An Open Letter to the UCLA Community from UCLA Jewish Faculty and Staff

We are Jewish faculty and staff at UCLA, of various degrees of religious observance and cultural practice, various racial and class backgrounds, and from multiple parts of the world. We are also Jews of different political persuasions, including but not limited to Jews who are anti-Zionist, non-Zionist, and Zionist. 

UCLA Chancellor Gene Block has recently shared a number of messages with the campus community. Chancellor Block has spoken of his concerns about the fear experienced by “Jewish students” and has drawn a supposed connection between addressing campus antisemitism and dismantling the encampment in front of Royce Hall. In doing so, he (mis)used Jews as justification for the arrest of those associated with Students for Justice in Palestine and their sister organizations, including Jewish Voice for Peace, among others. These statements and actions have upset us, not least because we notice a tendency to treat Jewish people on campus as a homogenous bloc despite our many backgrounds, convictions, and experiences. A great deal is being said in our name, without our consent. 

We agree on the following statements in light of the events that occurred on our campus between April 30 and May 2, 2024:

1. Amnesty for arrested protesters: We call on the university to ensure that all students, faculty, and staff who were arrested for being part of or in solidarity with the encampment are provided with full amnesty and are assured that they will not be targeted again by UCLA or any UC administrators for engaging in peaceful protest. 

2. Chancellor Block was wrong to attribute violence to the encampment: We call on UCLA Chancellor Block to acknowledge publicly the harm he has done to the Palestinian Solidarity Community and to the campus by placing blame on the encampment for the violence directed against the encamped students. Documentary evidence and many witnesses, including faculty among us, confirm the origins of the violence: Violence was initiated and carried out primarily by outside attackers who were not UCLA students, including some self-identified Zionists and some white nationalist aggressors, and did not originate in the encampment.    

3. Critiques of Israel are not presumptively antisemitic: Israel does not represent all Jews. While the signatories have profound disagreements about the State of Israel, we agree that it is dangerous to frame all critiques of the state or government of Israel, or all critiques of Zionism, as antisemitic.

4. Jews who support the liberation of Palestine must not be devalued: We reject the notion that those Jews who embrace and work with the people of Palestine, whether in Palestine or in the United States, have sacrificed their Jewishness. We emphasize the view that many Jews who embrace pro-Palestinian work regard themselves as fully Jewish and act as Jewish people of conscience. We also reject the narrative pitting Jews against pro-Palestine protesters. This narrative ignores the diversity of the Jewish community and the presence of Jews within the protest movement.

5. Acknowledging the encampment: Some of those signing are among those who treasure and celebrate the presence of the encampment and who respect the encamped students for their courage, potency, discipline, stamina, and passion. All of us recognize the importance of non-violent student speech and freedom of expression on a wide range of issues, whether or not we all agree with particular expressions. 

6. Freedom from harassment: All UCLA students have a right to pursue their studies, follow their interests, and peacefully express themselves without fear of intimidation or attack from police, security staff, other students, faculty and staff, the university administration, or outside community members.

7. Ceasefire and Student Activism for Palestine: We support an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, unconditionally. We strongly support the provision of resources needed to rebuild Gaza and to support the surviving people of Gaza, including but not limited to humanitarian aid. We encourage the University of California administration to engage in meaningful dialogue with the pro-Palestinian protesters about the content and context of their demands (including divestment) and the role that the UC can play in promoting peace and justice. Some of those signing have asked that we also specify that the hostages still held by Hamas should be released. We do so, and we simultaneously emphasize that the people living and dying in Gaza are not collectively responsible for hostage-taking, or for the actions of Hamas, or any organization.

