At Portland State, decision to place faculty member on leave over Hamas comments adds to charged campus climate

Portland State University President Ann Cudd’s decision to

open an investigation

into a faculty member who was captured on video self-identifying as a member of Hamas during a

recent demonstration

has magnified a

still-yawning divide

on the downtown campus over the conflict in the Middle East.

The issue burst into the spotlight there 13 months ago, when the school’s Millar Library was occupied by pro-Palestinian protesters, who

holed up

inside the building for several days before Portland police removed them.

The university spent $1.2 million

fixing the damage

to the library, a building that sits at the center of a campus where more than 40% of students are the first in their families to go to college and more than 50% are students of color. Meanwhile, of the 30 or so protesters arrested, many saw their cases dismissed due to

procedural violations

, while others were resolved at trial or through plea deals, with no punishment beyond probation.

In the meantime, Portland State was one of five universities nationwide — including Columbia and the University of California, Berkeley — initially

targeted

by the Trump administration in February over allegations of antisemitism run rampant. The list of universities under investigation has since grown to include dozens more.

It’s against that backdrop that Cudd, who is in her second full year as the university’s president,

announced

that a faculty member had been placed on administrative leave, as first reported by Willamette Week, after a brief snippet of her conversation at a June 2 rally at the Beaverton school district began

making the rounds

on social media.

The university has declined to identify the faculty member. But two of her colleagues at the school confirmed that the professor in question is Yasmeen Hanoosh, who teaches Arabic language and literature and directs the Arabic program in the school’s world languages and literature department. Hanoosh did not return multiple calls, emails and text messages from The Oregonian/OregonLive.

In the video, Hanoosh can be heard saying “I am Hamas. We are all Hamas,” in response to a question about whether she knew about the militant group that governs the Gaza Strip.

She and others were gathered at a rally organized by the Democratic Socialists of America at the headquarters of the Beaverton School District on June 2 to show support for board member

Tammy Carpenter

, who is also under investigation. Multiple complaints filed against Carpenter allege that she contributed to a hostile environment for Jewish students and families in Beaverton due to her staunch and sustained support of Palestinian rights on her social media accounts.

The rally drew about 100 people, according to footage from the event shared with The Oregonian/OregonLive, including state Rep. Farrah Chaichi, a Beaverton Democrat, and Beaverton City Councilor Nadia Hasan, whose husband was recently elected to the Beaverton school board. Attendees chanted “Long live the Intifada” and “Free, free Palestine,” and listened to speakers from Jewish Voices for Peace’s Portland chapter. Inside the following Beaverton school board meeting, members heard anguished public testimony from both Carpenter’s defenders and those who disagree with her.

Hanoosh has taught at Portland State since 2010. According to the most recent publicly available

salary database

, she made about $10,000 a month in 2023.

Cudd called the statements “absolutely unacceptable” and “reprehensible” in a statement posted to Portland State’s website late last week.

Like a number of other universities that were deeply rattled by last spring’s pro-Palestinian protests, Portland State has taken a series of steps intended to repair the rifts, even as

vocal campus groups

contend

that the school is both

violating

prized tenets of academic freedom and personal expression and morally obligated to take a stand on the ongoing, deadly conflict in the region.

In her statement, Cudd noted that the school has “clarified and posted” its standards for

time, place and manner

of political protests, and has regularly trained staff in its Office of Equity & Compliance to respond to reports of bias.

The school has also offered a free, one-credit course on antisemitism that has attracted over 100 students, she said.

The Oregonian/OregonLive contacted half a dozen faculty members who have been involved in the university’s movement in support of Palestinian rights and academic freedoms. All either declined to discuss the Beaverton incident and subsequent investigation, or did not return the news outlet’s calls and emails.

But another professor who requested anonymity out of concern for retaliation said they felt Cudd’s decision was relatively straightforward, because, the person said, the university has an obligation to investigate any potential violations of its

policies

on discrimination or harassment, or of the faculty

code of conduct

, regardless of the political context.

“There is a case to be made that whatever this faculty member said off campus, while not necessarily representing the university, falls under her free speech rights,” the faculty member added. “That is something that I am sure will be looked at very carefully.”

— Julia Silverman covers K-12 education for The Oregonian/OregonLive. Reach her via email at jsilverman@oregonian.com.

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