hr 35

SJP-West Statement on Dismissal of Title VI Claims at 3 UC Schools

Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapters on the West Coast celebrate the U.S. Department of Education’s (DOE’s) dismissal of Title VI claims against three University of California schools, UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz, and UC Irvine, alleging that activism supportive of Palestinian human rights creates a hostile educational environment for Jewish students. These accusations were only the latest episode in a long series of attacks against Palestine solidarity activists that aim to intimidate, censor, and smear speech in support of Palestinian freedom and equality.

In an attempt to stifle Palestine solidarity activism, these Title VI complaints repeated the tired claim that supporting Palestinian human rights or voicing criticism of Israel’s policies is inherently anti-Semitic. As such, the Jewish community on campus was incorrectly portrayed as uniformly supportive of Israeli state policies in order to support the argument that pro-Palestine speech creates a hostile environment for the Jewish community. In fact, SJP chapters have a long track record of opposing all bigotry, including anti-Jewish bigotry, on campus.

We view this attempt to use the Civil Rights Act to limit students’ ability to speak out for the rights of oppressed groups as a perversion of the spirit of the law and the cause of equality and justice that undergirds it. We are pleased that the Department of Education dismissed all three cases, finding that the allegations either lacked merit or were examples of speech “that a reasonable student in higher education may experience.” These findings echo the department’s 2007 conclusions from UC Irvine, which stated that “speeches, articles, marches, symbols, and other events at issue were not based on the national origin of the Jewish students, but rather based on opposition to the policies of Israel.” The dismissals finally lift a threat that has been hanging over our universities since 2004, when the first complaint to the DOE was made against UC Irvine.

Such complaints, and the years-long DOE investigations, contributed to a devastating chilling effect on student activists and organizations, and led to unwarranted scrutiny of constitutionally protected speech by administrators worried about federal investigation. We welcome the dismissal, but hope that DOE will take steps to make sure that such investigations are handled more expeditiously in the future.

These dismissals represent the sixth major victory for SJP’s speech rights on campus in the 2012-2013 academic year:

  • In 2012, Felber v. Yudof, a federal lawsuit filed on similar legal grounds, was settled out of court with no meaningful ramifications, after a federal judge ruled that the complained-of speech activities were constitutionally protected.
  • Recommendations for broad censorship and monitoring of SJP speech made by the Campus Climate Advisory Council have also been effectively stopped.
  • The UC Student Association (UCSA) voted overwhelmingly to condemn California Assembly Resolution HR-35, which endorsed the Campus Climate reports. The UC Berkeley Graduate Student Association and over 1,000 students and recent graduates joined the UCSA in opposing HR 35.
  • Student senates at UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara, and UC Irvine, as well as the UCSA passed resolutions condemning Islamophobic and anti-Palestinian comments made about SJPs and Muslim Students Associations (MSA) by UCSC Lecturer Tammi Rossman-Benjamin.
  • Sadia Saifuddin was confirmed to the position of UC Student Regent without opposition, despite efforts to stop the nomination based on her support for divestment.

While we do not expect that attempts to silence and intimidate SJPs will cease, we are confident that the anti-Palestinian groups that filed these claims can neither successfully silence us nor present the campus community with a viable argument for Israel’s policies of occupation and discrimination. We therefore reaffirm our commitment to speak out for justice in Palestine and will continue to work towards the day that the UC system cuts its financial ties to corporations that profit from the oppression of the Palestinian people.

 

 

 

Sabreen Shalabi on the California Legislature, Appointment of Napolitano as UC President

UC Irvine SJP member Sabreen Shalabi was interviewed by the Electronic Intifada about SJP-West’s response to the California Legislature’s anti-BDS letter and the recent appointment of Janet Napolitano as UC President. You can hear the interview here:

 

Read more about the California Legislators letter here and find our more about the Napolitano appointment at The Electronic Intifada.

Students Respond to California Legislators’ Censorship

July 8, 2013

SJP West (Students for Justice in Palestine)

For Immediate Release:

Billions of US tax dollars and millions of University of California tuition dollars are invested in documented human rights violations in Palestine and Israel–including but not limited to acts of collective punishment, contributing to the illegal separation wall that annexes Palestinian land, operating in illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and discriminating based on race, ethnicity and religion. Over the past year, seven UC campuses brought measures to divest from these documented human rights violations in Palestine before our student senates, including UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UC Santa Barbara, UC Santa Cruz, UC San Diego. These divestment measures–which achieved a majority of ‘yes’ votes in 5 of 7 campuses–represent a growing movement around the state towards accountability to international human rights law and a basic standard of justice.

