UC Board of Regents issues statement to tackle anti-Semitism on campus

As of 2016, five University of California campuses ranked in the top ten most anti-Semitic universities in the United States.

The study was conducted by AMCHA Initiative in an effort to target the schools that had the most overall anti-Semitism, the highest incidence targeting, the highest incidence of anti-Semitic expression and the highest incidence of Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS) activity.

The study went on to say that UC schools had three times the number of anti-Semitic incidents than the average university in the country. In addition, UC Davis landed in all four categories for the most anti-Semitic universities.

This surge in anti-Semitism comes on the heels of the recent passage of ASUCD Senate Resolution (S.R.) #9, which passed on Jan. 29, 2015 with an 8-2-2 vote. The resolution called for the UC Board of Regents to divest from “corporations that aid in the Israeli occupation of Palestine and illegal settlements in Palestinian territories, violating both international humanitarian law and international human rights.”

Shortly after the passage of this resolution, two anti-Semitic incidents that occurred at UC Davis.

The passage of S.R. #9 is one of many across universities all over the country in support of the BDS movement against Israel. The BDS movement at UC Davis has been endorsed by groups such as Students for Justice in Palestine, Jewish Students for Peace and Davis Stands with Ferguson.

A few months ago, in Oct. 2015, the three groups mentioned above held a demonstration at the quad to commemorate the 1953 Qibya massacre.

Kyla Burke, a fifth-year environmental science major and central organizer of Davis Stands with Ferguson, was one of the students who attended the demonstration.

“Personally, what I spoke about that day was the connection between and the similarities between the Palestinian struggle and the Black American struggle, living in systems of oppression. There are some similarities, but that’s mainly what I spoke about — standing in solidarity for each other,” Burke said at the demonstration.

AMCHA Initiative claims that the increase of anti-Semitic incidents and anti-Semitism as a whole are directly correlated with the promotion of the BDS movement and the denigration and delegitimization of the Jewish state of Israel or anti-Zionism.

“99 percent of schools with one or more active anti-Zionist groups had one or more incidents of anti-Semitic activity, whereas only 16 percent of schools with no active anti-Zionist student group had incidents of overall anti-Semitic activity,” AMCHA said in their study.

Benjamin Shapiro, a UCLA alumnus, echoed this sentiment and argued during a divestment event at UCLA that BDS was just another word for anti-Semitism.

“I have never been more ashamed to be an alumnus of this university to see this divestment petition be considered at this level. To pretend that this is about occupation. To pretend that this is about peace. To pretend that this is about anything but vile and despicable Jew-hatred is a lie,” Shapiro said in his speech. “For us to sit here and pretend that Israel is somehow on a lower moral plane is a direct manifestation of anti-Semitism. To hold Jews to a different moral standard than any other country or any other group on the face of the earth represents nothing but an age-old and historic hatred for the Jewish people.”

Many world leaders tend to agree with Shapiro’s stance of supporting the state of Israel, including Pope Francis and British Prime Minister David Cameron.

“This is a state, a democracy that is recognized by the United Nations, and I don’t think we should be tolerant of this effort at delegitimization,” Cameron told The Atlantic. “I have a very clear view, which is that if you disagree with the policies of Israel, fine, say so, but that is never a reason to take that out on Jewish communities. We have to be very clear about threats — this is a dangerous line that people keep crossing over, that says that anti-Zionism is a legitimate form of political discourse.”

In response to this rise of anti-Semitism at UCs, the Board of Regents recently adopted a statement condemning anti-Semitism and is the first major university to do so since the push to economically divest from Israel.

“Anti-Semitism, anti-Semitic forms of anti-Zionism and other forms of discrimination have no place at the University of California,” the Board of Regents said in their statement.

According to the New York Times, there has been some protest from pro-Palestine groups on UC campuses, claiming that the UC’s position is forcing them to stay silent about their advocacy for the Palestinian people in addition to being a stifling of free speech.

However, there are many pro-Israel supporters who have found some common ground with anti-Israel and pro-Palestine activists. Eugene Volokh, a law professor at UCLA and supporter of Israel, claims that, while he is pro-Israel and does believe much of anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism, it is wrong of the UC to ban or condemn anti-Zionist speech.

“Whether the Jewish people should have an independent state in Israel is a perfectly legitimate question to discuss,” Volokh wrote in The Washington Post. “Sometimes the answer might be ‘Yes.’ Sometimes it might be ‘No.’ Sometimes the answer might be ‘It depends.’ But there’s no uncontroversial principle on which these questions can be decided. They have to be constantly up for inquiry and debate, especially in places that are set up for inquiry and debate: universities.”

Written by: Sangeetha Ramamurthy – campus@theaggie.org

Pressure increases for Katehi to appear at a final press conference with protesters at Mrak Hall on April 1

At 1 p.m. on March 30, occupiers from the sit-in at Mrak Hall halted a private meeting between Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi and ASUCD officials at Meeting Room 1 in the Activities and Recreation Center (ARC).

About 15 protesters gathered outside of the meeting room, demanding that Chancellor Katehi either come outside to speak to them publicly or allow the protesters to enter the room and join the conversation.

Marco Antonio Rosales, a history Ph.D. student who has been part of the ongoing 20-day sit-in, said that Chancellor Katehi, as an important public figure, has made mistakes in both her professional career as chancellor and meeting with ASUCD behind closed doors.

