10,000 DEMAND UC REJECT ETHNIC STUDIES REQUIREMENT FROM FACULTY SUPPORTING HAMAS TERRORISM
Contact: Nicole Rosen
communications@AMCHAinitiative.org
Santa Cruz, CA, November 1, 2023 – In the wake of the horrific events of Oct. 7 and the barbaric, evil actions taken by Hamas, the University of California (UC) Ethnic Studies Faculty Council issued a statement legitimizing the massacre of innocent Israeli civilians, including Jewish women, children, and even infants burned and mutilated. The statement went on to rebuke UC leadership for its public comments condemning Hamas.
This same Faculty Council is attempting to get UC to adopt an ethnic studies admission requirement that will force every high school in the state to offer ethnic studies courses developed by their members. These courses will undoubtedly contain material that provides a one-sided, biased and hateful narrative about Israel and Jews, is laden with anti-Zionism, and will incite antisemitic animus and behavior towards Jewish students.
AMCHA exposed the UC Ethnic Studies Faculty Council’s appalling letter to the public and UC last week, and today, 10,000 individuals joined more than 100 organizations in demanding UC reject their admissions requirement proposal. The petition was just launched a few days ago and remains open and continues to grow by the day.
The following petition was sent from the signatories to the UC Regents, UC President Drake and all UC Chancellors:
“We, the undersigned University of California stakeholders and supporters, strongly condemn the UC Ethnic Studies Faculty Council's appalling letter justifying Hamas’ massacre, torture and kidnapping of Israeli citizens and 'celebrating' BDS. We stand united with 115 organizations that wrote to you recently, urging you to reject the Faculty Council’s proposal for a UC ethnic studies admissions requirement. If approved, the proposal will force every high school in the state to offer ethnic studies courses based on criteria developed by members of the Faculty Council, which has also openly declared that anti-Zionism should be one of the 'animating commitments' of high school ethnic studies curricula.
“We wholeheartedly agree with the 115 groups that, 'UC faculty who cannot acknowledge that the Hamas massacre is terrorism and a crime against humanity, and who state that anti-Zionism and the elimination of the Jewish state is a core value of their discipline, must not be trusted to establish state-wide ethnic studies standards for California students.'
“We urge you to immediately reject the Ethnic Studies Faculty Council's proposal for a UC ethnic studies admissions requirement (Area H Ethnic Studies).”
AMCHA Initiative is a non-partisan, non-profit organization dedicated to combating antisemitism at colleges and universities in the United States. The organization monitors more than 450 campuses for antisemitic activity, as defined by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) and the U.S. government. AMCHA is not a pro-Israel advocacy organization, nor does it take a position on current or past Israeli government policies; criticism of Israel that does not meet the IHRA and U.S. government criteria is not considered antisemitic by the organization. AMCHA has recorded more than 5,000 antisemitic incidents on college campuses since 2015 which can be accessed through its Antisemitism Tracker.