Update! Update! Update!

This past weekend, I was in Washington D.C. at the Hillel/AJC University Presidents Summit on Campus Antisemitism. The Summit brought together Hillel Executive Directors, AJC Regional Directors (including San Diego’s Sara Brown) and 150 University leaders including UCSD’s Chancellor Khosla and Vice Chancellor Petitt, to address antisemitism productively and focus on what institutions can do to create positive change. 

At the Summit, Sara Brown and I were featured panelists for other Hillel Executive Directors and AJC Regional Directors on effective partnerships and collaboration in tackling the challenges faced on
campus.

We are so grateful to have incredible partners like Chancellor Khosla and Vice Chancellor Petitt along with their leadership colleagues at all our San Diego campuses who are committed to supporting Jewish students on campus. The partnership between Hillel of San Diego and AJC continues to serve our students and our community in meaningful ways and this Summit highlighted that as well. Our collaborative work with our University administrators and partner organizations is critical to curbing the tide of antisemitism and fostering a more civil campus community. 

In other updates, it is important to note some of the significant UC and CSU wide policies enacted and shared with all students that seek to foster a more equitable campus experience: 

1. Camping or encampments: No person shall camp, set up or erect a campsite or occupy a tent or other temporary housing structure on university property, unless specifically pre-approved. 
2. Unauthorized structures: No person shall erect, build, construct, set up, establish and/or maintain unauthorized structures on university property.
3. Restricting free movement: No person shall restrict the movement of another person or persons by, among other means, blocking or obstructing their ingress or egress of roadways, walkways, buildings, parking structures, fire lanes, windows, doors or other passageway to university property, or otherwise denying a person access to a university facility or space.
4. Masking to conceal identity: No person shall wear a mask or personal disguise or otherwise conceal their identity with the intent of intimidating any person or group, or for the purpose of evading or escaping discovery, recognition or identification in the commission of violations of law or policy.
5. Refusal to reveal identity: No person shall refuse to identify themselves while on university property to university officials who are acting in the performance of their duties in situations where assistance or intervention is needed.

We recognize the effort the UCs and CSUs are making to protect Jewish students and build guardrails to support campus civility. 

Lastly, I shared during our Community Briefing that Hillel of San Diego has built a comprehensive Campus Impact Initiative that will expand our work supporting students by focusing on proactive strategies to tackle antisemitism on campus. With the support of the Jewish Federation of San Diego, Leichtag Foundation, and Hillel International, we are hiring a new Community Relations Director who will focus on building strong coalitions with faculty, staff, community, and student leadership as well as managing antisemitic incident responses in collaboration with our University partners. 

Hope is an action. It is the pursuit of a better future. You should feel very proud of the work your Hillel of San Diego is doing on your behalf to support Jewish students today and far into the future.