CALIFORNIA: Eighty-seven public and private campuses in California colleges and universities were surveyed and shocking details revealed that nearly 49 per cent of Muslim students have experienced anti-Islamic harassment.
The Council on American Islamic Relations said in a new report citing a sharp increase from what was happening four years ago.
A total making 352 of 720 respondents, said they had experienced anti-Muslim acts by students, staff or administrators at school and had been targets of anti-Islamic harassment or discrimination in the last school year as pro-Palestinian protests erupted on campuses.
CAIR and the Center for the Prevention of Hate and Bullying, a CAIR-affiliated group that jointly published the study, attributed the rise to widespread pro-Palestinian protests, which in the past year led to hundreds of arrests and multiple lawsuits against universities, including UCLA and USC, over accusations of unjustified police use of force, free speech and equal access violations.
Pro-Palestinian campus protests tended to include a diversity of students, including many Muslims and Jews, and demonstrators were often accused of using antisemitic language or symbolism as they pushed for universities to divest from Israel. In many cases, encampments attracted counterprotesters, including a violent confrontation at UCLA.
“Instead of feeling safe and supported on their campuses … many universities, administrators, and law enforcement have failed to offer the necessary support, leaving students feeling threatened, targeted, and isolated,” said Bayanne Kanawati, program manager for the center, which surveyed students at campuses including UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UC Berkeley and Cal State Fullerton.
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“College administrators must create a safe and inclusive environment for all, particularly those from marginalized communities. Students should be able to express their identities and political views freely, without fear of discrimination,” Kanawati said.
The CAIR report, released this week, came out as UCLA’s response to protests has come under scrutiny. Multiple campus groups have released findings about discrimination on campus, while the University of California system this month also published an external report that criticized UCLA’s handling of the encampment.
This fall, UCLA initiated new protest restrictions, increased security patrols and launched dialogue programs on campus to bring together groups that were on opposite sides in the spring.
CAIR’s study echoed findings of the UCLA Task Force on Anti-Palestinian, Anti-Muslim, and Anti-Arab Racism, which released a report in April and June that decried a campus that’s “less safe than ever” for those groups and criticized “increased harassment, violence, and targeting” of them.
CAIR also reported students were generally reluctant to tell administrators about their experiences or seek help from university leadership. About half of all surveyed students — 47% — said they felt either neutral or unsafe about their safety on their campus.
“Islamophobia is not just a political issue. It has deeply personal consequences for students navigating their education under constant fear and scrutiny,” Osman Khan, Director of the Center for the Prevention of Hate and Bullying, said in a prepared statement.
