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As campus fallout over the Israel-Hamas battle continues to escalate, tons of of school and college students throughout the College of California are demanding that Board of Regents Chair Wealthy Leib resign — criticizing his social media habits as dehumanizing to Palestinian lives.
In a latest letter to UC management, a various coalition of greater than 115 UC college, scholar and group teams and tons of of particular person supporters of Palestinians took purpose at a number of of Leib’s “likes” of posts on X, the platform previously often known as Twitter. One publish in contrast a picture of protesters holding an indication, “Queers for Palestine,” with a picture of cows calling themselves “Cows for McDonald’s.”
The letter stated likening queer folks to cows was extremely offensive and by liking the publish, Leib was endorsing “pinkwashing,” which it stated was a tactic to color Arabs and Muslims as homophobic and thus use “queer identities as a instrument to justify Israel’s ongoing genocide and unlawful occupation of Palestine.”
Leib additionally appreciated a publish claiming that the militant group Hamas makes use of hospitals as navy headquarters, an assertion in dispute within the newest battle. Israel, whose leaders have vowed to destroy Hamas, says the militant group conceals navy operations inside and beneath hospitals, which hospital officers and Hamas have denied.
Different posts appreciated by Leib criticized the marketing campaign to boycott and divest from Israel and one which known as Nationwide College students for Justice in Palestine, which has chapters on each UC campus, as an “anti-Israel hate group.”
Such posts, the letter stated, had been “racist” and “homophobic.”
“Whereas the Structure protects free speech and political expression, the Regents Chair have to be held to the best normal as a determine of ethical management who’s accountable for upholding the core values that lie on the coronary heart of our UC group: Accountability, Variety & Inclusion, and Integrity,” the letter stated.
“Leib’s public-facing social media habits calls for condemnation from our institutional leaders…He has carried out irreparable hurt to Palestinian, Arab, Muslim, and queer communities and their allies, and doesn’t possess the credibility or integrity to proceed serving in a management position throughout the UC System.”
Leib, in an interview Tuesday, stated he wouldn’t resign and declined to touch upon his exercise on his X account, which he has turned personal. The board chair, who’s Jewish, heads Dunleer Methods, a San Diego-based enterprise consulting agency.
The letter, written Nov. 30 to Gov. Gavin Newsom, UC President Michael V. Drake and all 10 UC campus chancellors, included hyperlinks to screenshots of Leib’s social media likes in query.
It was signed by college councils representing Palestinian, Arab, Muslim and ethnic research professors, together with scholar and group teams representing Palestinian supporters who’re Muslim, Arab, Black, Latino, Jewish, Asian American, Pacific Islanders, Center Japanese, Indigenous and LGBTQ+. Group teams, such because the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, additionally signed the letter.
Leib stated Tuesday that his largest concern was campus security for all college students throughout these fraught weeks. He has met with Arab, Jewish and Muslim college students and, on the regents assembly final month, acknowledged their emotions of anger and stress. He urged campuses to pour sources into security measures, swiftly condemn inappropriate habits and implement guidelines in opposition to it, and name out hate speech, even when protected by the first Modification.
“I can’t stand silently … when members of our college group are made to really feel unsafe,” Leib stated then.
The battle has roiled school campuses throughout the U.S. since Oct. 7, when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 folks and taking some 240 hostage, based on the Israeli authorities. Israel’s bombardment and floor battle in Hamas-ruled Gaza has killed greater than 18,000 folks, based on well being authorities within the Palestinian territory. Threats and harassment are rising in opposition to college students and college on each side. Some donors have threatened to tug monetary contributions from campuses deemed inadequate within the battle in opposition to antisemitism.
A congressional listening to on the problem with the presidents of Harvard, MIT and the College of Pennsylvania final week created a firestorm, prompting the Penn president to resign and fanning requires the Harvard and MIT leaders to do likewise.
The letter additionally known as for UC management to publicly condemn Leib’s “racist and homophobic” social media engagement and his removing from committees associated to Palestinian college students and anti-Israel activism on UC campuses.
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