More outcry against UC teaching assistants’ BDS stand

Richard Bloom
Richard Bloom

LOS ANGELES (SDJW) — State Assemblyman Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica) on Thursday, Dec. 11, sought assurances from University of California. President Janet Napolitano that neither teaching assistants nor faculty members will be permittted to interject anti-Israel political advocacy into their classrooms.

At the same time, the Anti Defamation League issued a statement saying that the vote by teaching assistants will “deepen divisions between Israelis and Palestinians and make the possibility of reconciliation less likely.”

Bloom wrote that the vote on Wednesday, Dec. 10,  of United Auto Workers 2865, a unit representing graduate teaching assistants at the nine University of California campuses, to support boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel “is consistent with a dramatic spike in anti-Semitism and anti-Israel activity on campuses in California and across the country. Promotion of BDS by faculty has been behind much of the problem. Faculty who misuse the university in this way contribute to a hostile and threatening environment for many Jewish students, who have reported feeling harassed, intimidated and isolated by their professors.

“For this reason, I greatly appreciate that Provost Dorr took the time to explicity remind all chancellors that the Regents Policy on Course Content prohibits UAW graduate student instructors from promoting BDS and anti-Israel propaganda in the classroom. Earlier this week, in a letter authored by Tammi Benjamin of AMCHA, 22 education, civil rights and Jewish advocacy organizations wrote to you asking if the Regents Policy on Course Content also applies to UC faculty. I join in asking that question. The classroom must be a place where all views are welcomed and all students feel they can have a voice. The classroom should not be a soapbox for a professor’s political advocacy.”

In its statement, the ADL also said that the BDS vote “undermines and contradicts the spirit of solidarity that exists among the members of the labor movement in the United States and Israel.

Writing to Dennis Williams, International President of the United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, ADL asked the labor leader to condemn the vote of the  teaching assistants’ local.

The organization also questioned whether the UAW referendum were conducted fairly, given that only 2,168 votes were cast out of a possible 52,000 graduate students who reportedly were eligible to vote.

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Preceding based on information provided by Assemblyman Bloom and by the ADL