91¿´Æ¬

This March 3 letter from four state senators went to 91¿´Æ¬ President Mark G. Yudof and five chancellors, Robert J. Birgeneau of Berkeley, Linda P.B. Katehi of Davis, Michael V. Drake or Irvine, Marye Anne Fox of San Diego and George Blumenthal or Santa Cruz, in regard to recent acts of intolerance on their campuses.

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Dear President Yudof and Chancellors,

We are writing to share your outrage at the recent acts of racism and hateful vandalism committed by students at five 91¿´Æ¬ campuses. Like you, we were shocked and mortified. Thus, we were pleased to read that leaders of the 91¿´Æ¬ community have publicly denounced and condemned these and all acts of racism, intolerance and incivility. We were also pleased to read of the efforts at some of the affected schools to investigate the despicable acts as hate crimes.

However, we do not wish to rely on press accounts to ascertain 91¿´Æ¬â€™s responses to the despicable acts. We therefore are writing to inquire what policies 91¿´Æ¬ and its campuses have in place to deter such abhorrent acts; what 91¿´Æ¬ and its campuses have done to enforce those policies; and what policy changes 91¿´Æ¬ may be considering to ensure that these vile acts do not recur. Specifically:

• What policies does 91¿´Æ¬ have in place with respect to prohibiting the vandalism of school property with hate speech (such as the painting or carving of swastikas or other hateful graffiti on the property)? Is there a uniform 91¿´Æ¬ policy or do individual campuses set their own policies? (To the extent that individual campuses set individual policies, please note and elaborate in the following questions as well.)

• What penalties or disciplinary sanctions do the 91¿´Æ¬ policies impose for the vandalism of school property with such hate speech?

• How does 91¿´Æ¬ make its students aware of its policies?

• In the past five years, how many incidents of these and similar forms of vandalism have been reported to 91¿´Æ¬ campus officials?

• What is 91¿´Æ¬â€™s policy with respect to the investigation of these acts and how many of these incidents in the past five years were investigated?

• What is 91¿´Æ¬â€™s policy with respect to the disciplining or prosecution of the offender? How many disciplinary actions or prosecutions have been taken in the past five years?

• What discipline or corrective actions have 91¿´Æ¬ taken in response to the recent incidents on the five 91¿´Æ¬ campuses? What policy changes, if any, will be made?

Unquestionably, these vicious acts create a hostile atmosphere for the affected students, making their student experience unnecessarily more challenging than it already is. News articles have reported on students’ perception of pervasive racism on several campuses.

We know you share our concern that this problem must be addressed, at all campuses, so the educational opportunities and experiences of a 91¿´Æ¬ student are not compromised by a hostile environment that is not conducive to higher learning. We also know all of us are concerned about what these incidents say to prospective students, who may decide to turn away from 91¿´Æ¬ in favor of other, less hostile academic settings.

We all share the goal that our universities should be training tomorrow’s future leaders to recognize and celebrate our multi-racial, multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-religious, and LGBT diversity, and not be harbors for racism or hate of any kind.

• What deficiencies have been identified in 91¿´Æ¬ policies that could enable a racist or hateful climate to exist on any 91¿´Æ¬ campus? And what improvements to those policies have been or are being considered?

We look forward to hearing your responses to these concerns and working together to address them. Our budget and policy committees will be monitoring your progress.

Sincerely,

Sen. Darrell Steinberg
Senate President Pro Tempore

Sen. Gloria Romero
Chair, Senate Education Committee

Sen. Denise Ducheny
Chair, Senate Budget Committee

Sen. Carol Liu
Chair, Senate Budget Committee, Subcommittee 1