SAN DIEGO (SDJW) — A coalition of 90 groups, many of them Jewish, has called on California Gov. Gavin Newsom to veto a bill by Assemblywoman Shirley Weber (D-San Diego) that would mandate students take an ethnic studies course in order to graduate from the California State University (CSU) system. Specifically, the bill would require a course be taken in any of the following four areas: African-American Studies, Asian-American Studies, Latinx Studies, and Native American Studies.
An alternative proposal has already been approved by the Board of Trustees of the State College System. It would permit students to choose among those groups, or other groups that have historically struggled in the United States, among them Women, LGBTQ, Jews, and Muslims.
Whereas the university system’s concept promotes an understanding of diversity, said Tammi Rossman-Benjamin, Weber’s bill (AB 1460) tends to encourage programs in which faculty members have taken stances promoting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel and have engaged in anti-Zionist activity.
“While faculty have every right to engage in political advocacy and activism outside the university, recent studies suggest that many Critical Ethnic Studies faculty are bringing their extramural support for BDS and their anti-Zionist politics into their conference halls and classrooms,” wrote the organizations. “And this type of anti-Zionist political activism directly corresponds to a rise in anti-Semitic incidents on campus,” said Rossman-Benjamin, the director of AMCHA Initiative, which coordinated this letter.
In another development in the university world, StandWithUs and the Israeli-American Council issued statements commending Florida State University President John Thrasher’s decision to appoint a task force to develop recommendations for improving Jewish student life on campus.
Additionally the Florida State University administration, along with the student body executive cabinet and the student senate all embraced the definition of antisemitism articulated by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), which states: “Anti-Semitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews.” More detailed guidance on this, released by the IHRA in May, said this could include criticisms which target Israel, if this was “conceived as a Jewish collectivity”
“We applaud President Thrasher and the FSU administration for these crucial steps in supporting Jewish students and for committing to these actions as ‘a top priority,’” said Sara Gold Rafel, Executive Director of StandWithUs Southeast. “We agree with President Thrasher’s position that just as the ‘freedom of speech is of paramount importance on a college campus, so is creating a climate of acceptance and appreciation for the value and richness of the many cultures and ideas’ that make for ‘an excellent academic experience,’” added Carly Gammill, Director of the StandWithUs Center for Combating Antisemitism.
The Israeli-American Council said FSU is “setting a leading example for universities acrosss the U.S. in how to combat the ongoing rise in antisemitic incidents, harassment, discrimination and the overall normalization of antisemitism on campus. We hope that administrations across the country will choose to address the issues that Jewish students face on campus today, by taking similar steps in providing a safer campus experience for our students.”
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Preceding provided by StandWithUs and Israeli-American Council