More than 4,000 students, parents, alumni and faculty have signed a petition urging the University of California Board of Regents to address findings in a recent report by the AMCHA Initiative alleging that faculty activism has contributed to rising Jew-hatred across the public university system.
The petition, which JNS reviewed exclusively, calls on the regents to “stop faculty and academic units from using UC authority, resources, classrooms and UC-branded platforms to advance political advocacy as institutional practice,” including by enforcing and, if necessary, strengthening existing university policies.
“This is not about policing faculty speech,” the petition states. “It is about enforcing the crucial boundary between private speech and institutional advocacy.” It adds that when that boundary erodes, “academic norms break down, and students face harassment, intimidation and exclusion,” and urges the regents to place the report on the agenda for their next meeting. (JNS sought comment from the University of California system.)
The watchdog group’s report argues that faculty and academic departments have played a central role in campus activism related to Israel and in what it describes as a surge in antisemitic incidents since the Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, citing documented examples across multiple campuses.
Separately, more than 350 current and former University of California scholars and 124 organizations, many of them Jewish groups, have sent letters calling on the regents to discuss and act on the report’s findings.
Around 350 former and current UC scholars and 124 organizations, many of which are Jewish, have also called on the regents to act on the AMCHA report.
The regents are scheduled to meet on March 17–18.
