Joseph Tuman

Joseph Tuman is a full-time university professor at San Francisco State University in First Amendment law, public speaking, critical thinking and argumentation, and debate. He has also taught at St. Mary’s, the New School for Social Research in New York, and Paris II Law School in France.

Mr. Tuman received his B.A. in Political Science from UC Berkeley with Great Distinction and Highest Honors, his J.D. from Boalt Law, and was a McBane Moot Court Award winner. His law work included comprehensive evidence review and sorting of internal documents produced by tobacco companies re-advertising and marketing campaigns targeting children for class-action lawsuits filed by different states. His law work also included being the primary drafter of a successful Amicus Curiae brief to US Supreme Court in Reno v. ACLU in 1997.

He currently serves as an academic advisor to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) regarding terrorist use of social media, symbolism a, nd counter-messaging as counter-terrorism. Mr. Tuman advises NATO senior staff (Generals and Admirals) 1-2 times a year. He has also served as a political analyst for all major television networks, and many of the largest newspapers in the US since 1984. He co-authored with Professor Douglas Fraleigh “Freedom of Expression in the Marketplace of Ideas (St. Martins, New York: 1998), and the second edition “Freedom of Expression in the Marketplace of Ideas,” (Sage, Atherton: 2010). He is an author and senior editor of numerous books and academic journals, which include “Political Communication in American Campaigns,” (Sage, Atherton: 2004) and “Communicating Terror: The Rhetorical Dimensions of Terrorism” (Sage, Atherton: 2003 and 2011).

Mr. Tuman was born in Dallas, Texas, and raised in the San Joaquin Valley. He has lived in Oakland since 1984 and ran twice for Mayor of Oakland.

1st term: October 31, 2019 - January 21, 2020

2nd term: January 22, 2020 - January 21, 2023

Mayor's Appointee

Subcommittees: ad hoc Sunshine Review Subcommittee