View in PDF format: UAW2865RegentsCalltoAction031816
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UAW LOCAL 2865
2030 Addison Street, Suite 640A
Berkeley, CA 94704
Phone: 510-549-3863 Fax: 510-549-2514
uaw2865@uaw2865.org
www.uaw2865.org
March 18th, 2016
UAW LOCAL 2865 CALL TO ACTION
This Wednesday, March 23rd, the UC Regents are set to vote on the latest draft of the “Statement of Principles Against Intolerance.” While the actual text of the Principles is relatively uncontroversial, it is preceded by a 7 page Report that conflates anti-Semitism (bigotry against Jews) with anti-Zionism (a political ideology embraced by many, including large numbers of Jews). As expressed in a letter circulated by Jewish Voice for Peace and signed by over 250 UC faculty members, this conflation will constitute a severe chilling effect on free speech that could negatively affect not only campus activism, but vital lines of scholarly research.
Furthermore, the introductory report makes it seem that anti-Semitism is the primary form of bigotry occurring on UC campuses, even as their own campus climate survey shows Jewish students reporting the highest levels of comfort with campus climate (pg. 58-59). Only a few sentences in the Report are dedicated to all other groups facing discrimination, many of whom reported much higher levels of discomfort with campus climate. While it is paramount for all forms of bigotry and intolerance to be opposed, the Regent’s Report demonstrates a clear lack of awareness of the issues faced by many communities on campus. Therefore, the ideal outcome would be for the Regents to discard the problematic introductory Report from the “Statement of Principles Against Intolerance.” Barring this, we demand that the statement be rejected in its entirety and a new, transparent, and inclusive process be initiated.
What you can do:
There are many ways for UAW 2865 members to voice their concerns about this issue to the UC Regents. We highly encourage individuals to attend the upcoming Regents meeting at University of California, San Francisco (1675 Owens St.) on Wednesday, March 23rd to voice their criticisms during public comment at 8:30 am. Sign up to speak at public comment by calling (510) 987-9220 as soon as possible. If you don’t want to speak, still sign up because you can cede your time to others. Even if you are unable to sign up, please still attend the meeting to show your support for other speakers.
Furthermore, members are encouraged to send in their concerns to the UC Regents via email to: regentsoffice@ucop.edu.
In addition, we highly encourage members to submit op-eds opposing the conflation of antiSemitism and anti-Zionism to campus and local media outlets.
We urge our members to take as many of these actions as possible and call on the Regents not to conflate political critique with bigotry, and drop the introductory Report from the “Statement of Principles Against Intolerance.”
In solidarity, UAW 2865 Joint Council
