Rob Weisskirch’s office at California State University, Monterey Bay, where he is chairman of the Department of Human Development and Family Science, has been decorated with union memorabilia ever since he began paying dues to the California Faculty Association (CFA) in 2001. He even went on strike in solidarity with Monterey Bay’s unionized faculty in 2024.
That all changed earlier this month. On September 11, Weisskirch resigned from the CFA and cleared out every union hat, button, sign, and award from his office, including his “2019 Unionist of the Year” trophy. He couldn’t stand to look at them anymore.
How Weisskirch reached this point is a story of persistent, entrenched antisemitism within the faculty ranks at colleges and universities—and a union’s apparent refusal to afford Jewish members the kind of representation granted to other groups.
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