Jewish student president files rights complaint against UC Santa Barbara

The Associated Students president of the University of California Santa Barbara filed a Title VI Civil Rights Act violation complaint against the university on Thursday for the failure to properly address an alleged antisemitic harassment campaign against her.

Tessa Veksler, represented by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, argued that the persistent bullying, threatening, and intimidation of Veksler since October 7 for her Jewishness and connection to the land of Israel reflected a pattern of mistreatment of Jewish students across the country for a key component of Jewish identity.

The harassment allegedly impacted Veksler’s mental health, academic performance, and ability to lead the student body. She had been forced to remain off campus during the end of the fall semester and take exams online.

The filing demanded that UCSB acknowledge and investigate the antisemitic nature of Veksler’s harassment, survey the Jewish student body about their feelings, incorporate the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism into existing anti-discrimination policies, and issue a public condemnation of the antisemitic denial of Jewish ethnic connection to Israel found in the demonization of Zionism.

Since she had expressed solidarity with Israel and the Jewish people following the October 7 massacre, Veksler said she had been targeted by student activists. She was subject to online bullying, which in late February saw her targeted with signs in the UCSB Multicultural Center (MCC).

UCSB Hillel and Veksler documented on social media how signs demanded “AS president is Racist Zionist” and “Get these Zionists out of office.”

“Attention: Tessa Veksler supports genocide! You cannot hide!” read a sign that had the fourth-year student’s name flanked by what may have been red devil horns or red triangles used in Hamas propaganda to indicate the targeting of vehicles or personnel. “You can run but you can’t hide, Tessa Veksler.”

Zionists not allowed

Veksler, whose office is located at the MCC, was joined by a group of Jewish students who attempted to visit the center on February 26, challenging signs on the door warning “Zionists not allowed.”

“You are disgusting. Zionists are not welcome in the MCC. We will not back down and we will take action,” said one social media comment to Veksler. “Zionist dog is sad she can’t harass the non-white students she presides over. Everyone, take a moment of your time to feel bad for this genocide-supporting, racist piece of s***.”

UCSB Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace on February 29 claimed that they were not involved in the planning of the events, and they acknowledged that there were “many instances of inappropriate language.”

Around March 5, Veksler had her private telephone number posted online to facilitate further harassment. In late December, one student charged Veksler “accomplished nothing besides promoting Israeli propaganda,” and on March 6, other online comments claimed that “Tessa is being funded by a foreign government,” which the filing asserted traded in the classic antisemitic dual loyalty trope. On April 9, Veksler’s picture on a student government poster was slashed.

Veksler said on social media in February that the MCC incidents were not isolated. Hillel had reported comments on the MCC’s now-deleted social media accounts such as “Why does our school support a regime to feast on the blood of our fellow humans,” which the Jewish organization said invoked classic antisemitic blood libels.

On February 27, “Zionists not welcome” was found scrawled on the door of a dorm room with an arrow pointing to a mezuzah.

“What has been allowed to happen to Tessa over many months – shaming, harassing, and shunning a student until they disavow a part of their Judaism – is shameful and illegal,” said Brandeis Center chairman Kenneth Marcus.

“Sadly, this is not the first time we are seeing this mob behavior against a Jewish student elected by their student body to serve. It is incumbent upon UC Santa Barbara and all universities to say enough is enough.”

Veksler stated, “No individual should ever have to experience what I went through as a Jewish student at UCSB – harassment, intimidation, threats, and character assassination all in the form of pure antisemitic hatred.”