“When someone in her position makes a mistake, it is her responsibility to address the concerns of the people she’s supposed to serve; she has failed to do so,” Rosales said. “We have called for her to speak to the protestors and the student body for 20 days now. What she has done instead is to meet behind closed doors with people [ASUCD] who do not represent […] the group of people who have been calling to hold her more accountable, namely the 100 protesters.”

Katehi has tried on a few occasions to address the protesters and the student body, though not directly facing the protestors by herself. On Mar. 15, five days into the sit-in, Katehi, Associate Vice Chancellor Milton Lang and two other faculty members met with the protestors on the fifth floor of Mrak, but left approximately five minutes into the conversation after Katehi deferred to the faculty members to speak on her behalf.

On Mar. 17, Katehi sent out an email to the student body clarifying her resignation from DeVry’s board of education and her past involvements on the board of John Wiley and Sons, a private corporation that produces and sells textbooks, and the board of King Abdulaziz University.

The protesters and many other members of the student body claim that these modes of communication are inadequate ways for Katehi to address their concerns. According to Rosales, the protestors demand a direct, face-to-face conversation with Katehi herself.

During the meeting at the ARC today, Katehi and ASUCD began negotiating with the protesters to join the meeting since they couldn’t proceed with the loud banging on the door.

“Both ASUCD and Chancellor Katehi had invited the protesters to join them in the meeting,” said Dana Topousis, the director of UC Davis News and Media Relations, in an email. “They had full confidence that the protesters would engage in a conversation today. The protesters chose not to participate, unfortunately. Chancellor Katehi continues to seek opportunities to have a meaningful conversation with the protesters, as she does with all students.”

According to ASUCD President Alex Lee, who served as the main facilitator of this meeting, two of the protesters were invited to this meeting for the group’s representation, but they did not show up when the meeting began.

When the protesters began banging on the doors of the meeting room, President Lee and two other senators began negotiating with the protesters outside of the room, offering only ten of them to come in due to fire hazard concerns or some of the occupiers to replace the seats of senators.

The protesters rejected both offers, demanding that all of them should be let in.

Finally, President Lee, Katehi and the rest of the administration agreed to allow all 15 protesters to join the meeting under the condition that they could not record the conversation. They declined this final offer and demanded Katehi to appear at a press conference on their own terms.

“There was no point in continuing the meeting,” Lee said. “The protesters told me, ‘If you’re a real student leader, you would walk out of that room and end the meeting.’ […] I said to the administration, ‘This is how they feel. I don’t think we can have a productive meeting at all.”

With all parties agreeing that the meeting could not proceed, Lee first had the administration leave, followed by the Senate, who were ill at ease from the loud banging, according to Lee.

The only items discussed during the approximate 15 minutes of the meeting were the community rules, which are the basic logistics of how the meeting should proceed.

As a final effort to communicate with the chancellor, protesters invited Katehi to join them in a press conference to address the student body on Friday, April 1, according to a video posted on the Fire Katehi Facebook Page.

Written by: Julian Leus – campus@theaggie.org

$10.5 million in grant aid to be available to students with need

UC Davis will be offering a record $10.5 million in total grant aid to students with financial need for both of this year’s Summer Sessions.

Provost Ralph Hexter approved an additional $1.9 million in aid from the provost budget for the Summer Sessions, bringing the total available to students to $10.5 million.

“What the provost is guaranteeing, and this is first time that we’ve had this, they are guaranteeing that any student who is eligible for aid and is needy, will receive financial aid in the summer,” said Deborah Agee, director of UC Davis financial aid and scholarships.

According to Agee, financial aid was previously distributed on a first-come, first-serve basis, but with the additional funds, all students eligible for aid will receive financial assistance.

“In the past, what would happen is we had this limited amount of funds […] Those funds would get used up pretty quickly — maybe within two days,” Agee said. “If we use up that [1.9 million], we will receive additional money depending on the amount of need our students show.”

This funding is an effort on Hexter’s part to see students graduate on time and spend less on their education. Hexter’s hopes are reflected in student opinions.

“I just kind of wanted to get ahead in my classes and not have to worry about them during the school year because a couple of them are kind of trickier,” said Sarina Rodriguez, a second-year neurobiology, physiology and behavior major who will be attending classes in the summer. “I probably wouldn’t do Summer Session if there was no financial aid available, to be honest. It would be too much.”

For Vrinda Gupta, a first-year undeclared student, a lack of financial aid is a deciding factor as to whether or not to attend Summer Session.

“Not having financial aid can be a problem too,” Gupta said. “I definitely considered it. I definitely made sure to go through the process, talk to my parents about it. […] I have a couple scholarships. But they are not a significant amount of money.”

Even though Gupta isn’t receiving any aid from the university, she still thinks that the benefits of taking Summer Session are greater than the monetary costs. For Gupta, summer session allows her to explore her studies without sacrificing time during the regular school year.

“I’m planning on taking Spanish and cultural anthropology because I want to switch to the College of Letters and Science,” Gupta said. “I want to have more experience with courses in the humanities. So I felt like it would be best to get those over with before sophomore year rolls around.”
To qualify for Summer Session financial aid, students must demonstrate financial need, be registered for at least six units across both sessions and meet other general financial aid requirements.

Written by: Kenton Goldsby – campus@theaggie.org