University's anti-Semitism statement up for final review

A year in the making, the documents were prepared at the urging of some Jewish groups that argued the 10-campus UC system needed to affirm its opposition to anti-Semitism amid growing student activism on behalf of Palestinian rights.

If adopted on Thursday, the declaration would make the University of California the first public university system to reaffirm its opposition to anti-Semitic behavior since campaigns for academic and economic boycotts of Israel have taken root on many U.S. college campuses.

Pro-Palestinian groups and faculty members with research specialties in the Middle East were upset that anti-Semitism was the only type of intolerance specifically mentioned in the principles at a time when Muslims in the U.S. increasingly face discrimination.