U.C. Berkeley student government condemns anti-Semitism

(JTA) — The student government at the University of California, Berkeley, unanimously passed a bill condemning anti-Semitism.

The Associated Students of the University of California passed the bill Wednesday by a vote of 20-0.

The bill calls for the student government to take immediate action against anti-Semitism and forms an ad-hoc committee on anti-Semitism. It also details recent anti-Semitic events at University of California campuses, including the vandalizing with swastikas of a Jewish fraternity house on Jan. 31 at the Davis campus and the debate earlier this month during a UCLA Undergraduate Students Association Council meeting as to whether a Jewish candidate for Judicial Board justice could be unbiased due to her involvement in the Jewish community.

“Many incidents of anti-Semitism occur both inside and outside of the classroom on U.C. campuses, and the past response to anti-Semitism has not opened important conversations that need to happen,” according to the bill.

The measure also says that the student government “has historically taken a stance against instances of prejudice, including Islamophobia,” and acknowledges that “Jews are a minority” and that “anti-Semitism is the bigoted targeting of a historically oppressed minority and thus should be treated with the utmost care in relation to the hate crime incidents that happen on campus.”

Berkeley is among the several undergraduate student governments at U.C. schools that have passed resolutions in support of divestment from Israel.