Urge the UC Regents to adopt the Statement of Principles Against Intolerance

Please add your name to the petition, initiated by the AMCHA initiative endorsing the UC Regents Report condemning anti-Zionism.

In response to the alarming escalation of anti-Semitism at the University of California, the UC Regents Working Group recently released its Report and Statement of Principles Against Intolerance that includes strong introductory language in the Report condemning anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism such as:

"Anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism and other forms of discrimination have no place at the University of California."

We need your help to support the efforts of the UC Regents Working Group. The vote on the adoption of the full Report will be next week, March 23rd at UCSF. We hope this action will help return our campuses to places that respect and value diversity and where all students feel safe.

Please Sign & Share this petition with other UC students, parents, faculty, alumni and stakeholders.

You'll be in good company

The following organizations have endorsed the full Report:

• Academic Engagement  Network
• Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity (AEPi)
• Alums for Campus Fairness
• AMCHA Initiative
• AMCHA UCLA Alumni
• American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists
• American Institute for Jewish Research
• American Jewish Committee (AJC)
• Americans for Peace and Tolerance
• Anti-Defamation League (ADL)
• Association of Reform Zionists of America (ARZA)
• BEAR: Bias Education, Advocacy & Resources
• Club Z
• Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA)
• CUFI on Campus
• Davis Faculty for Israel
• Eagles Wings
• Endowment for Middle East Truth (EMET)
• Fuel For Truth
• Hasbara Fellowships
• Hillel International
• Institute for Black Solidarity with Israel
• Iranian American Jewish Federation
• Israel Action Network, Partnership of the Jewish Federations of North America and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs
• Israel Peace Initiative (IPI)
• Israeli-American Council (IAC)
• Jerusalem U
• Jewish Community Relations Council of San Francisco- Peninsula, Marin, Sonoma, Alameda  and Contra  Costa Counties
• Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles
• Jewish Federation of Orange County
• Jewish Law Students Association at UCLA
• Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa (JIMENA)
• Middle East Political and Information Network (MEPIN)
• National Conference on Jewish Affairs
• Proclaiming Justice to the Nations
• Project Genesis
• Scholars for Peace in the Middle East
• Sigma Alpha Epsilon Pi
• Simon Wiesenthal Center
• StandWithUs
• Stop BDS on Campus
• Students and Parents Against Campus Anti-Semitism
• Students Supporting Israel at UCLA
• The Israel Christian Nexus
• The Israel Group
• Training and Education About the Middle East (T.E.A.M.)
• Zionist Organization of America

The petition can be found here

Urge the UC regents to Adopt the State Department Definiton of Anti-Semitism

Our friend J.J. Surbeck has sent around a reminder for Californians to sign petition urging the UC Regents to adopt the State Department definition of anti-semitism (found here)

If you have not signed one of the three petitions listed below (depending on which category you belong to), PLEASE do so now! They were prepared by Tammi Benjamin and we need to have many more signatures before the UC Board of Regents meets in two weeks to discuss the adoption of the State Department definition of what constitutes anti-Semitism. 

PLEASE, take the short time needed for you to figure out in which of the three categories below you belong, and if it turns out that you are neither UC student or administration, UC faculty, or an attorney, that means that you belong to the first category (UC Stakeholders) as a community member. Sign the petition and send this message to everyone you know, asking them to do the same. Thank you!

And please read this excellent article by Leila Beckwith, co-founder with Tammi Benjamin of the AMCHA Initiative  that explains why the adoption of this definition is so important.

a) Petition for UC Stakeholders (including those with UC affiliation and community members):  http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/2156845/UC-Must-Adopt-U-S-State-Department-Definition-of-Anti-Semitism 

b) Petition for UC Faculty: http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/2196534/UC-Faculty-Support-UC-Adoption-of-the-U-S-State-Department-Definition-of-Anti-Semitism 

c) Petition for Attorneys: http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/2200863/Attorneys-Support-UC-Adoption-of-the-U-S-State-Department-Definition-of-Anti-Semitism 

UC President Janet Napolitano supports adopting state department definition of antisemitism

In an interview on Boston Public Radio, University of California President Janet Napolitano said she supported adopting the state Department definition of antisemitism,

In July. the Board of Regents will vote on whether the University of California should adopt the State Department’s definition of anti-Semitism.

Tammi Rossman Benjamin of the AMCHA initiative quickly responded

“We strongly commend Janet Napolitano for joining three UC student governments and the California Senate in understanding that we must implement our government’s definition of antisemitism on campus to identify and address antisemitic behavior with the same vigor as all other forms of bigotry"

This discussion takes place in the wake of many antisemitic incidents and after months of escalating tensions on California campuses.

Cindy Shamban, of Jewish Voice for Peace spoke against adopting the definition,  claiming it would “silence legitimate criticisms of Israel”

 Even with JVP’s warped sensibilities,  how could they possibly consider any of this “legitimate criticism” of Israel?

•UC Berkeley: Graffiti  “Zionists should be sent to the gas chamber” was found on a bathroom wall March 2 after an anti-Israel protest.

•UCLA: Four student senators who sponsored a successful divestment resolution argued in February that a candidate for a student board was ineligible because she was Jewish. She was rejected in one vote and accepted in a second after a professor intervened.

•UC Santa Cruz: A Hillel sponsored event had to be moved on Jan. 27 after repeated threats .

•UC Davis: Graffiti  “Grout out the Jews” was found in a bathroom at Hillel. Swastikas were painted on a Jewish fraternity after a  BDS vote.

•UC Santa Barbara:  Flyers appeared on campus blaming Jews for 9/11.

For more information, see: 

UC President Napolitano Supports Adopting State Department Definition of Antisemitism

150+ California Rabbis and Faculty Call on UC to Address Antisemitism

How can you help? 

Are you a University of California stakeholder? A taxpayer, a student, an alumni? Please consider signing this petition to the UC Regents. urging them to adopt the State department definition of antisemitism