UCLA CHANCELLOR BLOCK AND THANKING LA CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS

 

AMCHA MEETS WITH UCLA CHANCELLOR BLOCK & 7 GROUPS COMMEND LA CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS ON RESOLUTION FIGHTING SJP ANTISEMITISM, URGE CHAIR FOR A SWIFT VOTE 

 

 

Take Action: Call Chancellor Block at 310-825-2151 or email chancellor@ucla.edu to urge him to adopt AMCHA’s recommendations: 1) that SJP be investigated and sanctioned if found in violation of UC policy, and 2) that policies be established for prohibiting student groups from engaging in behavior targeting any member of the campus community for harassment, discrimination, bullying or defamation.

UCLA Chancellor Gene Block

In a recent bulletin, we updated you about Chancellor Block and President Napolitano’s condemnation of the controversial and antisemitic ‘ethics pledge’ promoted by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at UCLA, and SJP’s harassment and intimidation tactics. Your phone calls and emails were an important part of the encouragement needed for the issuance of their condemnations. However, there is more to be done, and we need your help once again.

On Friday June 6th, Tammi Rossman-Benjamin of AMCHA Initiative, Dumisani Washington of Institute for Black Solidarity with Israel, and Sam Levine of Zionist Organization of America, met with UCLA Chancellor Block and members of his administrative staff regarding the matter of the antisemitic harassment, intimidation, and bullying of Jewish and pro-Israel students at UCLA by members of that campus’ SJP group.

At the meeting, we provided Chancellor Block with documents showing that SJP is the only university-funded student organization at UCLA whose very mission targets an ethnic minority for hatred and vilification and whose activities routinely harass, intimidate, threaten and seek to silence members of that ethnic minority on campus, and may well be in violation of university policy and the law. We recommended that SJP be investigated and sanctioned if found in violation of University policy, and that policies be established for prohibiting registered student groups from engaging in behavior targeting any member of the campus community for harassment, discrimination, bullying or defamation.

Council members of the City of Los Angeles have also joined in the fight against SJP’s antisemitism. A resolution entitled “Student Protection from Intimidation and Harassment,” presented by Council Member 3rd District Bob Blumenfield and seconded by six other Council members, was recently submitted to the Rules, Elections and Intergovernmental Relations Committee and is awaiting approval by the full City Council. We believe this resolution will help ensure that no student will be intimidated, harassed or bullied at the University of California.

AMCHA, along with six other groups, signed a letter thanking the Council members and urging the Chair to bring it to a swift vote. You may see the letter HERE.

Take Action: Call Chancellor Block at 310-825-2151 or email chancellor@ucla.edu to urge him to adopt AMCHA’s recommendations: 1) that SJP be investigated and sanctioned if found in violation of UC policy, and 2) that policies be established for prohibiting student groups from engaging in behavior targeting any member of the campus community for harassment, discrimination, bullying or defamation.

Thank you for your actions to protect Jewish students.

Warm regards,

AMCHA Initiative
 

[/ezcol_3fifth]