Sonoma State University President Mike Lee Resigns In Disgrace Following Attempted Protester Deal

Sonoma State University President Mike Lee resigned on Friday following a tumultuous week where he had been placed on leave for attempting to make a widely criticized deal with Pro-Palestinian protesters on campus that would have brought about an academic boycott of Israel on campus.

Like many universities in California, Sonoma State has had an active and growing Pro-Palestinian movement on campus. Hoping to have a quiet last few weeks of classes and no encampment on campus after the spring semester ends, President Lee did what several Universities have done and make a deal with protestors. However, the deal, which was unveiled late Tuesday night, proved to be extremely controversial. In a letter, Lee agreed to almost every demand protestors had. Not only would SSU review all investments with Israel and call for a ceasefire in Gaza, but Sonoma State would also start teaching Palestinian Studies beginning this fall and have a council of students from an anti-Israeli group look over all agreements. Critically, he also announced an academic boycott of Israel, the first such boycott announced by an American university.

Within hours, rather than deescalate the situation, Lee’s letter proved the opposite. Many students on campus railed against what Lee had done, saying that he had gone way too far. Others noted that he had given many concessions towards Palestinians while taking away programs and other academic interests for Israel and Jewish students. Jewish groups and lawmakers from both sides of the aisle also quickly condemned Lee’s actions on Tuesday and Wednesday.

California State University officials, horrified at the response, quickly went into action on Wednesday following the severe backlash. California State University Chancellor Mildred Garcia quickly charged that Lee had sent the memo without any CSU approval, which was needed for the agreement to be valid. She also charged him with insubordination and placed him on leave, with CSU’s board looking into the matter.

With Lee’s agreement pretty much null and void and his own University putting him on leave for even thinking it was ok to do, Lee gave an apology letter late on Wednesday. In it, he admitted that he had divided students as a result of his attempted deal, and had actually marginalized most students as a result.

“We will create spaces and places to process President Lee’s retirement and other recent developments as a community in the coming days and weeks. For now, I encourage all of us to focus on our graduates and their supporters.”

The abrupt end of Lee’s actions has left the University stunned, with Sonoma State’s actions against Lee for trying to make such a one-sided deal with protestors setting a new mark nationwide as to how many concessions can be made with protestors until Universities retaliate against Presidents.

“The situation at Sonoma State this week left a clear message for any University official negotiating with protestors: Don’t give in too much and make sure to get the approval of the University first,” said researcher Sandy Crane, who studies college protest movements, to the Globe late on Friday. “Lee was making all these wild agreements, like promising new courses and promising to hear them out to the detriment of Jewish students and other students. That alone was over the line, not to mention everything else he said.

“Usually former University president’s get something to remember them on campus. You know, a statue, plaque, maybe even a building named for them on campus. Lee just kissed that goodbye. Instead he will forever be known as the University president who was willing to sell out the majority of his students to try and get protesters to leave. He’ll be remembered as the one who almost put Jewish students in even more danger.

“The Gaza protests on campuses have been a bit unusual compared to other ones. Police have been very effective when called out and protestors have proven not to be as hardy as before. They’re making deals with the universities to end encampments and, in some cases, entire protests for talks of possible divestment later in the year. And through a few meetings on campuses nationwide that have occurred about that already, we’ve seen either nothing being divested or just a few token investments being ended. That’s it. That’s what the protesters have been “winning”. Well, that and disrupting classes and quiet time at a time when students need it most for finals and graduating.

“Sonoma State and Lee are now only reinforcing other Universities resolve in not giving much up. It’s no wonder why Lee gave up.”

Several Californian Universities are currently still in talks with protesters as of Saturday afternoon.