The Palestinian-themed mural planned for the Cesar Chavez Student Center has encountered perhaps its most formidable obstacle.

On July 13, the Student Center Governing Board approved the mural in a 6-4 vote. But within hours of the vote, board members received a letter from SF State President Robert Corrigan expressing his displeasure with the action and placing an immediate moratorium on all new murals at the student center, in effect vetoing the board’s decision, said Mirishae McDonald, chairwoman of the project.

In a previous statement, just a week before the vote, Corrigan told board members the mural is “conflict-centered” and “its focus is on international issues, not on pride in one’s heritage.”

“In short, it is at odds with the most fundamental values to which San Francisco State University is committed,” Corrigan said.

The planned mural, primarily sponsored by the General Union of Palestinian Students, has been in the making for more than a year and would be what is believed to be the first Palestinian mural at a U.S. university...

...According to the letter from Corrigan, he also rebutted the board’s approval of the mural because the Student Center Governing Board has not adequately adopted a policy to allocate the center’s limited amount of space and what standards and criteria any future mural for the Student Center should have.

Corrigan said the moratorium would not be lifted until the board creates such a policy.

In addition to the Palestinian mural, a Native-American themed mural is planned for the Student Center.

“The proposed mural runs counter to values that we hope have taken deep root at San Francisco State, among them, pride in one’s own culture expressed without hostility or denigration of another,” Corrigan wrote...