Fill out the form to send a letter to University of California - Berkeley Leadership to urge them to support Jewish students on campus
See letter below
Dear Berkeley administration and the US Department of Education:
I write as an alumnus of Alpha Epsilon Pi - the International Jewish Fraternity – at the University of California - Berkeley. I am deeply concerned about Berkeley’s role in allowing hostility and hate against Jews to run rampant on campus. Jewish students on campus feel that they cannot learn in the hostile and hateful campus environment.
Berkeley’s response to yesterday evening’s violent riot and mob, which included a Jewish student physically assaulted on the neck and the shattering of glass windows on campus property, took away Jewish students’ free speech. Moreover, by failing to identify the hate crimes and incidents committed, Berkeley discriminated against Jewish students based on shared ancestral/ethnic identity.
Most importantly, when Jewish students warned the university about what would likely occur including the fighting language, time, and place, the administration refused to treat it as a direct threat.
Below are Jewish students’ requests to ensure their free speech is protected and that Jew hate is called out.
1) Berkeley administration (Chancellor's office and Deans) will send an email to the entire campus defining hate against Jews and calling out specific incidents (the two assaults on 10/16 and 10/25, the second felony robbery on 12/8, and the 2/26 riot). The riot that occurred on 2/26 will be denounced as unacceptable and the university will commit to holding perpetrators accountable. Any email that does not cite this is unacceptable.
2) Berkeley will revoke Berkeley RSO status for Bears for Palestine due to policy violations and demand the return of the $6,500 in funding the group received from Berkeley this academic year.
3) Berkeley must charge identified students in these riots and hold them accountable under Berkeley’s Code of Conduct.
4)All future Jewish and Israeli events require transparency from Berkeley's administration to ensure their safety, including arrests being made on the spot, transparency on the number of police sent, and confirmation they are prepared for violent mobs.
5) When a group says “shut down” or similar fighting language for a Jewish event that has a specified time and location, then Jewish students' concerns made to UCPD will be treated like a direct threat.
6) Berkeley WarnMe emails must specifically mention when Jewish identity is targeted in hate crimes, harassment, and intimidation as is done for other minority and marginalized groups (eg. trans, Asians)
7) Meet with the Jewish student leaders of Alpha Epsilon Pi, to hear the concerns of students on campus and create a plan to work together to ensure that the University of California Berkeley can be a safe place for all religious minorities.
8) Ensure that the Vice Chancellor and Dean of Students Engage with representatives of the AEPi Antisemitism Response Center (AEPi ARC) to speak further about resources that you may need to bolster your efforts, train your staff, or better understand the position of Jewish students. They can be reached at [email protected]
We earnestly request that you take this matter seriously in an effort to protect our campus and community. We look forward to hearing back from you and scheduling an in-person meeting to discuss this matter further. This type of bigotry and hatred has no place anywhere, let alone at the University of California Berkeley.