Following months of debate, the chancellor of the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) condemned efforts by pro-Palestinian groups to bar student council candidates from participating in trips to Israel sponsored by pro-Israel groups, the Israeli newspaper 'Haaretz' reports.
The target of the chancellor's criticism was a student-drafted joint statement of ethics, which asked student council candidates, if elected, to refrain from participating in trips to Israel organized by AIPAC, the Anti-Defamation League, and Aish International's Hasbara Fellowships. The statement was supported by a diverse group of pro-Palestinian student organizations at UCLA, including Students for Justice in Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace, Muslim Student Association, Afrikan Student Union, Armenian Students’ Association and Samahang Pilipino.
"I am troubled that the pledge sought to delegitimize educational trips offered by some organizations but not others," Chancellor Gene Block said, in an email to students, faculty, and staff. "I am troubled that the pledge can reasonably be seen as trying to eliminate selected viewpoints from the discussion. "If we shut out perspectives, if we silence voices, if we allow innuendo to substitute for reasoned exchange of ideas, if we listen only to those who already share our assumptions, truth gets lost, our intellectual climate is impoverished and our community is diminished," he said.
Candidates representing Bruins United, the majority party on the student body, did not sign the pledge. Those representing the other two parties did sign, including the student who went on to be elected student body president.
The situation at UCLA is being closely followed by influential members of the pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian communities, as the joint statement represents a new tactic that could be employed by Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions supporters at other campuses and universities throughout the United States and Canada.