In solidarity and in hope for a just future,

[signatures below]

78 total signatories as of May 2024

Hannah Appel, Associate Professor, Anthropology, International Institute, UCLA Luskin

Andrew Apter, Professor, History, Anthropology

Alexander Arnold, Assistant Professor, Law

César J. Ayala, Professor, Sociology

Katy Barkan, Lecturer, Architecture and Urban Design

Zsuzsa Berend, Sociology

Anne Blackstock-Bernstein, Lecturer, Education

Michael Cahn, Lecturer, History

Steven Clayman, Professor, Sociology

Adam Crager, Associate Professor, Philosophy

Helen Deutsch, Professor, English

Daniela Dover, Assistant Professor, Philosophy

Gabriel Edwards, Staff, Medicine

Lieba Bernice Faier, Associate Professor, Geography

Melissa Finell, Lecturer, Film, Television and Digital Media

Joseph Fishkin, Professor, Law School

Gary Riichirō Fox, Lecturer, Architecture and Urban Design

Meryl Friedman, Staff, Director of Education and Special Initiatives, Center for the Art of Performance

Dan Froot, Professor, World Arts and Cultures/Dance

Miki Goral, Librarian, Library

Gabriel Greenberg, Associate Professor, Philosophy

Jared Greenberg, Assistant Professor, School of Medicine

Daniel Greenfield, Lecturer, Law School

Elisheva Gross, Lecturer, Psychology

Ariela Gross, Distinguished Professor, Law

Jonathan H. Grossman, Professor, English

Barbara Herman, Professor, Philosophy

Karen Jarsky, Academic Administrator, Education

Dvora Joseph Davey, Associate Professor, Infectious Diseases and Epidemiology

Benjamin Karney, Professor, Psychology

Jan Kirsch, Lecturer, Education and Information Studies

Liz Koslov, Assistant Professor, Department of Urban Planning and Institute of the Environment and Sustainability

Randall Kuhn, Professor, Community Health Sciences

Ayala Levin, Associate Professor, Architecture and Urban Design

Nancy E. Levine, Professor, Anthropology

Alison Lipman, Lecturer, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Aaron Littman, Assistant Professor, Law

Kristy Lovich, Staff, Manager of Community Programs and Research, UCLA Luskin Institute on Inequality and Democracy

Sara Lyons, Lecturer, Theater

Beckett Maravelias, Staff, Health Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

Victoria Marks, Professor, World Arts and Cultures/Dance and Disability Studies

Michael Meranze, Professor, History

Isabella Morton, Assistant Professor, Psychiatry

David N. Myers, Professor, History

Rahul Neuman, Lecturer, Music

Sherry B. Ortner, Professor Emerita, Anthropology

Michael Osman, Associate Professor, Architecture and Urban Design

Aaron Panofsky, Professor, Institute for Society and Genetics, Department of Public Policy

Hirsch Perlman, Professor, Department of Art

Shaina Potts, Assistant Professor, Geography

Jeffrey Prager, Research Professor, Sociology

Todd Presner, Professor, European Languages and Transcultural Studies

Beth Ribet, Lecturer, Disability Studies and Gender Studies

Zack Ritter, Lecturer, Civic Engagement and Social Change (CESC)

Tyson Roberts, Lecturer, Political science

John Rogers, Professor, Education

David Schneller, Assistant Professor, Art History

Jessica Schwartz, Associate Professor, Musicology

Andrew D. Selbst, Assistant Professor, Law

Nicholas Shapiro, Assistant Professor, Institute for Society and Genetics

Jeff Share, Lecturer, Education and Information Studies

Yael Sharvit, Professor, Linguistics

Vadim Shneyder, Associate Professor, Slavic, East European and Eurasian Languages and Cultures

Debora Silverman, Distinguished Professor Emerita of History and Art History, History and Art History

Susan Slyomovics, Professor, Anthropology and Near Eastern Languages and Cultures

Olivia Snow, Visiting Assistant Researcher, Gender Studies

Alexandra Solodkaya, Librarian, UCLA Library

Isaac Speer, Lecturer, Sociology

Lydia Spielberg, Assistant Professor, Classics

Marike Splint, Associate Professor, Theater

Eddo Stern, Professor, Design Media Arts

Luz Maria Torres, Staff, Sociology

Cass Turner, Assistant Professor, English

Paul Von Blum, Senior Lecturer, Communication and African American Studies

Barbara Wien, Lecturer, Peace, Human Rights, and Intercultural Relations

Juliet Williams, Professor, Gender Studies

Jordan Yanowitz, Staff, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Noah Zatz, Professor, Law and Labor Studies