The ZOA welcomes University of California President Mark Yudof’s ” title=”AMCHA Initiative” target=”_blank”>AMCHA Initiative, a grassroots organization devoted to protecting Jewish students on campus and which led a letter writing campaign to President Yudof. These three dynamic activists are the headliners of ZOA Orange County Chapter’s” title=”clicking here.” target=”_blank”>clicking here.
Here’s an excerpt from the ZOA’s letter to President Yudof:
• We are pleased to learn from your Open Letter that policies on student conduct have been revised to strengthen prohibitions on threatening conduct and acts motivated by bias. But these policies mean little if they are not vigorously enforced. When Jewish students report incidents of harassment and intimidation, university officials must respond promptly. They must take these reports seriously, investigate them thoroughly, ensure that if the evidence warrants it, appropriate discipline is imposed, and take other remedial steps to fix the problem.
• As OCR stated in its policy letter, disciplining the harassers is not sufficient. We ask that you also advise all of the UC Chancellors to follow your lead. When incidents of anti-Semitism occur on their respective campuses – including anti-Zionist and anti-Israel incidents that cross the line into anti-Semitism – the UC Chancellors should be advised that it is the policy of the University of California to clearly and publicly condemn these incidents as reprehensible, hateful and anti-Semitic, so that the university community will understand what is wrong and why it is wrong.
• That means ensuring that university officials have sufficient knowledge and training to recognize anti-Semitism when it occurs. They must understand and appreciate that while not all criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic, some anti-Israel and anti-Zionist sentiment crosses the line into anti-Semitism. Fortunately, the U.S. government has given us standards to determine when anti-Zionist and anti-Israel sentiment crosses that line.
• We refer you to the U.S. State Department’s report on contemporary global anti-Semitism, issued in March 2008, which can be accessed at
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