Amid growing frustration over the Palestinian mural approved by the Student Center Governing Board, SF State President Robert Corrigan called supporters of the mural “bigots,” while also offering a compromise which would allow it to be painted on the center.

At a closed meeting between Corrigan and Associated Students Inc. board members last week, ethnic studies representative Joicy Serramo told Corrigan she felt disempowered as a student leader.

“I am not disempowering students, I am disempowering bigots,” Corrigan said, according to Serramo and several other board members, including ASI President Maire Fowler.

On July 13, when the SCGB approved the Palestinian mural with a 6-2 vote, Corrigan immediately placed a moratorium on all new murals for the Cesar Chavez Student Center, effectively vetoing the board’s action. He said the mural is “conflict centered” and “it runs counter to values that we hope have taken deep root at San Francisco State.”

The hinging point of the debate concerns a controversial cartoon character named Handalah on the right side of the mural holding a key and pen in the shape of a sword.

At last week's meeting Corrigan issued board members an ultimatum: If Handalah is removed, he will allow the mural to be painted on the center, board members said.

According to board members, Corrigan said, “You are not going to put images of hate on this building.”

Opponents of the mural said Handalah represents the destruction of Israel and the key it is holding represents the “right of return.” The General Union of Palestine Students, or GUPS, the main campus group that sponsored and designed the mural, said Handalah is a peaceful symbol of Palestinian culture and struggle for liberation.

“We told him to shut it,” Fowler said of Corrigan's offer.

In a symbolic show of support for the mural, ASI board members passed a stinging 4-page resolution on Sept. 13 denouncing the moratorium and demanding Corrigan lift it.

“He called us bigots,” said Hector Cardenas, an ASI board member who attended the meeting.

An interview request with Corrigan was not granted and questions to SF State’s public affairs office were not answered before deadline.

Like Serramo, SCGB member Mirishae McDonald, chair of the Palestinian mural committee, said Corrigan is not respecting the planning and adoption process the board adhered to in approving the mural.

“It’s a completely democratic process,” McDonald said. “He doesn’t support students at all. We are the elected leaders of this campus.”

In addition to issues over the mural’s content, Corrigan justified the moratorium by saying he wants the SCGB arts committee to revise its policy for approving student-center murals.

Associated Students board members asked Corrigan why he is just now questioning the process in which the mural was approved.

“For a year now, I have asked for a policy that states what the selection process is for the spaces left, a process that reflected the positive values of this school,” Corrigan said according to board members. “We cannot get ourselves into another situation where we are identified as a Jew-hating university.”

In 1994, controversy over another mural exploded when the then Student Union erected a Malcolm X mural containing anti-Jewish symbols such as skulls and dollar signs superimposed over the Star of David. In that incident, Corrigan eventually called in riot police to protect workers removing the mural.

Corrigan said he would not lift the moratorium until the arts committee revises its policy.

Meanwhile, communication between Corrigan and the arts committee has screeched to a grinding halt as a result of squabbling over scheduling meeting times.

On at least two occasions last month, meetings were canceled culminating in a letter to the SCGB from Corrigan on Sept 25, the day the Palestinian mural was intended to be unveiled, saying he no longer has a need to meet with the committee because it is not in the process of revising the policy.

“He doesn’t want to meet with us,” McDonald said.

In the meantime, GUPS has started a petition to submit to Corrigan. So far they have collected more than 1,300 signatures of students who support the mural, said Charlie El-Qare, former president of GUPS and an arts committee member.