aaron Jones, Adviser, Associated Students
Francisco A. Lomeli, Chicana and Chicano Studies; Chair, Spanish & Portuguese
Mary Hancock, Anthropology
Sharon Farmer, History
Eileen Boris, Chair, Women’s Studies Program; History; Black Studies; Law & Society
Frank A. Dutra, History
Bhaskar Sarkar, Film & Media Studies
Eve Darian-Smith, Law & Society
John W.I. Lee, History
Stuart Tyson Smith, Anthropology
Mary Furner, History
Alice O’Connor, History
Douglas Daniels, Black Studies
J. Sears McGee, History
Cynthia Felando, Film & Media Studies
Richard Falk, Global & International Studies
Hilal Elver, Global & International Studies
Mary Jacob, Director, Office of International Students & Scholars
Sylvia Curtis, Library
Cecilia Méndez Gastelumendi, History
Carol Lansing, History
Raphaëlla Nau, Academic Program Assistant, Black Studies
Giles Gunn, Chair, Global & International Studies
Esther Lezra, Global & International Studies
Barbara Holdrege, Religious Studies
Swati Chattopadhyay, History of Art & Architecture
Adrienne Edgar, History
Kum-Kum Bhavani, Sociology
Charles F. Huber, Library
Angela Boyd, Library
Paula M. Ioanide, Women’s Studies
Debra Blumenthal, History
Laury Oaks, Women’s Studies
Ann Taves, Religious Studies
Clyde Woods, Black Studies
Joe Mazares, UCSB Staff
Grace Chang, Women’s Studies
Richard Teraoka, UCSB Staff
Judy Zachary-Smithson, UCSB Staff
Sarah Fenstermaker, Sociology

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