A fierce debate over free speech, academic openness and anti-Jewish sentiment will come to a head on Wednesday when UC regents consider an apparently unprecedented policy statement classifying anti-Zionism – a viewpoint opposing the existence of a Jewish state – as a form of bigotry.
Advertisement
“Anti-Semitism, anti-Semitic forms of anti-Zionism and other forms of discrimination have no place at the University of California”, according to the statement the regents adopted.
The board committee made the change yesterday at the behest of Regent Norman Pattiz, who helped draft the revised statement, and then sent the now doubly revised Principles Against Intolerance to the entire board for consideration today.
But the statement asserts that 1st Amendment principles and free speech must be paramount in guiding responses to acts of bias.
Students hold up protest signs at the end of a public comment period during a University of California Board of Regents meeting Wednesday, March 23, 2016, in San Francisco. In recent years, Jewish students have been threatened by a wave of anti-Semitic incidents across several UC campuses.
Hier told The Algemeiner that the original phrase in the report’s opening section stated, “Antisemitism, anti-Zionism, and other forms of discrimination have no place at the University of California”.
Supporters of the BDS movement, including those who call for Israel to grant full civil rights to Arab citizens of East Jerusalem and the millions of Palestinians who have lived under Israeli military rule for almost half a century in the West Bank and Gaza, strongly reject the claim that opposition to a state that privileges Jews is in any way anti-Semitic. The University of California’s general counsel also said the document was “aspirational” and not meant to prohibit speech or form the basis for disciplinary actions against students or employees.
But Student Regent Avi Oved said at the meeting that anti-Zionist sentiment often erodes into the demonization of individuals and that the statement aims to protect students from such discrimination.
Noa Raman, Pacific Northwest Campus Coordinator at StandWithUs spoke before the Regents stating, “Working with UC students on a day-to-day basis I know first hand the impact and pervasiveness of anti-Israelism and anti-Semitism within the UC system”. The Regents should remove references to “anti-Zionism” to ensure that the policy remains focused on valid concerns with anti-Semitism and other forms of discrimination.
The issue of anti-Semitism in the party that most recently ruled Britain between 1997 to 2010 was highlighted last week in a front-page editorial in the Jewish Chronicle.
The principles are prefaced with a “contextual statement” that acknowledges a connection between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism, but the Regents did not choose adopt the stricter definition of anti-Semitism.
The amended statement – which is expected to be ratified by the full board March 24 – added essential clarification “to assure that those who engage in legitimate debate about Zionism will not feel that their academic freedom is at risk”, said professor Kathleen Montgomery, who heads the University Committee on Academic Freedom.
An initial statement presented to a board committee stirred criticism by condemning anti-Zionism.
Advertisement
The statement does not outline sanctions for violating its terms but reminds faculty and staff to impose discipline in cases that violate existing anti-discrimination policies, UC officials said.
