Keep Antisemitic Propaganda and BDS out of UC Classrooms

12 Groups Ask UC President Napolitano to Ensure Antisemitic Propaganda and BDS Are Not Brought to UC Classrooms by Union of Student Workers 

Union of Student Workers Represents all TA’s, Tutors and Readers at 9 UC Campuses

 

TAKE ACTION: Contact UC President Napolitano at president@ucop.edu and urge her to provide public assurance that UAW 2865 members will not be allowed to promote hateful antisemitic propaganda or the boycott of Israel as part of their contractual teaching responsibilities at the University of California.
 

Following a scathing antisemitic statement released by the Union of Student Workers promoting the boycott of Israel and exclaiming the need to “educate” others on the “settler-colonial” and “apartheid” nature of the Jewish state, twelve groups, today, urged University of California President Janet Napolitano to intervene and ensure that hate-filled propaganda is not brought to UC classrooms.

Coordinated by AMCHA Initiative, eleven other concerned groups signed the letter: Americans for Peace and Tolerance, Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America, Hasbara Fellowships, Institute for Black Solidarity with Israel, Proclaiming Justice to the Nations, Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, Simon Wiesenthal Center, StandWithUs, The Lawfare Project and Zionist Organization of America.

The letter is in direct response to the 83-member joint council of UAW 2865 – representing all of the TA’s, tutors and readers at the 9 teaching campuses of the University of California – having issued a statement outlining the union’s intent to support the anti-Israel and antisemitic Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, and to seek a full-membership vote on the statement this coming year.

In addition the union leadership declared in the statement that it is their “responsibility as educators to both learn about and teach the social issues of our time, including…the struggle of the Palestinian people for liberation from settler-colonialism and apartheid.”

“While we support the right of every member of the UAW 2865 to exercise his or her freedom of speech outside of the instructional setting,” wrote AMCHA Initiative and the other 11 groups, “we are greatly concerned that these union members, who are responsible for instructing undergraduate students on 9 UC campuses, will bring their unscholarly, politically-motivated and antisemitic propaganda and advocacy into UC classrooms, where it certainly does not belong.”

The groups pointed out to Napolitano that “teaching undergraduate students one-sided propaganda which falsely alleges that Israel is a “settler colonial” and“apartheid” state worthy of elimination and promoting an antisemitic boycott of Israel do not constitute education but unabashed political indoctrination, which is expressly forbidden by the UC Regents in their Policy on Course Content (also known as the Regents Policy on Academic Freedom).”

Noting that Jewish students had already reported in the UC Jewish Student Campus Climate Report that campus-based BDS activities “project hostility, engender a feeling of isolation, and undermine Jewish students’ sense of belonging and engagement,” the groups warned that, “if TA’s, tutors and readers feel free to “teach” anti-Israel propaganda and promote BDS to their undergraduates, it can’t help but create a hostile, antisemitic environment for many Jewish students.”

In seeking the protection and well-being of Jewish students on UC campuses, the groups urged Napolitano to reaffirm the UC Regents Policy on Course Content as well as provide public assurances that UAW 2865 members will not be allowed to promote hateful antisemitic propaganda or the boycott of Israel as part of their contractual teaching responsibilities at the University of California, among other requests.

A copy of the full letter can be seen HERE.

–Please help support this letter by adding your voice —

TAKE ACTION: Contact UC President Napolitano at president@ucop.edu and urge her to provide public assurance that UAW 2865 members will not be allowed to promote hateful antisemitic propaganda or the boycott of Israel as part of their contractual teaching responsibilities at the University of California.

Thank you for your actions to protect Jewish students!

Warm regards,

AMCHA Initiative

[/ezcol_3fifth]