A pro-Israel group says California school leaders must vote to authenticate the hostile experiences that Jewish students have faced on university campuses.
The University of California President Mark G. Yudof's Advisory Council on Campus Climate will decide whether to accept a report on the challenges and positive experiences of Jewish students on UC campuses. Dr. Roberta Seid of StandWithUs reports that anti-Israel activists contend the report is not valid and are calling on the council to dismiss it.
"It's kind of shocking that they would even reject the report or advocate rejecting the report, because all it does is describe the experiences, the painful experiences of Jewish students on campus," she details. "And we believe that it reflects validly the experience of these students."
The report outlines instances of political controversy and hostility against Jewish students on UC campuses and calls for changes to ensure that Jewish students are protected from discrimination, bias, intimidation and bigotry.
"So, it's really important to us that this report be accepted, because it confirms the authenticity and validity of Jewish students' experiences, these painful experiences they have," Dr. Seid offers, "and also because it would be very valuable as a model for other campuses across the country to ensure that there is intelligent and reasoned debate on campus, no matter how contentious the issue."
The Advisory Council's vote will take place at the end of October.