The Union Behind California’s Ethnic Studies Antisemitism Problem

California’s AB 715 was a well-intentioned effort to curb antisemitism in K–12 classrooms, especially ethnic studies. But the bill passed only after teachers’ unions, including the California Faculty Association (CFA) — a politically powerful union representing faculty on all 23 California State University campuses — pressed for changes that stripped key safeguards, reducing it to one broad standard: that instruction be “factually accurate…rather than advocacy, personal opinion, bias, or partisanship”.

An early sign that AB 715 would face serious obstacles came just days after the governor signed it. That’s when the CFA sent politicians a questionnaire asking whether they had received donations or endorsements from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) or the Jewish Public Affairs Committee of California (JPAC), insinuating these groups “harm working people” and that the union would not support any candidate who had accepted their backing.

Framed as a way to “get to the bottom” of whether politicians supported AB 715 — and to punish those who did — the CFA’s questionnaire not only echoed familiar antisemitic tropes about Jewish money and influence, it revealed something even more telling: a strategy for using the union’s political muscle to promote a “liberated” ethnic studies hostile to Israel and its Jewish supporters, and to block any effort to restrain it.

That strategy is being driven by three CSU ethnic-studies faculty who sit atop the CFA’s most consequential levers and the state’s ethnic-studies infrastructure. They also lead influential movements that center anti-Zionism and can supply the grassroots mobilization needed to keep “liberated” ethnic studies in California classrooms. A closer look at who they are and how they operate underscores the significant challenges awaiting AB 715.

Start with Melina Abdullah, professor of Pan-African Studies at CSU Los Angeles and chair of CFA’s Political Action & Legislative Affairs committee, which sets the union’s legislative agenda and was responsible for circulating the controversial questionnaire. In a September class, Abdullah called AB 715 a “terrible” and “racist” bill and its supporters “antisemites.” She falsely accused JPAC of heavily funding the bill’s “Zionist” authors and buying legislators’ votes in its favor, and she directed students to sign a “veto AB 715” petition. Abdullah is also co-founder of Black Lives Matter and leader of its LA chapter, which mounted an aligned campaign opposing AB 715.

Then there is Theresa Montaño, professor of Chicano Studies at CSU Northridge, former CFA executive board member and a leader of CFA’s Teacher Education Caucus, key advocates within the union for an activist-oriented approach to K-12 teaching, particularly in ethnic studies. Her “commitment to union activism” in opposing AB 715 was recently commended by the CFA. Montaño co-founded the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Consortium after the State Board of Education rejected the model curriculum she helped draft, which was considered antisemitic by state legislators and the governor. Her group has produced curricular materials that smear Israel, vilify Jewish organizations and mobilize K–12 educators to fight “Zionist backlash.” It also spawned a national movement – the Coalition for Liberated Ethnic Studies – that launched its own campaign in opposition to AB 715.

Finally, consider Rabab Abdulhadi, founding director of the Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas program at San Francisco State’s College of Ethnic Studies. She heads the union’s Palestine, Arab and Muslim Caucus, which drives the union’s anti-Israel positions, including its adoption of an academic boycott of Israel, and actively opposed AB 715. Abdulhadi’s university program runs a steady stream of classes and events that promote anti-Israel activism and platform individuals tied to U.S.-designated terrorist organizations. Abdulhadi is also a co-founder of the U.S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, a branch of the international BDS movement that aims to delegitimize Israel and its supporters on American campuses.

It is the intersection of union influence, university authority, and grassroots political organizing that has made CFA a driving force behind every major piece of ethnic studies legislation in the state, including the development of a model curriculum, the establishment of high school and college graduation requirements, and setting teacher certification standards. Though presented as critical for students, these legislative campaigns have been undeniably self-serving — preserving and expanding ethnic-studies departments and jobs by building a guaranteed K-12 pipeline for coursework, teacher training, and professional development.

In the face of CFA’s entrenched campaign to institutionalize “liberated” ethnic studies and resist all efforts to curb the antisemitism it engenders, the real issue isn’t the strength of AB 715’s safeguards; it’s the state-mandated high school graduation requirement, AB 101, that made such safeguards necessary in the first place. That law was enacted in 2021 without any state standards or clear definition of the subject, and without any reliable evidence of academic benefit. Most legislators couldn’t say what the course was or why it should be required. Passing a costly, polarizing mandate under those conditions wasn’t just irresponsible. It handed control to the same union activists that now train teachers, develop curricula, and shape how ethnic studies is taught in K-12 classrooms.

California still has choices. Districts can offer ethnic-studies electives that families select and communities evaluate on their merits. What the state cannot do is maintain a mandate with no standards or clear definition and entrust its implementation to a union–department–movement alliance committed to a “liberated” ethnic studies. AB 101 is currently unfunded and inoperative. It should remain that way — and be repealed as soon as possible.

Rossman-Benjamin is the executive director of AMCHA Initiative, a non-profit organization that combats antisemitism on college campuses across North America.  She was also faculty at the University of California for nearly two decades.