Sara Giordano

Overview

Sara Giordano has defended anti-Zionism on campus and is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

Giordano is an assistant professor of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies at the University of California, Davis (UC Davis).

Defending Campus Anti-Zionism

Giordano signed a 2017 letter, authored by the anti-Israel Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) organization, condemning a decision by Fordham University (Fordham)’s dean to block the establishment of a Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter at Fordham.

In 2016, Fordham reportedly blocked the formation of a Fordham SJP chapter “based on the reported behavior of other [SJP] chapters on other campuses,” indicating that “the establishment of a local branch could be ‘polarizing’ and pose a safety concern to students and faculty.”

Signatories demanded that Fordham “immediately rescind the rejection of SJP as a student group on campus, apologize to the students affected by this harmful decision, and reaffirm Fordham’s commitment to free speech and academic freedom.” 

The petitioners also highlighted SJP’s BDS activity, characterizing SJP’s efforts to promote anti-Israel boycott as part of “a time-honored non-violent mode of political expression.” The petition accused Fordham’s administration of a “fundamental misunderstanding of what boycotts are, the purpose of a university, and the goals of SJP.”

The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) in cooperation with Palestine Legal (PL), and civil rights attorney Alan Levine sued Fordham on behalf of four students in April 2017. A New York court annulled Fordham’s decision in August 2019, mandating that the university recognize SJP as an official club. 
 
Fordham appealed the ruling to the NY State Supreme Court Appellate Division in January 2020. On July 24, 2020, Fordham SJP students filed a brief asking the appellate court to deny Fordham’s appeal of the lower court’s decision.
 
As of October 2020, a variety of groups, not directly involved in the case, filed amicus briefs with the Appellate Division for the court's consideration including JVP. 

Supporting BDS

In May 2016, Giordano signed a letter expressing support for BDS on campus.

The letter, addressed to former President of San Diego State University (SDSU) Elliot Hirshman, condemned him for not expressing support for students who had advocated for BDS on campus.

The letter slammed President Hirshman for not expressly supporting “students from Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and the Muslim Student Association (MSA),” who had faced “charges of ‘Jew-hatred’ and of being linked to ‘terrorists.’”

The letter also expressed support for students who, in response to Hirshman’s lack of support for SJP, had staged a “protest that involved dozens of students surrounding President Elliot Hirshman and preventing him from leaving campus for about two hours.”

According to a report, “he was followed by some students…The university president was escorted by a campus police officer who walked him to a police car to drive him to his own vehicle. Several students surrounded the vehicle once Hirshman stepped inside.”