Yet over the past year, the California State Legislature has taken an increasingly anti-democratic stance against students organizing for universal rights and justice across the state. On May 31, over 30 legislators from the California State Senate and Assembly signed a letter to the University of California Board of Regents and Chair condemning and discouraging divestment measures on our campuses. This is not the first time members of the California State Legislature has tried to silence student democracy: last summer, the State Assembly passed the HR 35 resolution, which labeled criticism of Israel’s illegal and discriminatory policies against Palestinians as “anti-Semitic” and recommended broad censorship measures of UC students and faculty advocating for Palestinian rights and justice.

Our campaigns for justice have been supported by a multitude of groups with actual concerns for these human rights, including but not limited to Arab, Asian, Black, Chicana, Christian, Filipino, Latina, Muslim and indigenous student unions, groups representing justice for queer, working-class, and impoverished people, as well as Jews and Israelis who believe in realizing universal human rights for the Palestinians. To allege that “all sides” are not being heard and that divestment and human rights are “divisive” to our campuses is a cynical erasure of the coalitional unity that all of our campaigns maintain and of the multi-million dollar lobbying apparatus and multi-billion dollar industry involved in US support for Israel’s illegal policies.

The Legislature’s letter was anti-democratic and left us with no time to respond, coming during graduation and the end of the school year for most UC students. We now feel compelled to offer our response. In an effort to demonstrate the duplicitous and deceptive actions of the Legislature, we offer the following signed letter in the words of the Legislature itself (original letter included at the bottom), with alterations when appropriate:

 

July 8 2013

Dear Chair Varner and University of California Board of Regents:

As university students across the State of California, we denounce the California State Legislature for attempting to stifle student movements to divest from companies complicit in documented human rights violations in the occupied territories of Palestine.

We are concerned with the divisive impact on our university campuses caused by the California State Legislature and encourage efforts to engage the community in a more balanced and civil discussion on this issue. We are greatly embarrassed by the statement issued in May 2010 by the UC Regents’ Chair and Vice Chair in conjunction with the UC President, firmly rejecting the notion of divestment from companies complicit in documented human rights violations against the Palestinian people.

The statements and resolutions such as HR 35 that have been sent or passed by various bodies of the California State Senate and Assembly fail to foster dialogue and understanding among those with different opinions. We fear that such campaigns deepen the amount of power levied against the occupied Palestinians by the occupying Israeli military, drawing Palestinians and Israelis further away from universal justice and human rights. We believe that the California State Senate Legislature’s time and resources would be better invested not meddling in student democracy and encourage the legislature to work together in a productive manner.

We believe in free speech and encourage our state legislators to embrace a “true marketplace of ideas,” where all voices on this important issue are adequately weighted. There are so many voices across all of our campuses that have come together in unity around the call for human rights in Palestine. We believe that young leaders in the UC system have tremendous opportunities and motivation to build a better tomorrow. We believe that the acts of the California State Legislature are stifling that potential. We are empowered to advance initiatives that foster peace, justice and reconciliation; unfortunately, the California State Legislature appears to be creating an antagonistic environment for students who support human rights, universal justice and those opposed to the blatant obstruction of these ideals.

Once again, we are shocked and appalled by our elected officials for standing firm in their refusal to divest from to the violation of universal justice and human rights and present this letter as our response to their divisive and conflict-ridden resolutions and statements.

Sincerely,
Students and citizens of California, including:

UC Berkeley Black Student Union
UC Berkeley CalSERVE Board of Directors
UC Berkeley International Socialist Organization
UC Berkeley Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano/xicana de Aztlán
UC Berkeley Pilipino Academic Student Services
UC Berkeley Students for Justice in Palestine
UC Davis Students for Justice in Palestine
UC Irvine Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán
UC Irvine Students for Justice in Palestine
UC Los Angeles Amnesty International
UC Los Angeles Students for Justice in Palestine
UC Los Angeles Muslim Students Association
UC Riverside Students for Justice in Palestine
UC San Diego Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán
UC San Diego Socialists
UC San Diego Students for Justice in Palestine
UC Santa Barbara Students for Justice in Palestine
UC Santa Cruz Committee for Justice in Palestine
Cal Poly Pomona Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán
CSU Fullerton Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán
CSU Fullerton Students for Justice in Palestine
CSU San Marcos Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán
La Mission College Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán
San Diego State Amnesty International
San Diego State Arab Student Association
San Diego State Muslim Student Association
San Diego State Students for Justice in Palestine
San Francisco State General Union of Palestine Students
Santa Monica College Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán
Stanford International Socialist Organization
Stanford Muslim Student Awareness Network
Stanford National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
Stanford Students for Palestinian Equal Rights
Stanford Students Say No To War
USC Students for Justice in Palestine

