Open letter to UNM administration against divestment from Israel

We have 338 signatures, including those who do not wish their names to be published on this website. This includes 31 students, 13 faculty, 9 staff, 94 alumni, 8 former faculty, 3 former staff, 24 parents, and 163 other community members. These numbers add up to greater than 338 because some people list more than 1 affiliation.

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Name	Relationship with UNM	Comments
Russell Rodke, MPA 2000	Alumni, Master of Public Administration 2000
Scott Aaron	Alumni	When important and historic public institutions, that have been generously granted public trust, public money, and governmental authority to train and educate our young adults to be respectable and productive community members, cease to exercise their authority, chaos results. Which flourishing, progressive and democratic middle-eastern government do the violent demonstrators recommend to replace Israel?
Rabbi Jonathan Angress	Parent
Molly Baird	New Mexico taxpayer
Aubrey Baldonado	Student
Gloria Abella Ballen	New Mexico taxpayer	It is a double standard and a travesty to ask to divest from Israel when they are not asking to divest from Russia which has been doing horrible bombings and killings of civil populations in Ukraine for more than two years, and to divest from China who has the Uyghur population in concentration camps to devoid them from their culture. The behavior of the students seems to be biased and perhaps more antisemitic than anything else.
Dikla Baranes	New Mexico taxpayer
Callum Bell	Parent, New Mexico taxpayer
G. Lance Bell	Alumni 1989	Thank you for continuing to support Israel and fighting Jew hatred on campus.
Julia Caroline Bell	Taxpayer
David Bernstein	New Mexico taxpayer	These protester that single out Israel are blatantly factious and prejudiced. Is the board going to consider divesting from companies and funds that invest in China, and sanction academics from China where 800,000 to 1 million Uighurs are in slave labor camps? Is the board going to consider divesting from companies and funds that invest in Russia given the atrocities that are being committed in Ukraine? How about divesting from Saudi Arabia where women are oppressed and imprisoned for minor infractions?
Michelle Bernstein	New Mexico taxpayer, higher ed professional
Mary Bissell	New Mexico taxpayer
Kara Blattman-Rock	Alumni, New Mexico taxpayer	UNM and New Mexico has always been a place of diversity and acceptance for all people. We stand for democracy and truth. We should always stand up for democracy, our allies for democracy, stand against terrorism and the right to defend against terrorism and its threat to our democratic allies and its infiltration into our democratic systems and universities. Our children our being misled to believe against Israel and democracy. They are being distracted from the truth and the facts about the true oppression of Palestinians and Israelis by Hamas and the Islamic Republic, and this is a long term distraction to destabilize the Middle East and eventually the United States. End the protests and the encampments in violation of security for all students' right to education.
Melanie Borker	Community member
A.J. Bregman	Alumni/New Mexico taxpayer
Igal Brener	Adjunct faculty, New Mexico taxpayer
Sara Levin brichta	Alumni
Hardin Brothers	New Mexico taxpayer	Divesting isn't an answer when government leaders on both sides bear responsibility for the current situation. It appears that the war is not popular with the majority of Israelis nor of Palestinians, but is being waged because leaders of both sides have alternative agendas that they are pursuing. The only tenable solution may be to change both governments, and divestiture won't bring about that change.
Pamela G Brownell	New Mexico taxpayer, parent of graduate
Ty Chambers	New Mexico taxpayer
Max L Chen	Graduate student	While not a simple moral situation, with enough consideration of the facts even given probabilistic uncertainties due to limited or potentially false information, the conflict in Israel and Palestine nonetheless falls along clear moral lines, along which continued financial investment in Israel by UNM is justified.
Rabbi Paul citrin	New Mexico taxpayer
Rachel Cogent	New Mexico taxpayer	Don't let this rabble of Jew hating bullies decide policy.
Barbara E. Cohen	New Mexico taxpayer
Ben Corbett	Student
Rachel Crosley	Aya Travel Nurse at UNM, member of the ABQ Jewish Community
J. Culver	New Mexico taxpayer
Don Day	New Mexico taxpayer	Criminal behavior should never be tolerated on our campuses.
