In Midst of Virulently Antisemitic Student Protests, University of California Reconsiders Adding "Ethnic Studies" Requirement for Admission

May 8, 2024 - In the midst of a hurricane of "anti-Israel" protests on college campuses around the country, the University of California's Academic Senate Executive Council is once again reviewing the idea of requiring all students wishing to be admitted to take an "ethnic studies" course with curriculum designed by the UC Ethnic Studies Faculty Council.

The ESFC has been known to despise Israel in the past, at least as far as it is inhabited by any Jews, but since October 7, they have been blatant in their vitriol, accusing Israel of having provoked the brutal attack on civilians, including peace-lovers at a music festival. Below is a petition put out by the Amcha Initiative that includes the relevant information regarding ESFC's view of Israel and Jews.

Pro-Hamas Faculty Revive University of California Admissions Proposal - Demand its Rejection!

Background: A UC ethnic studies admissions requirement proposal that had been previously rejected was revived and is now under a second system-wide review in the academic senate. The proposal will force every high school in California (including private Jewish schools) to offer ethnic studies courses based on criteria developed by founders of the group behind the proposal - the UC Ethnic Studies Faculty Council - who have made their appalling antisemitic sentiments crystal clear, including by issuing statements justifying Hamas' October 7th attack on Israel and calling for academic BDS on UC campuses. Help us stop this dangerous proposal. Sign the petition below!

UCLA's Royce Hall covered with trash and graffiti after protest, 5/1/2024

To the University of California Academic Senate Executive Council:

We are members and supporters of the California Jewish community. Against the backdrop of an unprecedented explosion of antisemitism on our college campuses and in our primary and secondary schools, we are deeply alarmed by the disastrous impact the proposed UC ethnic studies admissions requirement (Area H) would have on our children and our community.

The Area H proposal is being driven by the UC Ethnic Studies Faculty Council, whose leaders contend that vilifying Israel and its supporters and engaging in efforts to dismantle the Jewish state are core elements of their discipline that should be incorporated into high school ethnic studies curricula. If approved, the Area H admissions requirement will force every high school in the state to offer ethnic studies courses based on criteria developed by these same Faculty Council leaders, who are currently encouraging, organizing and participating in the pro-Hamas rallies, teach-ins and illegal encampments that have made UC campuses wholly inhospitable and unsafe for their Jewish members. An Area H requirement will surely add fuel to the antisemitic fire engulfing the schools in our state, and we strongly urge you to reject it.

Many of us wrote to you in March 2022 during the first system-wide review, detailing why this politically motivated and academically vacuous proposal, rooted in a version of "critical" ethnic studies that promotes antisemitic portrayals of Jews and the Jewish state, should be rejected out of hand. Since then, and especially following the Hamas attack against Israel on October 7th, the virulently antisemitic sentiments of the UC Ethnic Studies Faculty Council and its leaders have become crystal clear, as have their efforts to ensure that anti-Jewish and anti-Israel propaganda make their way into high school ethnic studies curricula.

Please consider:

In a letter to Governor Newsom and Superintendent of Schools Tony Thurmond, the Faculty Council expressed their firm belief that anti-Zionism should be one of the "animating commitments" of high school ethnic studies courses, and they called state legislators' efforts to ensure that required ethnic studies courses do not promote antisemitism "censorship" and "racism."

The Faculty Council helped to organize, sponsor and support an anti-Zionist institute and conference expressly dedicated to delegitimizing Zionism and Zionists and working towards the elimination of the Jewish state, and several of the Council's leaders are members of the institute's "Founding Collective".

The Faculty Council wrote an appalling letter to the UC Regents and President justifying Hamas' massacre, torture, rape and kidnapping of Israeli civilians and demanding UC leadership "retract its charges of terrorism" against the US designated terrorist organization that perpetrated the genocidal attack.

The Faculty Council recently expressed its full commitment to an academic boycott of Israel, whose goal is to halt Israel's "normalization" in the academy by purging U.S. campuses of Zionism and Zionists. This includes boycotting educational programs in or about Israel, canceling pro-Israel events, and encouraging the denigration, protest, and exclusion of pro-Israel individuals. The impact of academic BDS on students and faculty who wish to study in or about Israel or who identify with the Jewish state is devastating.

With antisemitism spiraling out of control in California and across the country, moving forward with the Area H proposal is absolutely unconscionable. We implore you to reject it, once and for all.

Sincerely,

[The Undersigned UC Stakeholders and Supporters]

To sign the petition go to https://no2antisemitism.paperform.co/