SAN FRANCISCO, September 24, 2002 — San Francisco State University is sponsoring several film screenings and lectures in its yearlong effort to promote constructive civil discourse among members of the campus community.

SFSU President Robert A. Corrigan identified the 2002-03 academic year as the “Year of Constructive Civil Discourse” as part of the University’s response following heightened tension between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian supporters on campus.

All events are free and will take place on the SFSU campus, located at 1600 Holloway Ave. (at 19th Avenue) in San Francisco.

Details on the events are as follows:

SFSU Associated Students Performing Arts and Lectures present “Promises,” an award-winning film featuring the attitudes and anxieties of Jerusalem’s children. “Promises” will screen at 11 a.m. and again at 2 p.m. Wednesday in Jack Adams Hall of the Cesar Chavez Student Center.

Associated Students Performing Arts and Lectures and the SFSU Office of Human Relations present a lecture by Jack G. Shaheen, an author and film consultant. He will discuss “Hollywood’s Dirty Little Secret: The Arab Boogey-man” at noon Thursday in Jack Adams Hall of the Cesar Chavez Student Center.

Two scholars, one Israeli and one Palestinian, will offer their perspectives on the promise of peace in the Middle East and the current cycle of violence during a lecture at 9 a.m. Monday, Oct. 7, in Room 362 of the Health and Social Science (HSS) building. Oren Yiftachel is head of the Department of Geography and Environmental Development at Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel. Rema Hammami is professor and chairperson of Gender Studies at Birzeit University Women’s Studies Institute, Birzeit, Palestine.

The discussion is sponsored by the International Relations Student Association, the Department of History, Office of Academic Affairs, Model United Nations and the off-campus group Faculty For Israeli-Palestinian Peace.

Robert M. O’Neil, former president of University of Wisconsin and University of Virginia and an expert on freedom of speech as it applies to college campuses, will speak and respond to questions on “Civil Discourse and Freedom of Speech: Best Campus Practices” from 2 to 4 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 17, in the Seven Hills Conference Center.

More events will be scheduled later this semester.