Robert Efroymson	Alumni, New Mexico taxpayer
Bonnie Ellinger	New Mexico taxpayer
Susan Feil	New Mexico taxpayer	Thanks for this.
Bob Feinberg	New Mexico taxpayer
Franklin Fine	Alum., M Arch 1975
Alex Fischer	PhD student, Physics & Astronomy department
Nathaniel Fisher	Student
Linda Flicker	New Mexico taxpayer
Rabbi Arthur Flicker	New Mexico taxpayer
Howard Friedman	UNM Foundation Supporter
Anne Furie	Alumni RN	Support our ally Israel.
Adam G	New Mexico taxpayer, donor	As a leader in the New Mexico business community I believe deeply in supporting New Mexico's institutions of higher learning with time, talent and treasure. If UNM decides to divest in Israel by aligning themselves with actions of a decades-old terrorist regime that is responsible for an unprovoked slaying 1,200 innocent men/women/children, holding hundreds of additional civilian hostages for over 8 months now, and refusing to negotiate a cease-fire so that nearly 2 millions innocent civilians can be removed from harm's way I will be encouraged to divest in UNM moving forward. And I don't want to do that. Divesting in Israel is not the way to solve this age-old conflict that harms innocent people on BOTH sides. Here's to UNM using its time/treasure/talent to offer a BETTER/SMARTER solution. Maybe a nationally televised summit that hosts students representing both sides? This is actually a moment for UNM to LEAD other universities an inspiring path forward...rather than follow them down the same (worn) path of anti-semitic flag-waving. #wecandobetter
Lynden Galloway	New Mexico taxpayer	I do not support the Hamas terrorists.
Janet Gardner	Alumni
Rabbi Dov Gartenberg	New Mexico taxpayer	Please take care in your deliberations and don't let a small minority bully the administration.
John Glaser	Alumni
Todd Goldblum	Faculty
Cheri Goldman	Retired faculty
Richard Goldman	Retired facullty	Divesting will harm UNM financially and intellectually. Israel is not an apartheid state - Arabs live in Israel and serve in the government. Palestinian Israeli borders are restricted and controlled because of past terrorist activities.
Ellen Goldstein	New Mexico taxpayer, parent of alumni
Douglas Goodman	Student
Karen Goodrick	New Mexico taxpayer	Your political position against Israel and supporting anti-semitism is unfit for an institution like yours.
Jane Gordon	Alumni
Ken Goss	New Mexico taxpayer
Bob Graham	New Mexico taxpayer	Bigotry is the antithesis of the anti-Israel movement. Please stand firmly against this antisemitism.
Earlene Groseclose	New Mexico taxpayer	This antisemitism must stop. Didn't we learn from Nazi Germamy?
Jay Groseclose	New Mexico taxpayer
Randall Guarnieri	Alumni, history teacher in NM
Mindy Gutow	New Mexico taxpayer
Yehonatan Haim	Student, Engineering department
Dr. Richard A Hammer	New Mexico taxpayer, parent of alumni
Edith Harding	Student
Adam Hecht	Professor
Kelsey Herrera	New Mexico taxpayer
Darrell Horton	Alumni	Divesting will harm UNM financially and intellectually.
Shiri Hoshen	New Mexico resident
Solove Gregg J	Faculty	I’m Jewish
Mary C Johnson	Alumni, New Mexico taxpayer
Kenneth R Tekin Jr.	Former Student, New Mexico taxpayer	I want to support our democratic ally following a terrorist attack. Divestment from Israel sends the wrong message to our ally in that region of the world.
Trisha Keim	New Mexico taxpayer
Susan Jo Keller	New Mexico taxpayer
Lisa Kenicott	Alumni
Glen Kirchner	New Mexico taxpayer
Stuart Klein	Alumni
Cole Kochan	Student
Herb Koffler	Retired faculty UNM School of Medicine	Is this to damn Israel or Hamas?
