On February 8, 2024, the 2024 ECAASU Conference Team announced a collaboration with The Asian American Foundation (TAAF) to provide scholarships to students interested in attending the 2024 ECAASU Conference. This collaboration was part of a sponsorship agreement between ECAASU and TAAF that would have provided funding for the Conference. However, ECAASU and the 2024 ECAASU Conference Team have now declined to pursue this sponsorship with TAAF. ECAASU and the 2024 ECAASU Conference Team will continue to independently provide the scholarship amounts previously awarded to recipients of the TAAF Scholarship.  

Earlier this week, it was called to our attention that TAAF has an extremely close tie with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and that its CEO and co-founder, Jonathan Greenblatt, is a TAAF board member and co-founder. In 2020, ECAASU signed on to the #DropTheADL Open Letter, calling on all progressive organizations to drop the ADL as a partner. Given this commitment, ECAASU cannot in good faith accept money from an organization so connected to the ADL.

Furthermore, the ADL conflates anti-Zionism with anti-semitism, which ECAASU unequivocally rejects. As we affirmed in November 2023, ECAASU supports the full liberation of the Palestinian people against Israeli apartheid. Additionally, as we have consistently stated in our advocacy stances and past statements, we reject all forms of imperialism and colonization, as well as police-centered and carceral “solutions” to violence against our communities. While not readily apparent in TAAF’s public-facing materials, its collaborations with the ADL would lead to exactly those false solutions. ECAASU understands that the relationship between TAAF and the ADL is publicly available and takes full responsibility for our failure to note this major difference in values before pursuing this partnership.

We are greatly appreciative of the community member who took the time to make us aware of TAAF’s partnership with the ADL. We once again affirm our calls for Palestinian liberation, rejections of carceral “solutions,” and advocacy stance of anti-imperialism. We are motivated to continue learning about and strengthening these values at the 2024 ECAASU Conference.