By Matthew Holloway |
A year-long Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) battle has revealed over 1,000 pages of emails from the University of Arizona (U of A), exposing coordinated efforts between faculty and pro-Palestine groups to undermine condemnations of the Oct. 7th Hamas attacks on Israel. The documents, obtained through legal threats after an initial denial, detail attempts to soften U of A statements on terrorism and revise an anti-Semitism resolution to prioritize criticism of police responses to pro-Palestine protests.
Brian Anderson, founder of the Saguaro Group and Arizona Capitol Oversight, filed the FOIA request in May 2024 targeting communications post-Oct 7th when Hamas terrorists killed 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians, and many children. U of A initially refused, forcing Anderson to retain attorneys and threaten litigation, costing thousands of dollars before the June 2025 release. He detailed the ordeal in an X post on November 1, 2025, linking to a 12-page report.
Former U of A President Robert C. Robbins condemned the “antisemitic hatred, murder, and atrocity” officially on Oct. 11, 2023, specifically criticizing Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) for endorsing the attacks. Faculty backlash was swift. On Oct. 12th, an associate emailed Faculty Senate Chair Leila Hudson, accusing Robbins of “smears” against SJP and coordinating with Jewish Voice for Peace on protests, threatening a Palestine Legal report. Hudson, an associate professor in Middle Eastern and North African Studies, replied supportively and issued a statement on Oct. 13th condemning “illegal violent collective punishment” on Gaza civilians, equating it to Hamas terrorism.
Faculty emails poured in praising Hudson. One cited distress among Saudi, UAE, and Yemeni students. Another called her “courageous,” noting that “Kochs Off Campus” planned to attend a faculty meeting. Hudson privately noted shortening her draft to avoid “comparisons to ISIS tactics,” instead favoring words that would “bring people into dialogue.”
Pro-Palestine activity intensified on campus. On Oct. 26, 2023, the Coalition of Black Students and Allies emailed faculty, calling Oct. 7th a “powerful emblem of Palestinian resistance” against Israeli “apartheid.” Hudson spoke at a Nov. 6 Faculty Senate meeting on the “genocide” in Palestine, sympathizing with protesters against “occupation” and U.S. policy. An interim provost announced a Nov. 9 “Walkout for Palestine,” and United Campus Workers of Arizona issued a Nov. 20 open letter accusing pro-Palestine critics of “retaliation.”
Vandalism incidents included an Oct. 19, 2023, incident in which a swastika and “dirty Jew” graffiti were found on a student’s door, classified as bias-based. Professor Jean-Marc Fellous emailed on Jan. 14, 2024, about a prior swastika in his lab dismissed as “vandalism.” In April 2024, SJP’s “Israeli Apartheid Week” coincided with Passover, flagged as provocative. U of A’s Jewish fraternity Alpha Epsilon Pi was vandalized that month.
Faculty suspensions followed: Professors Rebecca Lopez and Rebecca Zapien were briefly removed in December 2023 for calling Hamas a “resistance group.” They were reinstated later. Hudson defended them, stressing teaching “causes and motivations of October 7th.”
An anti-Semitism resolution draft by Fellous on April 13, 2024, condemned fraternity vandalism as “virulent antisemitism.” Hudson emailed on May 3 to “adjust” it for “admin/police violence” against protesters. Colleagues protested, with Barry Goldman questioning the omission of violence against Jewish students. Fellous agreed to separate issues, noting “antisemitism and hate crime have nothing to do with police violence.” On May 5, another colleague accused Hudson of withholding the draft and warned of antisemitic implications.
At the May 2024 Faculty Senate meeting, Hudson declined the resolution, referring it to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for “further study.” She reaffirmed rejection of all biases, including those on “gender identity, reproductive status, and sexual orientation.” On Nov. 4, 2024, she reported ongoing feedback collection.
On Dec. 2, 2023, Hudson’s “State of the Faculty” message announced a Campus Climate response team for “incidents not meeting credible threats,” warning against labeling ceasefire calls or anti-Israel views as “pro-Hamas” or “antisemitic.” Law professors Toni Massaro, Tessa Dysart, and Mona Hymel then expressed concern, and distanced themselves with a fourth colleague whose name was redacted, adding, “I don’t think that a person with an understanding of antisemitism drafted or reviewed the part concerning hate speech.”
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) threatened legal action on Dec. 12, 2023, calling it a “deeply chilling and unlawful” act of “formalized government monitoring of protected speech.”
The Wall Street Journal editorial board highlighted the emails on Oct. 30, 2025, noting “anti-Israel and pro-Hamas bias among the faculty and student groups.” Anderson’s X thread amplified the report.
Anderson stated: “It took the University of Arizona an entire year to release these records to me, from my initial FOIA request in May 2024 until the final production in June 2025.” He added, “Multiple attorneys and thousands of dollars in legal fees were required to successfully reverse the university’s unnecessary delay (and, later, its formal denial) of my request, which it did only after a final warning that I would be filing a lawsuit within the next 48 hours. More importantly, its refusal to hand over these records denied students and faculty any semblance of transparency into the mechanics behind what was happening on their own campus—or what has happened in the year since.”
He concluded, “The best-case scenario is that UA succumbed to a culture dominated by over-thinking, whataboutism, and misplaced priorities that allowed hatred to flourish. But its extended fight against transparency suggests a broader institutional failure—one bordering on purposeful evasion of public records laws—with the intention of riding out the storm until Israel and Palestine were out of the news. We deserve better from this public university.”
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
