After months of anticipation over whether the University of California’s Board of Regents would adopt a formal definition of anti-Semitism in the wake of several anti-Israel and anti-Jewish incidents at its campuses, the U.C.’s governing arm rejected the “Statement of Principles Against Intolerance” at its Sept. 17 meeting in Irvine.
At the public meeting, regent after regent expressed disappointment with the proposed statement, drafted and submitted by the office of U.C. President Janet Napolitano, which condemns “intolerance,” “discrimination” and “hatred,” but does not directly address the concerns of students wary of anti-Semitic activity on campus. Some Jewish students, and others, are calling on U.C. to adopt the State Department definition of anti-Semitism.
There was no vote on the table, but following the discussion, Napolitano and the regents instructed Eddie Island, a regent who is a retired attorney, to lead an eight-person “working group” of regents, chancellors, faculty and students in drafting a new statement that should have “an articulated set of principles,” Napolitano said. There is no timeline for the new proposed statement.
“We all recognize that more work needs to be done,” Napolitano said.
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