The University of California, Santa Cruz, is condemning recent antisemitic and anti-LGBTQ incidents reported on and near the campus, including a group of students who allegedly gathered to celebrate Adolf Hitler\u2019s birthday.
\u201cThey sang happy birthday and ate cakes adorned with hateful and horrific symbols,\u201d UC Santa Cruz Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Success Akirah Bradley-Armstrong said in a statement. The reported party took place on campus on April 20, the statement said.
A second reported incident involved a student who \u201cfound an antisemitic and anti-LGBTQIA+ flyer\u201d on their vehicle\u2019s windshield in downtown Santa Cruz on April 21. \u201cThe flyer included despicable and degrading claims about Jewish people and LGBTQIA+ people,\u201d the statement said.
\u201cWe unequivocally condemn these \u2013 and all \u2013 antisemitic and anti-LGBTQIA+ actions,\u201d Bradley-Armstrong said in the statement.
The report of the Hitler party on campus has been \u201creferred to student conduct for follow up and adjudication,\u201d the statement said. School officials reached out to the city to help address the flyers reported off-campus.
\u201cWhatever the purpose and wherever they take place, we reject any and all acts of antisemitism. Our Jewish community members and our LGBTQIA+ community members are an integral part of our Banana Slug family, and we stand with them against all such acts of hate,\u201d Bradley-Armstrong said.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom tweeted about the reported party for Hitler\u2019s birthday, writing, \u201cThis is absolutely sick. These kinds of disgusting acts have no place in California.\u201d
The reported incidents at UC Santa Cruz come less than a month after the Anti-Defamation League reported antisemitic incidents in the US reached their highest level last year since the organization began recording them in 1979.
The annual audit found incidents including assault, vandalism and harassment increased by more than a third in just one year and reached nearly 3,700 cases in 2022.
Just an hour\u2019s drive north of Santa Cruz, campus police at Stanford University have been investigating an antisemitic drawing left on a Jewish student\u2019s dorm room door in March, which included \u201cmultiple swastikas and an image modified to resemble Adolf Hitler.\u201d
\u201cThis incident is being investigated by the Department of Public Safety as a crime motivated by hate,\u201d the university said in a statement. \u201cPurposely intimidating and threatening people based on protected identities is antithetical to Stanford\u2019s values,\u201d the statement said.
UC Santa Cruz is encouraging students impacted by \u201cworry, fear, and anger\u201d surrounding the reported incidents to reach out to the school\u2019s Counseling and Psychological Services for support.
\u201cWhite supremacy has no place at UC Santa Cruz. Nor does any action intended to degrade, dehumanize, or intimidate another based on identity. We will not tolerate such vitriol; nor will we abide the fear and terror it intends to inspire,\u201d Bradley-Armstrong said in the statement. \u201cUnited by our shared sense of humanity, we must strive to be a welcoming place for all people. Together, we must continue to reject all expressions of hate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n