The University of California has adopted a set of policies to combat anti-Semitism on campus, becoming the first public university in America to have such a regulation.
Its Board of Regents approved the "Principles Against Intolerance" declaring that "anti-Semitism and other forms of discrimination have no place in the University."
According to the Regents, they received letters and comments that from 2014 to 2015, there was "an increase in incidents reflecting anti-Semitism on UC campuses."
It said these "incidents included vandalism targeting property associated with Jewish people or Judaism; challenges to the candidacies of Jewish students seeking to assume representative positions within student government; political, intellectual and social dialogue that is anti-Semitic; and social exclusion and stereotyping."
The policy states that "freedom of expression and freedom of inquiry are paramount in a public research university and form the bedrock on which our mission of discovery is founded. The University will vigorously defend the principles of the First Amendment and academic freedom against any efforts to subvert or abridge them."
"Actions that physically or otherwise interfere with the ability of an individual or group to assemble, speak, and share or hear the opinions of others (within time place and manner restrictions adopted by the University) impair the mission and intellectual life of the University and will not be tolerated," it warned.
It added that "harassment, threats, assaults, vandalism, and destruction of property, as defined by University policy, will not be tolerated within the University community."
It vowed that discipline and restorative justice will be used against those who will make unlawful conduct.
The American Jewish Committee (AJA) applauded the university "for taking action against hostility toward Jewish students on UC campuses."
"We also applaud the Regents for pointing out that some individuals and groups pursuing a virulently anti-Israel agenda on UC campuses have crossed a threshold into discrimination against Jewish students," said Janna Weinstein Smith, director of AJC Los Angeles, and Sarah Persitz, director of AJC San Francisco.
According to AJA, anti-Semitic incidents have included attempts to oppose candidacies of students seeking to serve in student body governments on account of being Jewish, vandalism of Jewish property with racist insignia, and the use of anti-Semitic tropes and stereotypes against advocates of Israel on campus.