Sara Koplik	Hillel director
Ilya Koshkin	New Mexico taxpayer, family at UNM	The displays of brazen antisemitism and calls for violence and genocide against the Jews on UNM campus are appalling and deeply troubling.
Lea Koshkin	New Mexico taxpayer
Kathy Krekel	New Mexico taxpayer
Lauren Krimsky	Parent of two UNM students, New Mexico taxpayer	Antisemitism is on the rise and Hamas caused this current crisis.
Ed Leighton	Parent
Rabbi Darah Lerner	New Mexico taxpayer
Shana Levenson	Past student, New Mexico taxpayer
Andrew Tafoya Leverett	PhD student, alumni, New Mexico taxpayer	I have chosen to withdraw from my program of study due to the protests on campus and the lack of response staving off antisemitism on campus.
Berel Levertov	New Mexico taxpayer
Sharon levin	New Mexico taxpayer
Enid Lewis	New Mexico taxpayer
Jamie Lujan	New Mexico taxpayer
Shmuel Inbar, M.D.	Retired faculty, Associate Professor (emeritus)
Ruth Maayan	Alumni, New Mexico taxpayer
Kelley Macdonald	New Mexico taxpayer
Nels Magnuson	Alumni
John Mahler	New Mexico taxpayer
Barbara Marcus	New Mexico taxpayer
Beverly Martin	Alumni
Bernadette Martinez	Alumni
Roman Martinez	Student
David F. Jaffe MD	Faculty, New Mexico taxpayer
Philip D Zinn MD	New Mexico taxpayer
Sally Fisher, MD	Alumni, School of Medicine; parent of UNM student
Jayne Meiseles	UNMH RN
Ben Meisner	New Mexico taxpayer	As a direct descendant of family that escaped the holocaust and family that was murdered by the Nazis, I urge UNM to carefully consider the consequences of entertaining the ill-informed and discriminatory calls for divestment from Israel. Please feel free to contact me directly for additional dialogue.
David Metrikin	New Mexico taxpayer
Roberta Mikus	Alumni, New Mexico taxpayer
Michael S. Mitnik	Retired assistant professor Orthopaedic Surgery
Yoav Moyal	Taxpayer
Arlyn Nathan	New Mexico taxpayer
Fred Nathan	New Mexico taxpayer
Ethan Nehring	Friend of UNM students
Tara Olguin	Alumni, parent of student
Abbie Olivas	Staff
Luis Olivas	Alumni, New Mexico taxpayer	All backgrounds need to feel welcomed and accepted in order for our community to thrive.
Tina Ortiz	New Mexico taxpayer, alumni 1979	I believe that no student should be harassed, humiliated, protested against due to religion, race, color, ethnicity, etc. Also, in this letter you state “thankfully this is JUST a disturbing fantasy”. I do not think that these student protestors are just fantasizing about what they are chanting. They mean what they say and it should be taken very, very serious! Jewish students must be protected at all costs and these threats taken serious. This is not freedom of speech, these are threats and disciplinary action must be taken. Thank you for your re-evaluation of this letter and a serious concern be taken.
Daniel Pava	Alum MPA 1983 MCRP 1985	I concur with the points made in the letter and urge UNM to consider them carefully.
Steven Peralta	New Mexico taxpayer	Am Yisrael Chai
Katia Perez	Student
Tamara Peterson	Alumni
John Zyskind, Ph.D.	New Mexico taxpayer	Very good letter.
Shlomo Karni, Ph.D.	Professor Emeritus UNM, New Mexico taxpayer	Faculty 1961-1999. Gardner-Zemke Prof., dept. of EECE. Co-founder of Jewish studies, dept. of Religious Studies.
