University of California’s Board of Regents, which governs the university and appoints senior officers, was created for the purpose of “sheltering the university from shifting political winds.” Yet a current nominee for student regent threatens to do the very opposite, by politicizing the board with severely partisan, divisive and noxious winds.
According to JTA,
A student leader in the anti-Israel divestment campaign at the University of California, Berkeley, is a candidate for student regent in the University of California system.
Sadia Saifuddin, a student senator at Berkeley, is up against two other students for a regents post in 2014-15 in the vote on Wednesday by the UC Board of Regents.
Saifuddin co-sponsored an Israeli divestment resolution this spring that called for the divestment of $14 million in university and Associated Students funds from Caterpillar, Hewlett-Packard and Cement Roadstone Holdings, saying they profit from Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Jewish settlements. The resolution passed the student senate by a vote of 11-9.
Besides being an advocate for the extreme fringe of the anti-Israel movement, it seems the student leader has also shown a lack of concern for her Jewish classmates:
Saifuddin, the daughter of immigrants from Pakistan, also opposed the UC Regents report on Jewish students’ concerns about a hostile campus environment, according to StandWithUs, a pro-Israel advocacy organization which has mobilized its membership to oppose the nomination.
Read more here.