StandWithUs wrote to UCSB on April 10, 2024, to follow up on a February 28, 2024 letter to UCSB. StandWithUs wrote to ensure that the administration is protecting its Jewish students and ensuring equal enforcement of university policies, as well as complying with all applicable state and federal laws including hate crime reporting requirements. Specifically, StandWithUs requested an update on the status of the investigations being conducted by UCSB into antisemitic discrimination.
April 10, 2024
VIA EMAIL: henry.yang@ucsb.edu
Henry T. Yang, Chancellor
University of California, Santa Barbara
RE: Request for Status Update of UC Santa Barbara’s Investigation of Recent Discriminatory Conduct and Violations of School Policies by Multicultural Center and Students for Justice in Palestine
Dear Chancellor Yang,
We write to you from StandWithUs, an international, non-profit organization with the mission of educating about Israel and combating antisemitism, to follow up on our previous letter dated February 28, 2024.
As our prior letter stated, we thank you for the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) statement indicating that you were planning to investigate the February 2024 incidents in which students affiliated with UCSB’s student group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and UCSB’s Multicultural Center (MCC) engaged in egregious, discriminatory, defamatory antisemitic conduct. Specifically, Jewish UCSB students were refused entry to the MCC; signs were hung up throughout the MCC including messages like “Zionists not welcome”; the signs named a specific Jewish student as a “Racist Zionist,” stating, “YOU CANNOT HIDE.” Throughout social media, SJP repeatedly called for “Revolution Until Victory” and called on individuals to “resist” Israel until “liberation and return,” all of which implicitly refer to the total destruction of the Jewish state. Finally, as you know, a Jewish student’s dormitory door was vandalized with the words “Zionists not welcome!!” and an arrow pointing to the mezuzah—a symbol of his Jewish faith— affixed to his doorpost.
We write to you again to ensure that your administration is indeed protecting its Jewish students and ensuring equal enforcement of university policies, as well as complying with all applicable state and federal laws including hate crime reporting requirements. Our prior letter requested a response by March 8, 2024, outlining how you will address this climate and remedy the situation. We have not received a response. At this time, we are writing to request an update on the status of the investigations being conducted by your office.
We understand that information about student discipline on an individual basis is generally confidential under the Family Educational Rights Privacy Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99 (FERPA). However, there is still ample opportunity to report the progress of your investigations without violating any individual student’s privacy rights . For example, as Columbia University explained in its recent report , a university can provide aggregate reporting, such as the “number of disciplinary investigations underway, the number of adjudications, and the range of consequences administered.”
We therefore request that your administration review our Recommended Best Practices for Anti-Israel Demonstrations on Campus and specifically provide the following information by April 19, 2024:
In the last few days, other universities, such as Pomona College , Indiana University , Columbia University , and Vanderbilt University , have provided this type of information publicly and held students accountable for violating policies and laws, including through suspensions sand expulsions. We thank you in advance for providing this information and working to ensure the safety of the UCSB campus community. We look forward to receiving the updates from you by April 19, 2024.
Sincerely,
Roz Rothstein Yael Lerman Carly Gammill
CEO Legal Director Director of Legal Strategy StandWithUs StandWithUs StandWithUs
StandWithUs is an international, non-partisan education organization that supports Israel and fights antisemitism. StandWithUs empowers and energizes students and communities with leadership training and educational programs on hundreds of college campuses, high schools, and middle schools. StandWithUs informs through social media, print and digital materials, films, weekly newsletters, and missions to Israel. StandWithUs takes legal action through the StandWithUs Saidoff Legal Department. Founded in 2001 and headquartered in Los Angeles, the organization has chapters and offices throughout the U.S., Israel, the UK, Canada, Brazil, Argentina and Australia. More at www.standwithus.com.
