More than 350 current and former University of California faculty are pressing the system’s Board of Regents to actually use the rules it already has, after a new watchdog report said some professors used university platforms to promote political activism that, the letter argues, has helped fuel antisemitic incidents. Organized by Judea Pearl and Ilan Benjamin, the letter warns that inaction could undermine public trust and jeopardize the federal research funding that keeps UC labs running. The push lands as campuses from Los Angeles to Santa Cruz remain under a microscope over protests and faculty conduct.
The AMCHA Initiative recently released a 158-page report detailing what it calls faculty politicization at several UC campuses and urging regents-level fixes. The report from AMCHA Initiative catalogs hundreds of incidents and argues that departments and programs at times used university resources to advance anti-Israel advocacy, which the group says has helped create a hostile environment for Jewish students and staff.
More than 350 faculty members, including 279 current and 89 former professors at press time, signed the letter asking the regents to take up the AMCHA report at their March meeting, organizers said. Pearl and Benjamin coordinated the signature drive, and Benjamin told JNS that most signatories come from STEM fields and worry that if activism is allowed to look like official university policy, UC’s reputation and grant funding could take a hit.
The AMCHA report highlights alleged patterns at UCLA, UC Santa Cruz and UC Berkeley, pointing to faculty-led events, course material and department statements that it says crossed into coordinated political advocacy instead of academic work. As reported by The Mercury News, the faculty letter casts the issue as a breakdown in governance that can only be addressed with systemwide action from the top.
A University of California spokesperson said the system “unequivocally condemns antisemitism” and is reviewing the incidents flagged in the AMCHA report. Rachel Zaentz also pointed out that the regents recently signed off on changes to faculty-discipline procedures designed to speed up cases and create more consistent enforcement, according to comments she gave to JNS.
Legal Implications and Federal Scrutiny
The UC fight is unfolding as Washington turns up the heat on campuses. The U.S. Department of Justice recently sued UCLA, alleging the university failed to protect Jewish employees from antisemitic harassment, as reported by AP. The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has also held briefings this month on antisemitism at colleges and universities nationwide, according to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
What Faculty Are Asking
The letter urges the Board of Regents to formally discuss AMCHA’s recommendations at the March meeting and to rely on existing regents rules to clearly separate individual faculty speech from official university positions. Organizers contend the fix is not to write new policy but to enforce what is already on the books, a move they say would help safeguard research dollars and UC’s broader public standing, per The Mercury News.
When the regents convene, they will effectively have two options: lean into enforcement measures that faculty say are already authorized, or leave the system to absorb more federal scrutiny and a further slide in public trust. For now, organizers behind the letter say they plan to keep rallying signatories and pressing the board for clear, consistent discipline guidelines that draw a bright line between scholarship and political advocacy.
