California Assembly unanimously approves bill to add anti-Semitism to college DEI trainings
The California Assembly unanimously passed the Equity in Higher Education Act, A.B. 2925, on May 21.
Assemblywoman Laura Friedman noted that the bill would require state colleges and universities to include anti-Semitism training as part of their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) protocols.
A California bill from earlier this year that would move toward implementing more DEI-based trainings against anti-Semitism is starting to make headway in the state legislature.
The California Assembly unanimously passed the Equity in Higher Education Act, A.B. 2925, on May 21. If enacted, the bill would amend existing anti-discrimination laws to clarify that “discrimination against Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, Hindu, Christian, or Buddhist students, or students of another religious group, when the discrimination involves racial, ethnic, or ancestral slurs or stereotypes, constitutes discrimination on the basis of nationality or national identity.”
Assemblywoman Laura Friedman, one of the two legislators who originally proposed the bill on Feb. 15, noted that the bill would require the state’s colleges and universities to include anti-Semitism training as part of their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) protocols.
“We had reports that students had reached out to their DEI programs at school to talk about their concerns,” Friedman said, according to J. The Jewish News of Northern California. “People who were handling these programs had never really been trained in antisemitism and didn’t understand what the concerns were.”
Some DEI proponents, including former Anti-Defamation League vice president Stacy Burdett, have pointed out that anti-Semitism’s recent prevalence should not be a political issue.
“The explosion of worldwide antisemitism at this moment requires all decent people from all parts of the political spectrum, no matter their views on Israel or Palestine, to unequivocally condemn this base hatred,” she said during a congressional hearing in November. “Doing so is neither conservative nor liberal, pro-Israel or pro-Palestine, it’s just plain decent and moral.”
Burdett later testified that if schools and other institutions include DEI initiatives that aim to curb discrimination, those efforts should also extend to preventing anti-Semitism.
“The fact that some DEI work should be more expansive, the fact that Jews may not fit neatly into the protected categories shouldn’t be an excuse to burn down the house,” she stated. “Jews have always advocated for laws, policies and programs that protect Jews and all people.”
Marc Dollinger, a professor of History at San Francisco State University, said that the impact anti-Semitism has had on higher education is unlike anything else he’s seen in his 22 years of teaching at SFSU.
“Today … oh my God, campus antisemitism is the lead national story for months,” told J. The Jewish News of Northern California. “We’ve got encampments, we’ve got police, we’ve got resignations of university presidents. I mean, this is unprecedented.”
A.B. 2925 has now moved to the California Senate for consideration.
Campus Reform has reached out to Laura Friedman, the Anti-Defamation League, and Marc Dollinger for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.