The regents of the University of California of schools have unamiously approved a report on intolerance that decries anti-semitism that occurs in it’s campus system. While I do agree with their decision, the definition of anti-semitism used has also garnered some controversy over the inclusion of anti-semitic forms of anti-zionism.
The new report was prepared by an eight-person group representing regents, students, faculty and administrators. It includes a “contextual statement” that accepts a link between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism.
“Opposition to Zionism often is expressed in ways that are not simply statements of disagreement over politics and policy, but also assertions of prejudice and intolerance toward Jewish people and culture,” the statement says. “Anti-Semitism, anti-Semitic forms of anti-Zionism and other forms of discrimination have no place at the University of California.”
But the statement also asserts that 1st Amendment principles must be paramount in guiding responses to acts of bias, including harassment, threats, assaults and vandalism. In addition to Jewish students, it includes concerns raised about bias directed at Muslims, African Americans, immigrant-rights supporters and the LGBT community.
…..
But Abraham “Avi” Oved, a student regent whose parents were born in Israel, said the statement “unequivocally embraces the 1st Amendment” while protecting students who have been called “Zionist pigs” or been told that “Zionists should be sent back to the gas chambers.”
As to instances of anti-semitism on campus nationally a report from the Simon Wisenthal Center, authored by Dr. Harold Brackman cited a poll from the Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and Trinity College that found
54 percent of American college students experienced or witnessed anti-Semitic incidents last year.
In the report’s executive summary (published prior to the UC regents recent activity) it finds
In the UC System, the two elite campuses—Berkley and UCLA—have both experienced an uneven pattern of intimidation and violence against Jewish students and institutions going back to the 1990s. The administrators of these great institutions have tried very little, and accomplished even less, in combatting these trends that, on both campuses, have created an atmosphere so uncongenial to free political expression that Jewish students have largely given up serious opposition to anti-Israel divestment resolutions that have been ramrodded through the student governments in recent years.
At UCLA, a student government body voted initially, before being pressured by the administration to reverse itself, against appointing Rachel Beyda to a judicial position solely because she was “a Jewish student and very active in the Jewish community.” Now, something similar has happened on Stanford’s campus. Is being “too Jewish” to participate in politics or government in danger of becoming the new campus norm?
And in California since 2015 there have been 109 documented reports of anti-semitism including:
Stanford
| TARGETING JEWISH STUDENTS AND STAFF: |
GENOCIDAL EXPRESSION;
HISTORICAL |
4/26/15 – The Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity house was painted with swastikas. |
Berkeley
| TARGETING JEWISH STUDENTS AND STAFF: |
|
|
|
GENOCIDAL EXPRESSION;
HISTORICAL |
3/2/15 – Graffiti was found in a campus restroom, which read: “Zionists should be sent to the gas chamber.” |
|
GENOCIDAL EXPRESSION;
HISTORICAL |
2/4/15 – A swastika was found drawn on a university-owned building. |
University of California — Davis
|
|
|
GENOCIDAL EXPRESSION;
HISTORICAL |
10/10/15 – Vandals carved swastikas and “Fuck Jews” into 2 cars and slashed the tires of eight cars parked on the UC Davis campus. |
|
DESTRUCTION OF JEWISH PROPERTY;
GENOCIDAL EXPRESSION;
HISTORICAL |
1/31/15 – A Jewish fraternity house was de-faced withswastikas the day after a contentious divestment vote. |
In addition to passing the report the regents will be closely monitoring the campuses responses to allegations.
Regent Norman J. Pattiz said in an interview Thursday that multiple cases of hostility toward Jewish students at UC campuses prompted him and other regents to take a more active role in monitoring the situation. He said many Jewish members of the UC community felt that complaints about bias toward them have not been taken seriously enough.
"We're asking for regular reports on instances of intolerance that take place on campus ... so we can determine whether we think the actions taken were appropriate," he said. "This is just Jews standing up for ourselves during a period where instances of anti-Semitism continue to be reported on college campuses.”
……
"If someone wants to debate what Zionism is, they are free to do so," he said. "What we object to is anti-Zionism used as the new face of anti-Semitism."
He said he hoped university administrators will take the same actions against anti-Semites as they would take against those who discriminate against members of other racial, ethnic, religious and gender identity groups.
