Kyle Tanaka is the Student Success and Outcomes Librarian at Cal Poly. The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Mustang Media Group.
My name is Kyle Tanaka, and I am the author of what the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) refers to as an “Israel-Palestine research guide” in its Cal Poly Campus Antisemitism Report Card.
This characterization is inaccurate. It is one of many inaccuracies in the report card, actually. While it is true I authored a research guide that discussed both Israel and Palestine, the guide was about the history of student protests and activism at Cal Poly. It discussed Cal Poly’s history of involvement with military and weapons contractors, its policies of neutrality and free speech, and other protests from that period, such as those in response to Turning Point USA’s boothing on Dexter Lawn. It also presented original research: an oral history of protests and activism in the 2023-2024 academic year. The guide, in short, offered a way for the Cal Poly community to contextualize and pursue further learning on student political activism at Cal Poly.
Unfortunately, that guide is no longer listed on the library’s website. On February 17, interim Dean of Library Services Katherine O’Clair announced with no forewarning and no explanation that this guide — along with over a dozen others — was being taken down. It was a puzzling announcement since libraries are not hospitals or fire stations; we don’t generally have emergencies requiring sudden changes. The decision interrupted people’s teaching and research, including a Cal Poly-funded research grant I was working on.
Little reason was given at the time, but library faculty and staff learned more when the ADL Antisemitism Report Card for Cal Poly was updated on March 10. In it, the report card claims “In January 2026, the Cal Poly Library website released an Israel-Palestine research guide.” The Report Card goes on to make numerous claims about the guide and its content – more on that in a moment – but also notes “The University initially offered only to relocate the guide to another publicly accessible section of its website, and the material was removed only after complaints from the community and ADL.”
I want to address the numerous errors the report card contains regarding the research guide, but before doing so I want to emphasize something. This report card explicitly notes that “Material was removed only after complaints from the community and ADL.”
Cal Poly willingly took down learning materials and original research at the request of a third party. That’s a big deal, so I’m going to say it again: Cal Poly chose to comply with a censorship request from a group outside of Cal Poly and the Cal State system. On its own, censorship is a big deal. Heck, Cal Poly should know: time and time again “free speech” is the go-to answer when a controversial organization sets up a booth on Dexter Lawn (as the guide itself would tell you!).
Not here, though; not this time. This guide, like all those put forth by librarians, was meant to support and spur research into its topic. In other words, Cal Poly willingly chose to take down educational materials that aimed to promote learning.
This is all the more concerning because despite having my guide named and criticized specifically in the ADL Report Card, and despite its numerous errors, no one at Cal Poly has reached out to me to date. I have had no discussions about the guide, whether my name is floating around in circles above my pay grade, or how I am supposed to continue with my research and instruction when months of work have been unceremoniously taken from my control.
Given Cal Poly’s silence and given the suppression of original research by the Cal Poly Library (in partnership with the Provost’s Office!), I find myself having to do what this institution has not: defend the truth and defend the right of a public university to provide information that supports learning and research. Below, I present quotes from the ADL Report Card along with my own responses. As you will see, virtually everything that the ADL asserts about the research guide is in some way inaccurate or misleading.
- “In January 2026, the Cal Poly Library website released an Israel-Palestine research guide…”
This is false. There was a research guide released in January 2026, true, but its topic was the history of student protests and activism at Cal Poly. It covered, to varying degrees, protests at Cal Poly from the Vietnam War through Black Lives Matter to the 2023-2024 academic year. It covered policies and laws on free speech and institutional neutrality. It covered broader histories of protests and activism in the U.S. It covered Cal Poly’s ongoing relationships with military companies.
Even in the most recent year, the guide did not focus exclusively on Israel-Palestine; it also covered protests in relation to the presence of Turning Point USA events at Cal Poly.
-  “…which spread false information about Zionism…”
As the report card has no information about what they claim is “false information,” I can’t give a direct response. What I will say is the information in the guide was short and basic.
In its entirety, here it is: “Zionism is a nationalist ideology that, broadly, maintains that Jewish peoples have the right to establish a homeland for Jewish individuals in Palestine. It is not a belief held by all Jews, nor is it synonymous with Jewish faith, religion, culture, or ethnicity. In many of its forms, Zionism relies upon religious justification for its claims, i.e. that the land of Israel was promised to the Jewish people by God in the Torah (Old Testament), making it the only country in the world basing a claim to land upon divine right. Modern political Zionism is a notion attributed to Theodor Herzl, who saw the establishment of a Jewish state as the only solution to the historical and ongoing antisemitism in Europe (and around the world).”
