Several sociology, political science, global studies and environmental studies graduate students at UC Santa Barbara released a statement on April 4 regarding an incident of anti-Semitism that took place two days prior, labeling the incident as a “terrorist act.”
The statement alleges that on the morning of April 2, a man was seen walking “the hallways of the UCSB Sociology department wearing a ‘Waffen SS’ (Nazi death squad) t-shirt.”
Law enforcement was contacted immediately after the individual was seen by a graduate student who reported the individual walking through the building, according to the statement. The statement also noted that department staff and campus security were made aware of the incident around the same time.
The man was not apprehended and disappeared before law enforcement arrived, according to the statement.
The statement was signed by Marisa D. Salinas, Zachary King, Ben Manski, Oscar Soto, David Feldman, William Haywood Carey, Ryan J. Fisher, Shawn Van Valkenburgh, Amanda Pinheiro, Sarah Manski, Andrew Johnson, Elliott Finn and Mariah Brennan Clegg.
UCSB spokesperson Andrea Estrada said the university is currently “aware of reports of someone wearing the ‘Waffen SS’ logo” and that an investigation followed the initial report, although no one was apprehended.
Another incident where anti-semitic flyers were posted “on cars and buildings surrounding the residences of Jewish students in Isla Vista” occurred only two days earlier, according to the statement.
UCSB Associated Students (A.S.) Senate released a formal statement regarding the flyers, denouncing it as “extremely derogatory” and “obscenely misrepresentative of Jewish people.”
“We call upon the UCSB student body to actively stand in solidarity with our Jewish community by spreading awareness and education about anti-Semitism, and to quickly report any concering behavior,” the A.S. statement read.
UCSB graduate students echoed the sentiments of the statement published by A.S.
The graduate students’ statement encouraged “immediate preventative action,” labeling such incidents as part of “an ever-growing tide of terrorist threats against students, staff, and faculty both here and at campuses across the United States.”
The statement expressed a need for change through a demand for “Nazi symbols” to be considered a terrorist act.
“We insist that campus and union officials publicly recognize that the act of (uncritically) displaying Nazi symbols is a terrorist act,” the statement added. “Posting violent threats to Jews is racial terrorism that must not be tolerated anywhere, including our campus community.”
The statement acknowledged that campus security and department personnel have previously told students to report any “potentially threatening behaviors,” but noted that “there has yet to be any wide announcement to the campus community of the calculated dissemination of Nazi materials or of the sighting of Nazi apparel on campus.”
Additionally, the statement justified its call for action, claiming that “such a warning and a call for action is necessary not only because students, staff, and faculty already vulnerable to violence have a right to know about potential threats… but more so because it is a certainty that someone in the broader community knows the person or persons making these terrorist threats.”
The statement said there should be an institutional response centered on the well being and safety of UCSB students and employees.
An institutional response would have “the potential to prevent or at least minimize the severity of any future attack,” according to the statement.
The statement in full can be viewed below:
Good luck. Because of how free speech is defined on California college campuses, this is considered an act of free and not hate speech. Legally in Cali there no such thing as hate speech. “Fighting words” are legally prohibited but stuff like this isn’t.
Don’t fret. D. trump has made clear that in his infinite wisdom (well, best on the planet), there is no free speech on campuses.
Free speech in California… you mean, the United Stafes?
And yet, people walk around w/ Che Guevarra t-shirts. What about those jerkoffs?
The average student probably thinks that communists are good and overlook all of Che’s murders.
It is complete nonsense to compare the two. The executions in Cuba were aimed against murderers and torturers from the former dictatorship, which killed many, many more people. The SS was a death squad aimed at the complete extermination of millions of innocent people on the basis of their ethnicity. If you conflate the two, you are a moral failure.
Thank you for buying into the useful idiot fantasy. Che was a sadistic, lying, thieving murderous coward. HAH! Guerilla warrior! Couldn’t fight his way out of a paper bag, got ousted from Cuba, went to Angola, got ousted there, returned to Cuba to get ousted again, got to Bolivia, alienated his fellow commies & got waxed. He was simply a failure, now a dead commie.
No one wears a Che shirt to call for mass murder. That is completely different.
LOL If you have a problem with it say something next time! Yall acting real tough on the internet
Oy vey
Makes perfect sense. UCSB is a bastion for defense of the Palestinians and anyone who knows anything about the cooperation of Nazis and Arabs during WWII can understand why someone who is a Nazi sympathizer would feel emboldened on campus.
Supporting Palestinians is utterly different from supporting Nazis. You can support human rights and freedom for Palestinians without being a Nazi or supporting everything the Palestinian governments ever did. Making these kinds of comparisons is only done in order to muddy the water and provide breathing room for fascists.
lol you must be a STEM major