UC Regents decide to redraft tolerance policy

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ByCarolyn Tyler KGO logo
Friday, September 18, 2015
UC Regents decide to revise tolerance policy
University of California regents decided Thursday to go back to the drawing board when it comes to creating a policy spelling out tolerance on their campuses.

BERKELEY, Calif. (KGO) -- University of California Regents decided Thursday to go back to the drawing board when it comes to creating a policy spelling out tolerance on their campuses.

UC Regents have formed a new committee that's composed of students and faculty to take another a crack at drafting a policy that would impact all of the campuses in the UC system.

UC Berkeley is considered the home of the free speech movement. Now, more than half a century after student protesters lifted a ban on campus political activities, the UC Regents, concerned that free speech has become hate speech, considered a formal policy.

The draft they debated Thursday condemned intolerance, including violence, harassment, hate speech and derogatory language. Students on the Cal campus told ABC7 News they don't feel there's a problem here.

"Walking through Sproul Plaza, people are expressing themselves," said one student.

"I'm a Sikh and I feel very welcome here in campus," another student said.

The regents heard complaints Friday that their proposed principles don't adequately address anti-Semitism. For example, a Jewish fraternity at UC Davis was defaced with swastikas earlier this year.

Hatem Bazian is a professor of near eastern and ethnic studies at UC Berkeley. He says he gets anti-Muslim reactions. For example, hate mail after posting about the Muslim boy arrested in Texas this week after his clock was mistaken for a bomb. He says the university should not be a place where any topic is off limits.

"What defines tolerance and intolerance on a college campus? What defines acceptable and unacceptable speech on a college campus? How can we make sure that tolerance is not conflated with unpopular positions?" Bazian said.

The regents say they will try again to draw up a policy, which could take months.

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