University of California regents vote to ban political opinions from university homepages after anti-Israel concern
Regents for the University of California voted to ban university homepages from containing political opinions after concerns of anti-Israel content were raised.
Regents for the University of California voted to ban university homepages from containing political opinions after concerns of anti-Israel content were raised.
The policy, which took effect on July 17, allows political opinions to be posted elsewhere on the university’s website except homepages of specific departments, academic units, or divisions, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Political opinions that are published on non-homempages must be labeled as commentary and specify that they don’t reflect the view of the university.
Regent Jay Sures, vice chairman at United Talent Agency, was one of the officials behind the push for the policy to be implemented, stating he thinks that departmental homepages were subject to “abuse” and “misuse.”
“This reflects that we value academic freedom, and it provides a very inclusive environment for the individual departments to put out statements and reflecting minority opinions within those departments,” Sures said.
Sean Malloy, an associate professor of history and critical race and ethnic studies at the University of California, Merced, said regents were attempting to “gag faculty speech.”
“It is only when faculty speech threatened to upset support for Israel and Zionism that the Regents saw fit to enact such a policy,” Malloy said. “It must be seen along with the dispatch of police against UC students, faculty and staff, as well as the newly adopted measures aimed against encampments as part of an effort by a group of Regents to hold the UC hostage to their own commitment to Zionism in the midst of a genocide against Palestine.”
Regent Rich Leib, called accusations that the policy was an attempt to suppress free speech as “BS.”
