NOTE: Faculty, if you are interviewed and quoted by news media, or if your work has been cited, and you have an online link to the article or video, please let us know. Contact us at news@csusb.edu.  

CSUSB history professor David Yaghoubian interviewed about statements made by European Union and Iranian foreign ministers about the Iranian nuclear agreementPress TVNov. 11, 2017

David Yaghoubian, CSUSB professor of history, was interviewed about statements recently made by European Union and Iranian foreign ministers about the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the  agreement with China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States, the European Union and Iran that aims to ensure Iran’s nuclear program does not produce weapons, as well as lifting sanctions against Iran.

The European Union foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, has described the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran as a major international achievement. She met recently with Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on the sidelines of an international security conference in Uzbekistan, who called for the European Union to take practical measure against the United States over its attempts to hamper the implementation of the agreement

Yaghoubian said that there appeared to be very little the EU and Mogherini could do other than to encourage the U.S. to live up to its commitment in the agreement. “The statements of Foreign Minister Zarif, I believe, are meant to encourage her to make sure that not only Iran is living up to the bargain … but that the United States is also living up to the bargain.”

Watch the online video report at “Iran's FM: EU should take action over US non-compliance.”

Press TV is a 24-hour English language news and documentary network affiliated with Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting.

Brian Levin, director of CSUSB's Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, discusses the latest FBI hate crime report

The latest FBI report on hate crimes prompted several reporters to contact Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism and professor of criminal justice, for his analysis of the latest numbers.

The coverage included:

“Anti-Muslim hate is on the rise,” Vice News,  Nov. 14.Muslims in America experienced a big increase in hate crimes in 2016, the year they were made scapegoats in an extremely polarizing presidential campaign in the U.S., according to new FBI data released Monday. The data suggest that hate crimes against Muslims increased more than 26 percent in 2016 to 381 offenses, according to the FBI. It’s the second consecutive year of increases; in 2015, hate crimes increased nearly 70 percent from the prior year. Reported hate crimes against Muslims in the U.S. are at the highest level since 9/11.

“Last year’s national increase was driven by above-average increases in large jurisdictions and a precipitous election-time spike,” said Levin.

“What the FBI’s new report actually says about the rise in U.S. hate crime,” BuzzFeed, Nov. 13, 2017The FBI's annual report on hate crimes shows that anti-Muslim attacks jumped 19 percent, the biggest rise in the religion category, but analysts say this can't necessarily be tied to Trump's anti-Islam rhetoric.  Levin said research suggests statements by political leaders can influence hate-crime numbers. When President George W. Bush publicly defended Islam in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, hate crimes dropped, Levin said.

And when then-candidate Trump first rolled out his “Muslim ban” proposal, Levin said, “we saw a precipitous increase. … As a criminologist, what I can’t do is say that x caused y. What I can say is that we see an interesting correlation.”

“FBI: Hate crimes jump 11.2 percent in California,” San Francisco Chronicle, Nov. 13, 2017 (also in the Inland News Today under the headline “Hate crimes jump 11 percent in California”)The number of hate crimes reported in California jumped more than 11 percent in 2016, the FBI said Monday. There were 60 more hate crimes last year than in 2015 in the Bay Area’s nine counties — with the most reported in Alameda, San Francisco and Santa Clara counties. Statewide, the number of hate crimes increased from 837 in 2015 to 931 in 2016, an 11.2 percent rise, the FBI numbers showed. November was the worst month for hate crimes in California, said Levin.

He said one of the key factors that drove up the figures both nationally and statewide was the election cycle, in which President Trump proposed banning Muslims from some countries from entering the United States, vowed to build a wall on the Mexican border and labeled some Mexican immigrants as criminals and rapists. Levin said there were increases in anti-Latino, anti-Arab, anti-Muslim and anti-LGBT crimes.

“Hate crimes increase nationally, but are down in Maryland, new FBI data shows,” The Baltimore Sun, Nov. 13, 2017The number of hate crimes rose nearly 5 percent across the country in 2016, according to new data released by the FBI on Monday. It marks the second year in a row hate crimes have increased. Hate crimes in Maryland, however, have decreased 14 percent, according to the data.

Levin said the increase in hate crimes nationally reflects an increase in hate crimes around the 2016 presidential election, a big increase in some large jurisdictions, a sustained level of crimes against large groups including African Americans who have long been the the top target of hate crimes, and a jump in crimes against Latinos, whites, Muslims and transgender people.

“As hate crimes rise in U.S., experts believe many incidents not being reported in Texas,” The Houston Chronicle, Nov. 13, 2017Hate and bias-related crimes rose for the second straight year in 2016, raising concerns about divisions nationally even as groups that monitor such activity questioned whether law enforcement agencies in Texas and elsewhere are underreporting crimes based on race, religion and other factors. Texas reported 178 bias-related crimes across the Lone Star State, down from 191 the previous year. In contrast, Massachusetts, which has a quarter of the population of Texas, recorded 391 hate crimes last year.

'We believe Texas is one of those states that has a significant issue of underreporting,' said Levin.

“Hate crimes rose about 5 percent in 2016, FBI report says, in The Huffington Post on Nov. 13, 2017“We now have an unbroken streak of presidential election year increases [in hate crimes] going back to 1992, around the time national data collection commenced,” said Levin.

These news clips, and others, may be found at “In the Headlines” on the Inside CSUSB website.