December 23, 2021
VIA EMAIL
Members of the USC Board of Trustees
Carol L. Folt, President
Charles F. Zukoski, Provost and Senior Vice President
.....for Academic Affairs
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0012
Dear Distinguished Members of the USC Board of Trustees, President Folt and Provost Zukoski:
........We write on behalf of the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), the oldest pro-Israel organization in the U.S., dedicated to fighting antisemitism and anti-Israelism on college campuses. We are horrified that a dangerous, antisemitic student is still enrolled at the University of Southern California (USC), even though she has openly and repeatedly expressed her Jew-hatred in a way that is not only vile but also life-threatening. This student has personally threatened to murder Jews and anyone who supports the Jewish state of Israel. She has publicly praised the murder of Jews. And she has publicly praised Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist group whose charter calls for Israel’s destruction and the murder of every Jew.
........USC’s leadership admits that it has known about her life-endangering conduct since last summer, yet its response has been slow and virtually meaningless. You must do more to ensure that USC lives up to its legal obligation under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to provide Jewish and Israeli students with a campus environment that is physically and psychologically safe. If you do not, and students or other members of the USC community are harmed or worse, USC bears responsibility.
USC Student’s Repeated Life-Threatening Antisemitism
........Yasmeen Mashayekh is the USC student who has posted many antisemitic statements on social media. They are nothing short of frightening and dangerous to Jews, Israelis and anyone who supports Israel. They include but are not limited to the following:
- “I want to kill every mother f**king Zionist”;
- “Zionists are going to f**king pay”;
- “Death to Israel and its b**tch the US”;
- “yel3an el yahood [curse the Jews]”;
- “Palestinian youth set settlers on fire in Haifa.” This tweet reportedly included a video of the incident featuring superimposed Arab text that read: “A Jew’s head was set ablaze in Haifa a while ago. Long live the heroes’ arms.”
- “Yes I f**king love hamas now stfu [shut the f**k up].”
USC’s Response was Dangerously Slow and Essentially Meaningless
........It is our understanding that the only concrete “step” that USC has taken in response to the danger that Yasmeen Mashayekh poses is to have her removed from a paid mentoring position in the Viterbi School of Engineering. If that is the case, then the “step” is of virtually no significance. It would be unfathomable for any institution to allow a bigot who threatens and encourages violence to serve as a mentor to others.
