UC System — Antisemitism Response

To Whom It May Concern,

The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) has reportedly spent millions of dollars during and in the aftermath of the pro-Palestinian demonstrations on its campus, leading some officials to consider forcing participants of the anti-Israel displays to help foot the bill. According to The Los Angeles Times, some UC Regents were “surprised” by the amount of money spent in response to the encampments and that the university system should demand reimbursement from students who committed specific acts of vandalism and destroyed school property.

I am writing to support this action, and urge the UC system to hold individual protesters responsible for the damage they have caused. An estimate from the UCLA Office of Compliance is that the university spent nearly $12 million on increased campus security during and in the immediate aftermath of the protests. On top of that, the university reportedly spent nearly $500,000 on restoration following the damage that was done by the anti-Israel demonstrators. UCLA’s expense for managing and cleaning up the results of the protest constitutes only a plurality of the expenditure of the University of California system as a whole -- an estimated $29 million.

Moving forward, the Jewish community in California asks you to:

1. Hold individual protesters responsible for the damage they cause at their respective universities. This includes suspending or expelling them.

2. Hold groups of student protesters responsible for the damage they cause at their universities. These include the pro-Palestine groups Students for Justice in Palestine and If Not Now. Several universities have permanently suspended SJP groups, including Brandeis University, Fordham University and Lafayette College (PA). Other universities — including American, GWU, Rutgers, and Case Western Reserve — have temporarily suspended SJP anti-Jewish groups.

3. Hold individual professors responsible for encouraging anti-Jewish actions on campus. Some examples of this include: a) In May of 2021, five academic departments at UC-Davis collaborated on a public statement that condemned Israel for “state-sanctioned violence” and "anti-Arab and anti-Muslim racism," as well as repeating the old canards of “apartheid state,” “settler colonialism” and "systemic racism." These extreme views were endorsed by the following departments: Asian American studies, American studies, gender studies, African American studies, and French and Italian. Also signing on to the statement were three academic programs and 43 individual faculty. b) UC-Merced Professor Abbas Ghassemi uses social media to attack Jews, including the pejorative “IsraHell," has featured a photo of the “Zionist brain” with the labels “frontal money lobe,” “Holocaust memory centre,” “self-pity gland” and “world domination lobe.” c) On May 21, 2021, the Asian Studies Department at UCLA put out a statement "in solidarity with Palestine". This statement from the Asian Studies Department comes just two months after the UCLA student government passed a resolution encouraging the UC system to "divest from companies that allegedly profit off the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories". The statement condemned the killings of Palestinian civilians but makes no mention of the Jewish victims of terrorist attacks. It accused Israel of "settler colonialism, racial apartheid, and occupation”.

4. Adopt the IHRA definition of anti-semitism. The IHRA definition of anti-semitism will give the UC system and your schools some guidance on what does and does not constitute antisemitism.

Thank you for your concern, and please be aware that this has been an extremely difficult period for Jewish students. I am asking you to please take actions to support Jewish students, as they have the same right as all others to attend college safe and free from violence, harassment, fraud, theft, disruption and intimidation.

Sincerely,
[ YOUR NAME ]

TO: maria.anguiano.1@asu.edu, michael.drake@ucop.edu, Superintendent@cde.ca.gov, asalazar@kpmg.com, assemblymember.rivas@assembly.ca.gov, ebatchlor@mlkch.org, Michael.cohen@calpers.ca.gov, Carmen.Chu@sfgov.org, eleni.kounalakis@lgt.ca.gov, suresj@unitedtalent.com, richards@geffenplayhouse.org, gsarris@gratonrancheria.com, rich.leib@dunleerstrategies.com, ana.matosantos@dof.ca.gov, lark.park@calearninglab.org