Davis City Council adopts recommendations on bias against Muslims, Arabs and Palestinians

The recommendations led to a packed hall and discourse amongst community members

By MADELYN SEVIGNY — city@theaggie.org

On April 28, the Davis City Council adopted three of the six recommendations made by the Human Relations Commission (HRC) aimed at combating discrimination of Muslims, Arabs, Palestinians and Allies (MAPA), following the HRC’s subcommittee report on MAPA residents’ experiences in Davis.

Many individuals from the Davis and Greater Sacramento area shared their opinions surrounding the MAPA report and the impacts of the city council adopting the HRC’s recommendations, with public comment lasting over three hours and the crowd spilling out of the council chambers.

The HRC formed two subcommittees in October 2024 — one to study the experiences of MAPA residents and one on antisemitism. The MAPA subcommittee completed the MAPA report in April 2025.

The report is a qualitative climate survey, which includes hundreds of conversations and reviewed videos, photos and screenshots from social media stories and posts. The subcommittee spoke with and surveyed residents, Davis Joint Unified School District (DJUSD) parents and staff and UC Davis faculty, staff and students.

MAPA residents reported a climate of discrimination, fear of retaliation, feeling silenced and erased and feeling frustrated with other’s acceptance or intimidation they faced, as noted in the report. 

The HRC then gave six recommendations to the Davis City Council, including: acknowledgement of anti-MAPA discrimination; commitment to free speech; city staff to set up meetings with UC Davis and the DJUSD to discuss next steps; city commitment to anti-Palestinian and anti-Muslim bias training for staff and council; and making requests to UC Davis and DJUSD to make statements on MAPA discrimination in Davis.

City staff offered a modified list of recommendations, opting to acknowledge discrimination in all forms and emphasize political expression as constitutionally protected, leaving out the specific mentions of MAPA in the HRC’s recommendations and not requiring any policy action.

Supporters of the HRC’s recommendations called the staff recommendations watered down, while opponents agreed with the viewpoint of neutrality. 

Nick Buxton, a Davis resident, supported the recommendations as written by the HRC, explaining that they would not be controversial if they pertained to any other minority community in Davis.

“Who can be opposed to recommendations which acknowledge discrimination, assert our constitutional right to free speech and propose more education and training to address gaps that exist?” Buxton said. “I realize for the city councilors, the answer might be to sidestep these issues or to follow the city staff recommendations while saying that ‘all lives matter,’ but that would not be a solution because that would be another act of erasure.”

Opponents of the recommendations questioned the validity of the MAPA report. 

J.J. Surbeck, a Davis resident, spoke about the report’s sample size and mentioned that the report did not include the dissenting opinion.

“Anti-Muslim bigotry is real, and it deserves attention,” Surbeck said. “But the MAPA report is not the way to go about it. [...] The report claims hundreds of conversations when in fact there were only 43 respondents, anonymous and unverified, and only 12 identified as Muslim, Arab or Palestinian [...] The commission [also] silenced its own dissent.”

Amir Kol, a member of the HRC, wrote a dissenting opinion to the HRC’s recommendations, which was published in the Davis Vanguard on April 28. Multiple members of the community also stated that international affairs are not something the Davis City Council should address.

“Gaza is not this council’s business,” Surbeck said. “Either this council takes up every human rights crisis in the world or it tends exclusively to Davis issues.”

A UC Davis student, who identified himself as Thomas, provided an opinion.

“The protection of the dignity and rights of all people in a community will always be city business,” Thomas said.

Many members of the Jewish community, including student groups such as Hillel and Aggies for Israel, spoke about discrimination they have faced since Oct. 7, 2023 and argued that the recommendations put collective moral blame for anti-MAPA discrimination onto the Jewish community.

Davis resident Alan Brownstein stated that the report also ignores antisemitism.

“If you adopt the recommendations, you would be slapping the Jewish community of Davis,” Brownstein said. “The MAPA report harms the Jewish community.” 

Ellie Kaplan, member of the HRC and MAPA report co-author, expressed their disagreement with Brownstein. 

“It is not antisemitic to support Palestinian justice or MAPA community members,” Kaplan said.

After the public comment period, the Davis City Council deliberated on the MAPA report and expressed their opinions on the issues discussed.

Davis Mayor Donna Neville stated that the council was not voting on the MAPA report, but rather on the individual recommendations. She also reviewed the impacts of each recommendation.

“There’s been a lot of confusion about the recommendations we have been asked to take up,” Neville said. “Nothing in this recommendation would create greater legal protections for one group over those or those of another.” 

Councilmember Bapu Vaitla expressed support for recommendations one, two and four as written, echoing Neville’s point that recognizing anti-MAPA discrimination does not mean discounting antisemitism. The recommendations accepted were to acknowledge anti-MAPA discrimination and make a commitment to free speech (including pro-Palestinian speech) and a City of Davis commitment to anti-Palestinian and anti-Muslim bias training for staff and council.

“This is really about the fears, the anxieties, the sadness that comes out of the Oct. 7 [incident] and Israel’s response,” Vaitla said. “[On] Oct. 7, 1,200 people [were] brutally killed, acts of sexual violence were widespread, over 250 people were taken hostage by a terrorist group. [...] Subsequently, the Israeli government has killed 70,000 people, [...] other independent bodies would put that upwards of 100,000 [...] This is the context against which people feel pain, sorrow, sadness and discrimination. [...] I have no problem in saying that Israel is responsible for genocide.”

About a dozen attendees got up and left the meeting in protest after Vaitla said that the death toll in Gaza amounted to genocide.

At the end of the meeting, the council unanimously approved Vaitla’s motion to accept recommendations one, two and four, leaving out three, five and six, which pertained to cooperation with UC Davis and DJUSD on the issue of anti-MAPA discrimination. The council later unanimously passed another motion presented by Councilmember Linda Deos, which affirmed a commitment to combat antisemitism and all other forms of discrimination.

“This is the beginning of an ongoing conversation,” Neville said. “We have a lot of work to do as a community — there are hard conversations we have to have.”

Written By: Madelyn Sevigny — city@theaggie.org