LA JOLLA, California (SDJW) — Seventy-five students at UC San Diego signed a letter to the administration and faculty requesting that more Jewish studies courses be offered in the upcoming term. The letter, to which Kyle Gilbert a junior majoring in political science was the lead signer, is printed below.
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We are students at UC San Diego interested in broadening our education through courses in Jewish studies and Israel studies. UCSD reflects a diverse, dynamic and thriving student base with a key focus on scholarly inquiry and critical thinking about the broader world.
Unfortunately, there is currently a dearth of options for courses that would allow students the opportunity to explore topics that can deepen students’ appreciation for the rich complexity of the world around them through the study of Jewish history, language, and culture, as well as courses about modern Israel. We would especially like to be able to take courses on topics such as: the Holocaust; antisemitism, prejudice, blood libels, conspiracies and disinformation; a course on the Middle East conflict taught by Israeli faculty; and modern Jewish history—including Mizrahi and Sephardic Jewish history. Many of the courses we request are already listed in UCSD’s course catalog but are not being taught. Forty-eight such courses are
listed, in history, literature, political science, sociology, archeology and music, but most haven’t been offered in years.
UC San Diego is an outlier within the UC system and other top private and public universities in the state, with an extremely small number of these kinds of courses offered. (1) The need for a broader variety of consistently offered relevant courses is particularly acute in the present moment, when ignorance and disinformation about Jews, Judaism, and Israel are
common on campus and have real consequences for Jewish students who face the resulting prejudice from peers. Courses on these topics would be broadly appealing to both Jewish students and students who are not Jewish, helping us navigate these complex issues through academic study. Jewish students would gain a deeper understanding of their community’s
history and be better equipped to challenge prejudicial misinformation, and non-Jewish students would leave with a more accurate perspective on Jews, their history, Israel, and their role in the world.
One barrier to consistent enrollment in such courses is students’ packed course schedules, which can prevent students from taking extraneous elective courses. We request that several of these courses be approved to satisfy the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion graduation requirement—specifically courses on the Holocaust and antisemitism would be
salient. We would also like the administration and interested faculty and department chairs, including UCSD’s Jewish Studies program, to work with UCSD’s colleges to get some of these courses approved as General Education courses when applicable, and to offer courses already approved by the colleges as General Education courses.
Another barrier to enrollment is course frequency. Some of our fellow students have only two years at UCSD, so if an essential course –such as a course on the Holocaust, is not taught annually, they are unlikely to have an
opportunity to take it.
This university’s Jewish Studies Program was founded in response to a similar letter from students, requesting many of the same courses which we now would like to take, and which were then offered for many years. We came to UCSD to get a robust education where critical thinking and diverse viewpoints are offered on topics that matter to us and our communities. We ask that you help us receive the education we deserve.
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(1) Comparing websites, UCSD Jewish Studies Program listed two courses on contemporary Jewish topics in Fall 2024: (Russian Culture, and Jews and African Americans). UCSB listed 5, UCSC listed 8, UCLA
listed 8 and UC Berkeley listed 9.