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Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Ralph J. Hexter and the campus counsel’s office have each responded to allegations of anti-Jewish behavior on campus last November, and of concerns raised about those incidents by members of the Jewish community.

Hexter's response to Leila Beckwith, a professor emeritus at °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê×ÊÁÏ¿âLA, and Tammi Rossman-Benjamin, a lecturer at °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê×ÊÁÏ¿â Santa Cruz:
 
I am writing to thank you and to respond to your email of January 28, 2013, to Chancellor Linda Katehi.
 
I believe that the attached letter sent today from Senior Campus Counsel Michael Sweeney to Kenneth Marcus, the president and general counsel of The Louis D. Brandeis Center, thoroughly addresses identical issues raised in your letter and in Mr. Marcus’ January 28 letter to Chancellor Katehi.
 
I want to clearly affirm that several of the allegations reported in your email, if true, are very disturbing, and that Chancellor Katehi and I are committed to ensuring that these events are immediately addressed as outlined in Mr. Sweeney’s letter. °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê×ÊÁÏ¿â Davis is committed to providing a safe environment for all students to learn freely and practice their civil rights of freedom of speech and expression. One can never predict the exact course of events when it involves protest activity. However, with each such event we gain valuable experience that allows us to better address future events. As we have stated on numerous occasions, we condemn all acts of racism, intolerance and incivility, as well as discrimination and harassment.
 
Sincerely,
 
Ralph Hexter
Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor

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Senior Campus Counsel Michael Sweeney's letter to Kenneth L. Marcus, president and general counsel, The Louis D. Brandeis Center, Washington, D.C.:

Thank you for your letter of January 28, 2013. Chancellor Katehi asked that I review the issues you raised in your letter and respond on her behalf.

Let me begin by stating that we at °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê×ÊÁÏ¿â Davis take the allegations you outline in your letter very seriously, and that we have already begun to follow-up with students who were potentially affected by the event on November 19,2012. °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê×ÊÁÏ¿â Davis is deeply committed to providing a safe environment for all to learn freely and practice their civil rights of freedom of speech and expression.

With respect to the event on Monday, November 19, according to the Student Affairs administrators who were present throughout the protest, students reserved space on the East Quad for the noon hour to hold a demonstration relating to the anniversary of the November 18, 2011, pepper-spray incident. Shortly before this date, however, administrators learned of a plan for a "March in Solidarity with Gaza" event that would occur simultaneously with the pepper-spray anniversary event. We understand the club called "Students for Justice in Palestine" was not sponsoring the march. Shortly after the noon event began, it quickly changed from a demonstration about the pepper-spray incident, to issues relating to Israel and Palestine. At the end of the event on the Quad, some students marched to Dutton Hall, occupied the lobby and blocked administrators from entering the building. The occupation of the lobby lasted until about 3:15 p.m., when all of the students dispersed.

With respect to your report that during the occupation of the Dutton Hall lobby, the occupiers surrounded one Israeli and two Jewish students and "bullied and harassed them," I conferred with administrators who were on site at this protest. They did not see or witness this event because they had relocated to a fountain in the middle of the courtyard adjacent to Dutton Hall. Administrators also report that they spoke to several members of Aggies for Israel that day, including during the occupation, and the students did not request assistance or make a complaint.

Irrespective, your allegation that the occupiers in the Dutton Hall lobby surrounded, bullied, harassed and intimidated students is very disturbing. °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê×ÊÁÏ¿â Davis is committed to investigating and appropriately addressing this matter. Although we have not received any complaints from these students, after receiving your letter on January 28, members of our Student Affairs staff reached out to members of Aggies for Israel in an attempt to meet with the affected students and to better understand the events that transpired in the Dutton Hall lobby on November 19. If you are in contact with students who were present in Dutton Hall, please encourage them to contact the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê×ÊÁÏ¿â Davis Office of Student Judicial Affairs at (530) 752-1128.

Although it is not mentioned in your January 28 letter, in the letter from Leila Beckwith and Tammi Benjamin of the AMCHA Initiative of the same date, there is a short reference to another event in the Dutton Hall lobby. The AMCHA Initiative letter reports that after a student expressed disagreement with one of the protest signs, "a protestor grabbed his collar, raised a fist and forced the student to leave the building." I understand that this matter is already under investigation by the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê×ÊÁÏ¿â Davis Police Department. If you have further information about this event, including the identity of the alleged assailant, I encourage you to contact the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê×ÊÁÏ¿â Davis police at (530) 752-1727.

°ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê×ÊÁÏ¿â Davis' Principles of Community affirm the right of every individual in our campus community to think and speak as dictated by personal belief, to express any idea, and to disagree with or counter another's point of view, limited only by university regulations governing time, place and manner. As you state in your letter, all of our students also have the right to an environment free of unlawful harassment, intimidation and bullying. °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê×ÊÁÏ¿â Davis is committed to working with our community to protect both of these interests.

Thank you again for your letter, and we look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Michael Sweeney
Senior Campus Counsel