Kerry Pickens	New Mexico taxpayer
Kelly Quiroz	Alumni
Jalen Rahter	Alumni	My thoughts are my own and do not reflect those of the US Military. I sincerely believe the claims made about protestors’ misguided following of dangerous rhetoric, having seen first-hand what protests are actually like on UNM campus during my time as a student. Stances taken by most students who are willing to demonstrate their beliefs through vandalism and harassing occupation often seem halfway thought-out and without much backing beyond surface-level understandings of matters involved. I agree that it would be wise to not give in to the protestors’ demands, and while I stand by the right to protest peacefully, I feel that the staff and faculty of UNM are well within their rights to ban these protests from occurring on campus grounds, following the destructive behavior that ensues from such movements. While I would question the safety of any member of UNM administration to orate a public statement about this letter’s standpoints in front of the student body, it is not an impossible undertaking and its effects could have a positive impact on the cohesion of students in opposing factions.
Noah Ramos	Student
Marc Raugust	Alumni
Marita Renteria	New Mexico taxpayer
Charles Richardson	New Mexico taxpayer
Mario Rico	New Mexico taxpayer	New Mexicans support Israel to the full extent!
Aaron Ridley	New Mexico taxpayer
David Ridley	Student	Don’t forget all the vandalism on campus the “pro-Palestine” protestors have perpetrated.
Ronald L. Ridley	New Mexico taxpayer and father of 2 UNM graduates
Ishmael Rock	New Mexico taxpayer	We stand for democracy, supporting our allies in democracy. We stand for Israel and against terrorism and the Islamic Republic that is trying to tear down Israel and the United States.
Sofia Rock	Student	We stand with Israel and our democratic allies.
Patricia Rosen	Alumni
Joy Rosenberg	New Mexico taxpayer
Harry Rosenfeld	Continuing Ed faculty
Reverend William Sanchez	Alumni & NM Tax Payer	New Mexico has thousands of Sephardic people from the 1600’s.
Paula Bram Amar Schwartz	Graduate School alumni, New Mexico taxpayer, donor	All students are precious and must be protected. We must not let UNM be part of the rise of anti-semitisim in our country. As one who stood for civil rights in the 60s, and continues to fight injustice in all forms, I raise my voice to fight this.
Judith Segall	Former staff, alumni
Ronald Segel	Alumni (B.A. 1969, J.D. 1972) and New Mexico taxpayer
Shai Shelhav	Taxpayer, New Mexico business owner, human being
Jack Shlachter	New Mexico taxpayer
David Shulman	New Mexico taxpayer
Malcolm Siegel	Alumnus
Janet Simon	New Mexico taxpayer, former faculty
Vivian Skadron	Donor
Richard Skolnik	Donor, New Mexico taxpayer
Dr. William R. Smith	New Mexico resident and taxpayer
Matthew Smith	Alumni
Jacob Spigel	Alumni
Ron Stern	New Mexico taxpayer
Jeremy Stricklin	New Mexico taxpayer	Do not cower to racism and antisemitism. UNM must stand on higher ground than these tyrannical apologists for terror. Do not comply.
Brittany Sundheim	Alumni	Thank you for doing this it means a lot to the Jewish members as right now is particularly difficult for many of us.
Rabbi Celia Surget	NM tax payer, rabbi of the largest congregation in the state
Barbara Sherman Sussman	New Mexico taxpayer
Nathan William Tamir	New Mexico resident
Sharon Taylor	New Mexico taxpayer
Ann Tekin	New Mexico taxpayer	I definitely stand with Israel!
Annie Tekin	Alumni
John Tekin	Alumni (2008)
Kelly Tekin	Alumni
Lisa Tekin	Alumni 2008
Mark Tekin	New Mexico taxpayer
Abby Train	New Mexico taxpayer
Alex Vallejos	Student
Devin L Varnado	Student
Jim Werkmeister	New Mexico taxpayer
Daniele C. Williams	Alumni	Very well stated. My feelings exactly.
Nancy Winger	Alumni, New Mexico taxpayer
Ron Winger	New Mexico taxpayer
Adina M. Winnett	Friend of UNM
Jane Wishner	New Mexico taxpayer
Barton Wohl	New Mexico taxpayer
Marc Yellin	New Mexico taxpayer
Judith L. Zabel	New Mexico taxpayer and attorney