I remain unsure what exactly about this is “false information.” As an information literacy professional I hesitate to cite Wikipedia, but you can literally find all of this on the Wikipedia page on Zionism. It’s not rare and it’s not wrong.
-  “[The guide] criticized the campus Hillel.”
This is false. The guide only says, “Cal Poly hosts a chapter of Hillel, a U.S.-based, pro-Israel national student organization.” It does add additional context via quotes and sources, however. It mentions that “[Hillel] partner[s] with The Jewish Agency, which equates all pro-Palestine activism including Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movements with antisemitism.”
It mentions that a former CEO of Hillel has explicitly talked about Hillel’s support for Israel: “There’s no question that Hillel loves Israel, Hillel is a pro-Israel organization, Hillel is about building Jewish identity… and at the core of Jewish identity is that Israel is the home of the Jewish people,” CEO of Hillel Eric Fingerhut said.
And it mentions concerns from individuals within Hillel that critiques of Israel are “not accepted”: “Hillel’s official guidelines state that the group will not ‘partner with, house or host organizations, groups or speakers that delegitimize, demonize or apply a double standard to Israel.’ But a student campaign, Open Hillel, was recently founded by students who feel excluded from Hillel because they believe their critical views about Israel are not accepted.”
The guide also quotes goals directly from the Cal Poly Hillel chapter website that include “For ALL Cal Poly students to have Jewish relationships and at least one positive Israel engagement before they leave Cal Poly” and “Increase the number of students attending Birthright, including a full bus of Cal Poly students together so they come back to campus not only with both a positive Israel experience, but also with life-long Cal Poly friends.”
- “The guide also suggested that several anti-Zionist student organizations – including Cal Poly Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), Cal Poly Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), the Young Democratic Socialists of America, Cal Poly Social Justice Coalition, and Cal Poly SQE – should be viewed in a positive light.”
There are multiple errors here. First, some of these are not student organizations. The Cal Poly Social Justice Coalition, for example, is primarily a group of faculty and staff — not sponsored by Cal Poly — who are “working for social justice through an intersectional framework and decolonial activism,” according to their Instagram.
Lest it be objected that bearing the Cal Poly name suggests institutional affiliation, I would argue that bearing such a name no more implies official affiliation than saying “San Luis Obispo Social Justice Coalition” implies official representation of the city of San Luis Obispo.
Second, while a number of these groups have taken up anti-Zionist (note: not antisemitic) positions, I would hesitate to suggest that any of these organizations can be called an “anti-Zionist organization” per se. In each of their cases — and sometimes for different reasons — these organizations are primarily concerned with stopping war and violence, bringing about social justice and opposing conditions and causes that perpetuate exploitation, persecution, and oppression. Anti-Zionism simply happens to be one avenue towards those ends.
Third, I am not even sure how the report card authors inferred any of these points from the guide’s content. All it contained is what is historically true: “There were new clubs on campus created, like Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace, as well as existing clubs like Young Democratic Socialists of America, Cal Poly Social Justice Coalition, and Cal Poly SQE, that collaborated to organize events.”
- “To date, the University has not acknowledged the antisemitic nature of the material…”
I cannot and do not speak for the university, but (again) I object to the characterization of the guide’s material as antisemitic. As the guide itself lays out: not all Jews are Israeli, not all Jews are pro-Israel and criticizing the actions of the Israeli government is not — and should not be characterized as — antisemitic.
Although the guide is still not publicly available in its original form on its original platform, you can take a look at a (very poorly optimized for Word, I admit) archived version of the guide viewable in the Cal Poly Digital Commons.
I should note that Cal Poly is not alone in facing censorship attempts. Anyone familiar with libraries, especially public and school libraries, knows that attempts to ban books have been on the rise in recent years. What you may not know is that the ADL has also been targeting libraries: the Los Angeles Public Library cancelled a December 6, 2025 children’s book reading from Palestinian author Jenan Matari. While the ADL is an organization that has played an important role in many civil rights movements in the U.S., it has also used its power to target and silence critics of Israel, a big reason why groups like Drop the ADL recommend reconsidering partnerships with the organization.
The funny thing is, if Cal Poly and the ADL had left this alone, it probably would have gone by without much notice. It’s meager recompense, but I do find some solace when an institution experiences the Streisand Effect firsthand.