On October 26, 2017, at the University of Southern California (USC), International Studies Professor David Kang gave a presentation to his class about terrorism where a slide called “Who are terrorists?” equated "Israeli Zionists" to the likes of the “North Korea”, "Tamil Tigers", "IRA" & other established terrorist groups in history. No radical Islamic countries or terror organizations such as Iran, ISIS, El-Qaeda, Hezbollah or Hamas, made the list. You can view a copy of the presentation here. 

By creating an equation between "Israeli Zionists" and terrorist groups, Professor Kang has abused his authority – teaching a mandatory class – and has created a hostile environment for Pro-Israel and Jewish students at USC. A number of students who were present in that are now reluctant to recommend attending this class to their peers and friends or attend similar classes again. You can read more about the presentation was given by Professor Kang here & here. 

The university refused to condemn Professor Kang or to take any action on the matter. We would like USC to speak out against the bigotry Professor Kang expressed and take concrete steps to ensure that anti-Israel sentiments and other forms of bigotry do not have a home on campus. It is especially unfortunate that the home of the USC Shoah Foundation – a foundation dedicated to the remembrance of the Holocaust – has no concern with such indoctrination.

We encourage the community to sign the following petition as well as reach out to USC president, Max Nikias (uscpresident@usc.edu), and to the USC Provost Michael W. Quick (mquick@usc.edu) with your concerns.