UC system ethnic studies requirement stalls amid concerns of anti-Semitic bias
An 'ethnic studies' admissions requirement in the University of California system has been delayed due to concerns about how the topic of Israel would be addressed in the curricula.
On Oct. 25, 115 primarily Jewish and Israeli organizations signed an open letter to UC system leaders, urging them to reconsider the ethnic studies requirement altogether.
The implementation of an “ethnic studies” requirement in the University of California system has been delayed due to concerns about how the topic of Israel would be addressed in the curricula.
According to Inside Higher Ed, the UC Ethnic Studies Faculty Council has defined the subject as a field that “analyzes, confronts, and intellectually dismantles historical and institutionalized forms of racism, apartheid, settler colonialism, and empire in and beyond the United States.”
The creation of an ethnic studies admissions requirement for UC is said to have been a long, slow process. The Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools (BOARS) voted in favor of the requirement in November 2021 and then again in June 2023.
An anonymous third vote occurred in November, with six members voting against the measure, five voting in favor, and one member abstaining.
Yet, during the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, the implementation of the requirement has become even more controversial.
On Oct. 25, 115 primarily Jewish and Israeli organizations signed an open letter to UC system leaders, urging them to reconsider the ethnic studies requirement altogether.
They wrote that, if it were approved, the requirement would “lead to virtually every high school in the state being forced to offer ethnic studies courses based on criteria developed by the [UC Ethnic Studies] Faculty Council’s ‘experts.’”
The groups critiqued the council and questioned its ability to craft an ethnic studies curriculum, specifically identifying its “role in helping to organize, sponsor and support an institute and conference expressly dedicated to delegitimizing Zionism and working towards the elimination of the Jewish state.”
The open letter also blamed the council for “[refusing] to even acknowledge, let alone condemn, the genocidal actions of Hamas” and “[insisting] that the heinous crimes of Hamas … must not be called terrorism,” all the while accusing Israel of “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing.”
“UC faculty who cannot acknowledge that the Hamas massacre is terrorism and a crime against humanity, and who state that anti-Zionism and the elimination of the Jewish state is a core value of their discipline, must not be trusted to establish state-wide ethnic studies standards for California students,” the letter concluded.
The document was referencing an Oct. 16 statement by the UC Ethnic Studies Faculty Council that repeatedly characterized Israel’s counteroffensive against Hamas as “genocide,” while urging the UC administration to “retract its charges of terrorism” against Palestinian militants.
Several weeks later, the BOARS anonymously voted 6–5 to stop consideration of the implementation of the ethnic studies requirement.
Campus Reform has contacted the leadership of the UC Ethnic Studies Faculty Council for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
