Jewish faculty, students and others are calling on UC leaders to improve how they handle complaints of antisemitism \u2014 saying university response has been inadequate \u2014 but their viewpoints paint widely differing pictures of the campus climate for Jews.<\/p>\n
One letter<\/a> originated from a national group that works to combat antisemitism at colleges and cited its own research to conclude that Jewish UC students have faced \u201cunprecedented harassment, intimidation, and exclusion\u201d since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and Israel\u2019s ensuing war in Gaza spurred widespread anti-Israel campus protests. <\/p>\n Separately on Monday, at least 117 Jewish UCLA faculty members released a letter<\/a> saying they are \u201cabsolutely united in our vehement opposition\u201d to a recent Trump administration lawsuit accusing the university of allowing pervasive antisemitism on campus and called on the government to drop the litigation. The faculty members expressed fear that the Trump administration wants UC to \u201cfalsely\u201d take on antisemitism by imposing \u201cmore draconian limits on academic freedom and free speech, to the detriment of all of us, including Jewish faculty and staff.\u201d<\/p>\n Both letters were released after a major Jewish civil rights group said last week that the environment at several UC campuses has improved for the Jewish community since the fall of 2023. <\/p>\n Rankings from the Anti-Defamation League\u2019s Campus Antisemitism Report gave UCLA and UC Santa Cruz a \u201cB,\u201d up from a \u201cD\u201d last year. UC Berkeley also received a \u201cB,\u201d up from a \u201cC.\u201d The rankings measure campus policies, the extent of Jewish campus organizations and programming as well as anti-Jewish conduct and climate at schools.<\/p>\n The range of views expressed comes at a sensitive time for UC \u2014 amid multiple, ongoing Trump administration investigations into alleged campus antisemitism and before the UC Board of Regents is to meet behind closed doors this week over the allegations. <\/p>\n In a statement, UC spokesperson Rachel Zaentz said UC \u201cunequivocally condemns antisemitism and has taken numerous steps\u202fto address it and other expressions of hate and intolerance on our campuses. The university takes the findings in the AMCHA Initiative report seriously and is reviewing the incidents cited within it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Unprecedented harassment,\u2019 report says<\/p>\n AMCHA Initiative<\/a>, a nonprofit founded by two former UC employees to investigate, document and diminish anti-Jewish bias at the nation\u2019s higher education institutions, sent a letter to regents with signatures from 4,000 students, faculty members, alumni, parents and Californians unaffiliated with UC saying that Jewish students have faced \u201cunprecedented harassment, intimidation, and exclusion\u201d since fall of 2023.<\/p>\n The letter cited a recent AMCHA Initiative report<\/a> \u2014 which used publicly available Israel boycott petitions, departmental websites, social media postings and campus event records \u2014 to show a surge in incidents between July 2023 and June 2025 at UCLA, UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz. <\/p>\n The AMCHA Initiative report said that it found 115 UCLA faculty members who endorsed an academic boycott of Israel, 117 at UC Berkeley and 55 at UC Santa Cruz. The group is similar to other major Jewish organizations in considering Israel boycotts to be antisemitic. It also cited dozens of department-sponsored programs at the three campuses that it said were \u201cone-sided, anti-Israel events.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen university authority is used to promote political agendas, the line between individual expression and institutional endorsement disappears,\u201d Tammi Rossman-Benjamin, executive director and co-founder of AMCHA Initiative, said in a statement. \u201cThe result is a breakdown of academic standards and an environment where Jewish students face intimidation and exclusion.\u201d<\/p>\n The AMCHA Initiative asked UC leaders to \u201cstop faculty and academic units from using UC authority, resources, classrooms, and UC-branded platforms to advance political advocacy\u201d and to strengthen and strictly enforce UC\u2019s existing rules against \u201cpolitical indoctrination\u201d in teachings.<\/p>\n UCLA faculty \u2018vehemently oppose\u2019 Trump suit<\/p>\n At UCLA, faculty members from multiple departments wrote their letter response to the Trump administration\u2019s Feb. 24 federal lawsuit<\/a> alleging that UCLA administrators routinely ignored and failed to report employee complaints of \u201csevere\u201d antisemitism since the fall of 2023.<\/p>\n