U. California Ethnic Studies Dept. Faces a Possible Investigation Over Anti-Israel Propaganda

U. California Ethnic Studies Dept. Faces a Possible Investigation Over Anti-Israel Propaganda

If you look at this letter, you’ll see that the Legal Insurrection Foundation is one of the signatories.

The AMCHA Initiative put out this press release:

Over 100 Civil Rights and Education Watchdogs Call for Investigation of University of California Ethnic Studies Department

Citing newly released evidence that faculty at the University of California are using their official faculty positions and resources to promote anti-Israel propaganda, in violation of University policy and California law, 115 non-profit advocacy organizations called on the University of California Regents to investigate.

“We are 115 education, civil rights and religious organizations, who are deeply concerned about the relentless promotion of anti-Zionist propaganda and activism by the Critical Race and Ethnic Studies (CRES) department at UC Santa Cruz, that appears to be in flagrant violation of UC policy and California law,” wrote the groups in the letter organized by AMCHA Initiative that was sent to the Regents today.  Some of the other signatories include the AJCs of Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco; B’nai B’rith International; the Brandeis Center; California Association of Scholars; Hillel at Davis and Sacramento; Hillel of Silicon Valley; Inland and Desert Hillel; Grandchildren of Holocaust Survivors; Simon Wiesenthal Center; The Daniel Pearl Foundation; and the World Jewish Congress North America.

The organizations are referencing evidence exposed last week by antisemitism watchdog, AMCHA Initiative, documenting how CRES faculty have, in their official capacities, engaged in anti-Israel political advocacy and activism. Some of the incidents unveiled include: blaming Israel for the Hamas massacre and calling Israel’s defensive measures a “genocide”; incorporating anti-Zionist propaganda, including clear falsehoods, into their teaching and teacher training programs; shutting down their department as part of a “Global General Strike” against Israel and calling for students to boycott their classes; and promoting and participating in the “Shut It Down for Palestine” protest rally of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) that illegally blocked access to the campus. Even after a clear warning from the UCSC Provost highlighting UC policies proscribing political advocacy and activism “in the classroom and other instructional spaces,” CRES faculty doubled-down on their political activities, recently announcing on their university website the launch of Faculty for Justice in Palestine (FJP), a group designed to serve as the faculty-arm of SJP.

The organizations note recent statements by government officials and UC leaders acknowledging that faculty who use their university positions and public resources to promote anti-Zionist propaganda and activism are responsible for inciting campus antisemitism, and they recognize that such behavior violates University regulations and the law, and must be stopped. In a letter to the leaders of California’s public universities and colleges, Governor Newsom remarked, “Antisemitism globally and at home has proliferated at a shocking speed and scale. And some faculty have inflamed the discourse with violent rhetoric…This is unacceptable and demands action.”

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