After campus protests, California considers bills on genocide education, protest restrictions, DEI training

After a spring of tensions in schools and roiling college protests over the Israel-Hamas war, California legislators will take up three bills that would require lessons on the Holocaust and genocide in K-12 classrooms, restrict campus demonstrations and require antisemitism instruction at colleges that conduct diversity, equity and inclusion training.

The actions came during the legislature’s twice-annual culling of hundreds of bills during fast-paced votes in each chamber to decide which will advance to the Senate and Assembly for a vote before their Aug. 31 end-of-session deadline.

The bills have faced strong opposition from pro-Palestinian groups, including Jewish Voice for Peace and the Council on American-Islamic Relations as well as civil rights organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union.

The proposed laws have the support of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus, whose members are authors and co-authors. They say the legislation would protect California Jewish students at a time of rising antisemitism after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel and the retaliatory war in Gaza. The caucus legislators also describe their bills as a way of protecting other minority groups that face discrimination.

Holocaust and genocide education

Senate Bill 1277 would require a “statewide teacher professional development program on genocide, including the Holocaust, for school districts, county offices of education, and charter school teachers.” The California Teachers Collaborative for Holocaust and Genocide Education, a group coordinated by the Jewish Family and Children’s Services Holocaust Center in the Bay Area, would be responsible for creating the program.

In addition to the Holocaust, the collaborative would focus on education about “other genocides, including, but not limited to, those of the Armenian, Bosnian, Cambodian, Guatemalan, Indigenous American, Rwandan, and Uyghur peoples” and “identify and confront anti-Semitism and hate in modern society.”

Sen. Henry Stern, a Democrat who represents parts of Los Angeles and Ventura counties, introduced the bill last winter. It has faced opposition from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which has said the collaborative responsible for the teacher education is “led by pro-Israel organizations.”

Campus protest restrictions

Senate Bill 1287 would require leaders of California State University and the University of California to “prevent and address conduct that either creates a hostile environment for students on campus, or results in differential treatment of students on campus based on a student’s actual or perceived race, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, or disability status.”

A last-minute change was made to strike community colleges from the requirement.

If signed into law, colleges and universities would have to “prohibit conduct that limits or denies a person’s ability to participate in or benefit from the free exchange of ideas, “ and require institutions to post notice of any permit requirements needed for campus protests. The potential law would also require higher education institutions to establish restrictions on the “time, place and manner” in which protests are allowed. Many, if not all, already do — but such rules were not evenly enforced in the last year.

The bill also says higher education institutions must create mandatory training programs to teach students the details of those rules and restrictions.

Sen. Steve Glazer, a Democrat who represents parts of the Bay Area, including most of Contra Costa County, authored the bill. It’s opponents include ACLU California Action, the Arab American Civic Council, Jewish Voice for Peace Los Angeles and the Palestinian American League. Those groups, along with others that take a pro-Palestinian stance, say it is worded in a way that would repress protest and speech in support of Palestinians.

DEI training

Assembly Bill 2925 would require any college-level diversity, equity, and inclusion training to include “the five most targeted groups in the state.” This includes Jewish and Black residents, who are the most frequent victims of hate crimes across the U.S.

The Assembly bill’s sponsors included Democratic Assemblymember Laura Friedman, a former member of the Glendale City Council. Pro-Palestinian groups have opposed it in part since the training may not have to include anti-Muslim or anti-Arab discrimination because those groups do not always in a given year make the list of the populations most targeted by hate crimes.

In an attempt to assuage concerns, the bill was amended to specify that colleges and universities are not prohibited from offering training on discrimination against other targeted groups.

Shelved: changes to ethnic studies

On Thursday, the authors withdrew bill that would have required high school ethnic studies programs to be developed “in conjunction” with parents and educators to ensure educational materials do not veer into antisemitism.

The bill’s authors included Los Angeles Democratic Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur. But in a letter Thursday, the Jewish Public Affairs Committee of California said the bill was being withdrawn.

“This legislation initially had several impactful tools to ensure that antisemitic and anti-Israel content does not appear in ethnic studies,” the letter said. “However, political and time pressures that arose during the legislative process would have narrowed the bill so much that it would fail to accomplish these goals.”

The group said it would aim for a more comprehensive ethnic studies bill next year.