May 30, 2018

Dear President Napolitano, Chancellor Gillman, Dean Chemerinsky and Executive Director Deutchman,

The Council of the University of California Faculty Associations writes to you as Chair and officers of the National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement to express our strong concern about, and opposition to, two bills, that are presently before the US Congress and that threaten fundamental academic freedom and freedom of speech more broadly. We are referring here to the “Anti-Semitism Awareness Act” (ASAA) and H.R. 4508 (commonly known as the “Prosper Act”), especially sections 601, 604, and 629.

The ASAA is aimed at silencing criticism of Israel and Palestine advocacy on college campuses.  If passed it would require the Department of Education to use the widely criticized State Department definition of anti-Semitism in evaluating whether or not a school has violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  As you will recall, in adopting the University of California’s own “Principles Against Intolerance” the Regents wisely heeded both 1st Amendment and Academic Freedom concerns in rejecting the State Department’s definition of anti-Semitism. The “Anti-Semitism Awareness Act” would undo that recognition and is therefore contrary to the strong academic freedom and free speech traditions of the University.

In combination with proposed sections of the “Prosper Act,” the result would be to compel Middle Eastern Studies centers to conform to a very narrow definition of what kind of speech can be considered “biased” or “anti-Israel” or “anti-American.”

If the National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement is to play any role in the public sphere and broader — and much needed — political discussions and debates around the nature and limits of free speech, it must publicly and forcefully defend the principles of academic freedom by articulating a robust critique of these bills and calling for their defeat or, if passed by both houses of Congress, their veto by President Trump.

We therefore call upon each of you, in your respective positions, and collectively representing the Center, to publicly insist that the ASAA be withdrawn or defeated and for the sections of the Higher Education Act Reauthorization requiring the monitoring of International and Foreign Language Studies Centers be removed from the bill before it is advanced to the President.

On behalf of the Council of UC Faculty Associations Executive Board,
Stanton Glantz,
Council of UC Faculty Associations President,
and Professor of Medicine, UCSF

Updated 6/29/18: We received the following response to out letter.

Dear Mr. Glantz,

On behalf of the University of California Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement thank you for your recent letter. The leadership of the Center, including President Janet Napolitano, Chancellor Howard Gillman and Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, asked that I respond on their behalf. In addition, a copy of your letter has been shared with the University’s Office of Federal Governmental Relations so they are aware of the UC Faculty Association’s position on these issues.

While the Center is not in a position to engage in this sort of legislative advocacy, you may be interested to know that the co-chairs of the center’s advisory committee– Chancellor Gillman and Dean Chemerinsky — are previously on record opposing similar legislation. You can find their Wall Street Journal op-ed at https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-bill-to-police-campus-speech-1481846338.

Best regards,
Michelle

Michelle N. Deutchman
Executive Director
UC Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement