University of California In response to growing worries about Anti-Semitic behaviors, especially in the University of California school system, over 500 of the school’s alums sent a letter to UC President Janet Napolitano telling their alma mater that it is imperative the system implement means to restrict and inhibit acts of Anti-Semitism against students. President Napolitano agrees. According to an article in The Algemeiner, Napolitano went even as far to say the issue “is actually going to be on the board of regent agenda at its July meeting.” Napolitano, when asked, said that she would indeed support a resolution on Anti-Semitism that adds demonizing, delegitimizing, or applying a double standard to Israel to the list of Anti-Semitic acts. The UC alums joined a coalition of 23 organizations working to defeat Anti-Semitism, including The Brandeis Center, to call on President Napolitano to approve the adoption of the U.S. State Department’s operational definition of Anti-Semitism, which recognizes that there are both traditional and contemporary examples of Anti-Semitism, the latter, usually, hiding behind Anti-Israel sentiments. These include but are not limited to: applying double standards to Israel, equating Israel to Hitler, and the outright de-legitimization of Israel. The definition as sanctioned by the U.S. State Department is as follows: “Anti-Semitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of anti-Semitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.” More than 250 members of the well-known Anti-Israel group, Jewish Voices for Peace (JVP), had requested that the State Department amend the above definition of Anti-Semitism, citing that, “it could be used to ‘silence critics of Israel.’” It is extremely important for the UC school system to utilize this definition of Anti-Semitism because, as LDB President Kenneth L. Marcus puts it, “a definition of such can articulate the boundaries of discrimination and harassment towards the Jewish people to help ensure their civil rights are adequately protected, while not intruding on First Amendment free speech rights.”