March 30, 1995
Two students filed grievances against United Student Movement presidential candidate Troy Buckner-Nkrumah, alleging he made threatening comments to members of the Student Struggle slate while they were campaigning during the elections.
The two students and one witness, all members of the newly formed Student Struggle slate that appears to have won the presidential and vice presidential seats, filed complaints with the Associated Students elections committee.
"He claimed that I and the other members of the Student Struggle are Zionist simply because (Student Struggle) is supported by Hillel (a Jewish student center) and that 'the only good Zionist is a dead Zionist,'" according to a grievance filed by Adrienne Nicol Perez.
At a meeting held Wednesday to discuss the grievances, Perez said Buckner-Nkrumah, who lost the election, approached her and two other students who were handing out Student Struggle material. She said Buckner-Nkrumah told another student, Arash Yaganehdoost, that he had not seen him around campus before.
According to Perez, Yaganehdoost replied that he had attended rallies with the General Union of Palestinian Students. Buckner-Nkrumah then began yelling at the students, according to Perez.
"It was just a discussion," said Buckner-Nkrumah, who did not attend the meeting because he said he was not informed of it. "I accused Yaganehdoost of either being stupid as hell or just being a straight-out Uncle Tom. There were Zionists helping them campaign. Our nations in Africa have been destroyed by Zionists. I told them I would rather put bullets in Zionists then have them on my slate."
"Zionism is the concept that Israel is the holy land for the Jews, which it is and has been for centuries," according to Fred Isaac, head librarian at the Jewish Community Library.
Anom Chavez, who signed both grievances as a witness, said he was not informed of the meeting. He said he signed the grievances because he heard all the comments made and "just wanted to make (the committee) aware of what went on."
After discussing the grievances, elections committee Steve Navarro suggested that the matter be held over until all parties involved could be present. Copies of the grievances were sent by the complaining students to Robert Westwood, executive assistant to the vice president for student affairs, and Vice President for Student Affairs Penny Saffold.
Westwood said he does not get involved in elections committee matters but predicts that one of the students may file a complaint with him. If he does receive a written complaint, he said, he will speak with Buckner-Nkrumah and then determine whether there has been a violation of the student code of conduct.
In May of 1994, controversy about Zionism on campus was ignited after a mural depicting Malcolm X was unveiled on a wall in Malcolm X Plaza outside the Cesar Chavez Student Center. The mural of the former Nation of Islam leader's face was surrounded by six-pointed stars, dollar signs, skulls and crossbones and the American flag.
The Jewish community views the stars as Stars of David, which represent Judaism. Other groups, like the Pan-Afrikan Student Union, say the stars represent state oppression and Israel's Zionist policies.
The university's administration removed the mural because of the controversy surrounding it.