Joined by more than 800 California residents who have signed JVP’s letter.

Download the PDF of the letter here, and view it below:

Students Respond to CA Legislature Censorship by StanfordSPER

SJP National Voices Support for University of California Organizers

Nearly 50 years ago, students at the University of California fought to win the right to free speech on their campuses. It is deplorable that today, pro-Palestinian students must find themselves fighting once again for their basic rights.

As the Ad Hoc Steering Committee for the National Students for Justice in Palestine Conference, we write to express our solidarity with organizers and academics at California public universities advocating for Palestinian rights, and decry the troubling pattern of institutional intimidation and silencing of Palestine solidarity work taken by the University of California Office of the President, the California State Assembly, and non-university pressure groups. This includes a disputed UC “campus climate report” and State Assembly bill that both openly conflate Palestinian solidarity with hate speech, and ongoing Federal investigations at several UC campuses based on similar allegations. While proponents of these efforts present them as attempts to combat anti-Semitism, they fail to provide evidence supporting their claims, and ignore the long history of anti-racist work undertaken by the very groups they target. These efforts instead represent an attack on the Palestine solidarity movement and an attempt to slow the growing campaign to divest California universities from corporations that enable and profit from Israel’s abuses of Palestinian human rights.

These developments are particularly disturbing because the proposals offered specifically target Palestine solidarity activists, threatening to subject them to special monitoring and censorship. Prescribing selective restrictions on political speech in this manner could create a de-facto second class of students who are systematically denied their first amendment rights on campus.

In light of these troubling developments, we:

1. Reiterate our long-standing position against anti-Semitism along with all forms of bigotry. We believe that Universities have an ethical and legal obligation to protect all students from harassment and intimidation based on their race, nationality, or religion. We highlight our prior public statements, history of anti-racist work, and ongoing collaboration with diverse allies to confirm our clear anti-racist organizing principles. Accordingly, we find this attempt to label all campus support for Palestinian rights as anti-Semitic to be false, misleading and dangerous, both for the fight against anti-Semitism and the fight for human rights for all.

2. Call on the university to heed student calls to officially table the controversial “campus climate report” that has been criticized by academics and civil rights groups alike. We also ask that balanced and credible task forces to be given the responsibility of reviewing and studying these issues, rather than stacked with individuals with a demonstrated history of bias.

3. Call on the UC Administration to condemn HR 35, not only for flouting the First Amendment, but for suggesting a politicized definition of Anti-Semitism that is designed to curb criticism of Israel rather than isolate real instances of bigotry and discrimination. The UC should also clarify its prior support for the bill and involvement in its writing and passage.

4. Call on the University of California Administration to cease misrepresenting and stifling advocacy for Palestinian rights, and call for clear and consistent policies that support the academic freedom and free speech rights of all members of the UC/CSU community.

5. Call for greater transparency from the University of California Administration regarding its institutional links and collaboration with outside pressure groups, especially those with histories of attacking students in support of Palestinian rights.

We thank the numerous civil rights groups that have written and advocated for the rights of students and faculty at the University of California. Below we include specific explanations and criticism of each major aspect of censorship that SJPs face at the university.

http://sjpnational.org/2013/02/05/sjp-national-voices-support-university-cali…

UC Student Petition Against HR-35 Surpasses 1,000 Signatures

Download the press release here

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 9, 2013

UC STUDENT PETITION SUPPORTING UCSA’S RESOLUTION AGAINST HR-35 SURPASSES 1,000 SIGNATURES

Students voice their united opposition to California Resolution HR-35 and thank the UC Students Association for vocally opposing it while taking a morally consistent stand against racism. HR-35 proposes broad bans on student speech supporting Palestinian rights and criticizing discriminatory Israeli policies.

