Tensions rise at UC San Diego

Council condemns antisemitism; administration under fire

SAN DIEGO — UC San Diego’s student council condemned antisemitism Wednesday night, under strong urging from Jewish students who said the board has been ignoring their existence and safety amid the hot rhetoric arising from the Israel-hamas war.

The action came after a month of growing concerns among both Jewish and pro-palestinian students that inflammatory remarks are creating a hostile environment and that the university’s administration has been slow to deal with the situation.

Associated Students, which helps oversee undergraduates, had decided against condemning antisemitism a week earlier during a vote taken in the middle of the night.

Late Wednesday, the board reversed its decision after hearing speeches that included pro-palestinian speakers who say they are the ones being ignored and persecuted.

There were 21 yes votes, one no and five abstentions. The remarks represented some of the most charged political exchanges at UCSD since anti-vietnam War protests half a century earlier.

Those students speaking in support of Palestinians were largely represented by the local chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, which did not respond to a request from the San Diego Union-tribune for a comment on the vote.

Many of the nearly 40 students who spoke to the board said they been insulted, harassed or threatened since the war was started by a Hamas terrorist attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7 and now fear stepping on campus.

Some students told the Union-tribune they are especially concerned about being safe on Library Walk, a corridor where pointed political conversations are not unusual. The area leads to UCSD’S most iconic building, Geisel Library.

Students from both sides have criticized Chancellor Pradeep Khosla’s public statements, which some have called insufficiently thorough, timely and empathetic.

Other university leaders across the country are receiving heat from students and faculty, including Harvard’s Claudine Gay, who was accused of being slow to respond to the Oct. 7 attack Hamas terrorists launched against Israel.

Khosla has met with Hillel of

San Diego. And he is scheduled to meet locally this coming week with the president of the University of Haifa, according to a spokesperson for the Israeli school. But it is unclear whether Khosla has met with pro-palestinian groups.

The chancellor has declined several requests from the Union-tribune to talk about the situation on campus.