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:
Confirmation of an investigation into the discriminatory antisemitic signs found in the MCC and whether such investigation has been concluded or remains ongoing;
Confirmation of an investigation into the offensive social media posts by SJP and MCC, and whether such investigation has been concluded or remains ongoing;
Confirmation of investigations into the conduct of students who acted to prevent Jewish students from accessing the MCC, and whether such investigations have concluded or are ongoing;
Confirmation of an investigation into the antisemitic hate crime that occurred in a dormitory on campus, and whether such investigation has been concluded or remains ongoing;
Total number of students being investigated regarding the prevention of access for Jewish students (actual or perceived) at the MCC, and whether any such investigations involve examination of whether the motive for such prevention of access included the targeted students’ protected status of Jewish religion, ethnicity, or shared ancestry, or Israeli national origin;
Total number of students disciplined; and
The type of disciplinary remedial action(s) if any, such as probation, suspension, expulsion, taken thus far.
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
