The University of California Board of Regents is scheduled to review a statement of “principles against intolerance” during a meeting next week at U.C. Irvine, but the proposed draft falls short in the eyes of many Jewish groups.
The statement aims to condemn bias, violence, threats and hate speech that are based on race, ethnicity, religion, citizenship, gender or sexual orientation, according to the Los Angeles Times. According to the proposed draft, “everyone in the university community has the right to study, teach, conduct research and work free from acts and expressions of intolerance,” the Times noted.
However, the proposed draft fails to include language that some Jewish groups want: the State Department definition of anti-Semitism.
To that end, they have sent letters to the Board of Regents asking them to adopt that definition, A petition in support of the definition — which also discredits arguments raised by critics — is to be presented at the Sept. 17 meeting in Irvine. The regents were expected to address the issue during their July meeting in San Francisco, but it was delayed until this month.
Though the State Department definition has generated some controversy — the U.C. system would be the first public university to consider it — the possibility of its adoption has drawn widespread support from Jewish groups and others.
Citing a “working definition” created by the European Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia, the State Department defines anti-Semitism as “a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of anti-Semitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.” The definition also defines anti-Semitism as delegitimizing Israel and using double standards.
Critics of the definition, who heralded the July delay as a victory, say it wrongly conflates anti-Semitism with legitimate criticism of Israel. A May letter to the State Department, signed by 250 academics and organized by Jewish Voice for Peace, characterized the definition and the effort to get U.C. to adopt it as “ongoing efforts to silence legitimate criticism of the state of Israel by codifying its inclusion in the definition of anti-Semitism.”
On Sept. 8, the Amcha Initiative, which tracks anti-Semitism at institutions of higher education, announced that approximately 3,000 U.C. stakeholders had signed an Amcha-sponsored petition calling on U.C. to “adopt the U.S. State Department’s definition of anti-Semitism to accurately identify and address anti-Semitic behavior on U.C. campuses.”
Supporters of the definition say that protests against Israel on U.C. campuses not only create a hostile environment for Jewish students but often cross the line into anti-Semitism. Groups that have urged U.C. to adopt the definition include the American Jewish Committee, Hillel, the Anti-Defamation League, the Simon Wiesenthal Center and Scholars for Peace in the Middle East.
U.C. President Janet Napolitano made clear in public comments in May that she supports the adoption of the State Department definition, but has not spoken openly about the matter more recently.
The Los Angeles Times, citing information received from U.C. spokesman Steve Montiel, wrote that the proposed statement “stays away from a specific definition of anti-Semitism because regents and administrators thought it would be better to address intolerance” on a broad level that “includes anti-Jewish bias and other forms.”
According to the Sept. 17 agenda posted online by the Board of Regents, the matter is slated to be discussed by the Committee on Educational Policy but a formal vote by the regents could be months away, Montiel told the Times. The bimonthly meeting will be held at the U.C. Irvine Student Center and is open to the public. — j. staff