Safety through solidarity! Veto SB 1277, SB 1287, and AB 2925

Three bills we’ve been vehemently opposing have made it through the Legislature and are now on Gov. Newsom’s desk, awaiting his signature or veto. All education-related, each in its own way promotes the conflation of criticism of Israel/support for Palestinian rights with antisemitism.

Along with allies, we have opposed this false narrative by visiting the offices of most legislators, submitting letters of opposition and testifying at committee hearings.

All three bills have been amended, some last-minute, in response to our and others’ objections, making them somewhat “less bad.” But they still would waste scarce state funds to reinforce a destructive message.

Act now! Please contact Governor Newsom and tell him to veto all three bills.

The first, SB 1277, is a dangerous bill that would put teacher training and curriculum development about genocide education for grades 7-12 in the hands of outside, anti-Palestinian groups that deny the genocide being carried out by Israel in Gaza. Genocide education should be unbiased and inclusive. It should be overseen, with the transparency required of public agencies, by educators working directly for or with the state Department of Education. It should not be outsourced to private groups, let alone ones with their own problematic political agenda.

SB 1287 is meant to stifle college student protests by ordering the CSU system to adopt new, vague “codes of conduct” and enforce them in unspecified ways. Such enforcement could well be challenged and found unconstitutional, costing the state boatloads of money it doesn’t have.The bill sends a chilling, implied message to faculty and student defenders of Palestinian rights/critics of Israel, who already face enhanced scrutiny and are more likely than others to be silenced and harshly disciplined.

AB 2925 would require public higher education institutions to train students on various forms of bias and discrimination, but based on unreliable law enforcement data to determine which are most common. Unsurprisingly, using current statistics, it would make optional the inclusion of Islamophobia, anti-Palestinian sentiment and discrimination against both groups, widely known to be underreported – in itself an indication that they need to be included.

Will you help stop these bills by writing to Governor Newsom?