More than 40 students and organizations across the UC system signed a letter calling for UC Regent Jonathan \u201cJay\u201d Sures to resign because he allegedly \u201cfailed to condemn\u201d Islamophobic remarks made by another speaker at the Jewish American Summit Aug. 30.<\/p>\n
Son of a founding Hamas leader, author and former Israeli spy Mosab Hassan Yousef told Muslim Americans to \u201cget the f— out of the United States\u201d and to \u201cgo back to the s—holes where (they) came from.\u201d Sures, who also spoke at the summit, has not responded to demands that he condemn Yousef\u2019s comments.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe abhorrent, disgraceful Islamophobic comments Yousef said were incredibly harmful and dangerous, and Sures\u2019 inaction cannot be brushed under the rug,\u201d said ASUC Middle Eastern, Muslim, Sikh and South Asian-Community Senator Aarja Singh in an email. \u201cThe Regents must be held to the highest standard because of the incredible power they hold, and we must hold them to their Standard of Ethical Conduct as recipients of their decision-making.\u201d<\/p>\n
The letter was written by ASUC External Affairs Vice President Selina Mendez\u2019s office. Signatories include Singh, external affairs vice presidents from seven UC campuses, UC Student Association President Candice Phan and Muslim student organization leaders across the UC system.<\/p>\n
Along with Sures\u2019 resignation, the letter demands a meeting between UC Board of Regents representatives and Muslim and Palestinian student leaders to \u201cestablish concrete, binding measures\u201d against Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian hate.<\/p>\n
\u201cInstances of hate speech like this are completely unacceptable\u2026 Islamophobic rhetoric is incredibly dangerous because it has provoked widespread discrimination and violence towards Muslims and those perceived to be Muslim,\u201d Mendez said in an email. \u201cAs a result, we cannot take Mr. Sures\u2019s passivity lightly.\u201d<\/p>\n
The letter follows an earlier call for Sures\u2019 resignation by the UC Ethnic Studies Council, which represents nearly 700 ethnic studies faculty across the UC system. In a September social media statement, the council criticized Sures for not commenting on Yousef\u2019s remarks and alleged that this silence follows a pattern of Sures targeting students and faculty who speak out against Israel\u2019s genocide in Gaza.<\/p>\n
The council previously called for Sures\u2019 resignation in 2023 after a dispute with him over the UC system\u2019s response to Hamas\u2019 Oct. 7 attack on Israel. The council has since circulated a petition calling for his removal, which Mendez said her office is helping facilitate.<\/p>\n
In 2025, Sures sought a restraining order against a UCLA graduate student involved in a pro-Palestinian protest outside of his home. His request was denied, and he was later ordered to pay the student\u2019s legal fees.<\/p>\n
\u201cIslamophobia has no place at UC Berkeley,\u201d said Berkeley Muslim Student Association President Isha Saleem in a message. \u201cEvery Muslim student deserves to practice their faith and express their identity without fear of discrimination, harassment, or intimidation.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than 40 students and organizations across the UC system signed a letter calling for UC Regent Jonathan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":505238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[195284,26927,188786,188788,195285,3784,195287,340,181338,181339,113840,181340,195286,143,145,144,118584,195288,160290,9276],"class_list":["post-505237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-aarja-singh","tag-asuc","tag-asuc-external-affairs-vice-president","tag-asuc-senator","tag-candice-phan","tag-hamas","tag-isha-saleem","tag-israel","tag-jay-sures","tag-jewish-american-summit","tag-memssa","tag-mosab-hassan-yousef","tag-muslim-student-association","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-selina-mendez","tag-uc-ethnic-studies-council","tag-uc-regent","tag-uc-student-association"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=505237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/505238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}