Today a petition signed by UC students and recent graduates who support the University of California’s Student Association (UCSA) resolution regarding HR-35 surpassed 1,000 signatures. Signers applauded UCSA “for standing up on behalf of the UC community and defending [their] right to advocate for human rights,” and for representing the “majority viewpoint at the UC which opposes racism in all forms, whether it be anti-Jewish acts by anti-Semites or anti-Palestinian policies undertaken by Israel in its discriminatory and illegal occupation.” The petitioners thanked the UCSA for its robust rebuke of State Assembly bill HR-35.

HR-35 is a non-binding resolution passed through the California State Assembly over the summer. The bill inappropriately labels criticism of Israeli state policy as anti-Semitic and recommends broad forms of censorship of students and faculty at the UC to prevent criticism of Israel.

Attorney Liz Jackson, cooperating counsel with the Center for Constitutional Rights characterized HR-35 as “an anti-democratic attempt to intimidate and silence students from expressing pro-Palestinian views.” Jackson explained, “HR-35 mislabels advocacy for Palestinian rights as inherently anti-Semitic. This is a complete distortion of students’ human rights advocacy. To argue that such speech should be restricted, as HR-35 does, is to decimate the principle of free speech and it is plainly unconstitutional.”

HR-35 is part of a well-documented pattern of intimidation against those speaking out in support of Palestinian rights on UC/CSU campuses, noted in a recent letter from civil rights groups to the UC Administration. Its passage comes shortly after the release of a controversial Campus Climate report that recommends similar forms of censorship of pro-Palestinian students, ranging from limiting the pro-Palestinian speakers allowed on campus to “enforcing balance” when pro-Palestinian speakers do come to campus.

Both the climate report and HR-35 have been widely criticized and opposed by civil rights groups such as the National Lawyers Guild and Center for Constitutional Rights, community organizations such as Jewish Voice for Peace and the Council on American Islamic Relations, and academic groups such as the California Scholars for Academic Freedom and the Middle East Studies Association. The ACLU of Northern California recently warned of the “chilling effect” that related federal lawsuits targeting Palestine human rights activists are having on UC students’ constitutionally protected speech rights.

UC Berkeley student Ley Cerezo added that “HR-35 inevitably encourages a climate of fear in a student body whose dedication to activism ought not to be censured nor even reserved for mere toleration, but celebrated in a system of public universities. Just as we speak out against the many injustices sustained by various bodies of government, so too do we continue our opposition to any illegitimate limitations on our speech.”

Today’s petition, signed exclusively by current and former UC students in the space of a few weeks, demonstrates the breadth of public opposition to censorship and attacks on the pro-Palestine community. Students say that as a new year starts and students return to campus, they look forward to collecting more signatures and building public awareness of threats to pro-Palestinian advocacy.

Read full petition here: https://sites.google.com/site/ucstudentsagainsthr35/ and find a link to this press release and other relevant backgroud information at www.ucsjp.posterous.com.

 

 

 

 

 

LISTEN: HR 35 in the CA State Assembly Higher Education Committee 8/22/12


August 22, 2012.
AUDIO: In this recording, previously not available online (the last televised meeting of this committee appears to be from the month prior), the California State Assembly Higher Education Committee deliberates on HR 35, presented by author Linda Halderman (R-Fresno). The bill equates campus criticism of Israel with anti-Jewish hate crimes and violence, a premise that is never questioned during the hearing.

Speakers representing the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the University of California, and California State University express their support for the bill, with the UC rep stating they will “support if amended”. The UC’s suggested amendment regarding first amendment rights and the allocation of public funds is not included, but they appear to still support the “spirit” of HR 35.

Beyond the UC’s “support if amended” statements no formal opposition to the bill’s content is presented, and no UC students or faculty speak or discuss HR35’s potential impact. There is some deliberation among committee members about the free speech issues the bill may create, and author Linda Halderman acknowledges that student speech will be targeted. But HR 35 ultimately passes unanimously through the committee.
 
HR 35 Supporters:
2:33:Cliff Berg, President of Governmental Advocates,  speaks on behalf of the Simon Wiesenthal Center
6:38: Steve Juarez Associate Vice President and Director for State Government relations, on behalf of University of California.
8:25:Andrew Martinez Legislative Advocate for the California State University Advocacy and State rep