Report Of Task Force On Anti-Palestinian, Anti-Muslim And Anti-Arab Racism

Introduction

As a Task Force convened and charged to report to the EVCP on matters relating to Anti-Palestinian, Anti-Muslim, and Anti-Arab racism at UCLA, we submit the following report documenting the racism and violence directed at Palestinians, Muslims, Arabs, and anyone, including Jews, who express opposition to the war in Gaza and in defense of Palestinian rights.

The racism and violence we document include not only long-standing incidents of harassment and punitive actions taken against faculty and students for their support of Palestinian rights, but also the recent violent attacks from counter-protesters on the Palestine Solidarity Encampment, the university’s utter failure to protect the students under attack, and the violence perpetrated by police who, at the administration’s behest, cleared the encampment by injuring, detaining, and arresting peaceful protesters. Finally, the administration has yet to grant student protesters amnesty, offer to cover medical expenses for the injuries they sustained at the hands of counter-protesters and the police, or protect their fundamental right to engage in peaceful protest.

In this report, we describe the racism and violence directed at Palestinians, Muslims, Arabs, and defenders of Palestinian human rights, including many Jews, and we narrate our Task Force’s attempts to bring the racism and violence to your attention—efforts that have largely been ignored.

The escalating crisis UCLA faces at the moment is the result of failed leadership as well as the administration’s consistent anti-Palestinian, anti-Muslim, and anti-Arab racism, and pro-Zionist bias. These problems did not begin with the administration’s response to the Palestine Solidarity Encampment, or with efforts to stifle academic freedom on our campus, or with the start of Israel’s war on Gaza. The issues we address in this report, and during our tenure as a Task Force, have persisted for well over a decade.

We begin by reminding the administration how and why the Task Force came about in the first place—not codes of conduct, not bad behavior, not even campus safety, per se. Rather, the ongoing genocide in Gaza. As we prepare this report, Israel’s invasion of Rafah has begun; the death toll continues to rise; there is no medical infrastructure left; and the international community has come to recognize that what is happening in Gaza now is clearly genocide. This urgency remains. And this is why students risked so much to create a non-violent encampment on Royce Quad.

As this report will show, they have faced horrific physical and psychological violence for protesting non-violently. We charge the administration with not only failing to keep students safe, but also taking actions that put them in harm’s way.