Nearly half of Muslim students surveyed at California colleges and universities say they were targets of anti-Islamic harassment or discrimination in the past school year as pro-Palestinian protests erupted on campuses, a high increase from four years ago, according to the Council on American Muslim. Relationships declared in new report.
The study, which surveyed hundreds of Muslim students attending a representative sample of approximately 87 public and private campuses in California, found that 49 percent of students, or 352 out of 720 respondents, reported being victims of harassment. anti-Muslim acts by students, staff or students. administrators at school.
CAIR and the Center for the Prevention of Hate and Intimidation, a CAIR-affiliated group that jointly released the study, attributed the rise in widespread pro-Palestinian protests, which last year led to hundreds of arrests and multiple lawsuits against universities, including UCLA and USC, following accusations of unjustified use of force by police, violations of free speech and equal access.
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Pro-Palestinian campus protests tended to include a diversity of students, including many Muslims and Jews, and demonstrators were often accused of using anti-Semitic language or symbolism as they pushed for universities to divest from Israel. In many cases, the encampments have attracted counterprotesters, including a violent confrontation at UCLA.
“Instead of feeling safe and supported on their own campuses…many universities, administrators, and law enforcement have failed to provide necessary support, leaving students feeling threatened, targeted, and isolated” , said Bayanne Kanawati, program manager of the center. , which surveyed students at campuses including UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UC Berkeley and Cal State Fullerton.
“University administrators must create a safe and inclusive environment for all, especially those from marginalized communities. Students must be able to freely express their identity and political opinions, without fear of discrimination,” Kanawati said.
The survey was conducted online between March and July, a period that covered the height of campus protests in April, May and June.
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The CAIR report, released this week, came as UCLA’s response to the protests came under scrutiny. Several campus groups have released findings about discrimination on campus, while the University of California system also released an external report this month criticizing UCLA’s handling of the camp. This fall, UCLA imposed new restrictions on protests, increased security patrols and launched campus dialogue programs to bring together groups that were on opposing sides in the spring.
The CAIR study echoes the findings of the UCLA Task Force on Anti-Palestinian, Anti-Muslim and Anti-Arab Racism, which released a report in April and June that denounced a campus “less safe than ever » for these groups and criticized “harassment, violence and targeting” against them.
Another report released last month by the UCLA Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism and Anti-Israel Bias, which surveyed more than 428 Jewish or Israeli students, faculty, staff and administrators, also found that 84% of them thought that anti-Semitism had “worsened or considerably worsened” since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel.
CAIR also reported that students were generally reluctant to talk to administrators about their experiences or seek help from university leaders. About half of all students surveyed – 47% – said they felt neutral or unsafe about their safety on campus.
“Islamophobia is not just a political issue. It has deeply personal consequences for students who navigate their education in an environment of fear and constant surveillance,” said Osman Khan, director of the Center for Islamophobia Prevention. hatred and intimidation, in a prepared statement.
Learn more: Two major reports criticize UCLA for policing, violence during pro-Palestinian protest
Although the report reveals negative trends in Muslim students’ perceptions of their place on campus, available data is limited.
Most of the schools surveyed were in the San Francisco Bay Area or Southern California, where the bulk of the state’s Muslim students are located. Only a handful of colleges in central and northern California, including UC Merced and Cal Poly Humboldt, were included. Several campuses where large pro-Palestinian protests involving Muslim students have occurred, such as Pomona College, have not been studied.
The number of survey respondents on individual campuses was also low. At UCLA, where more than 46,000 graduate and undergraduate students are enrolled, the survey collected responses from 26 Muslims. At USC, that number was 21. The most represented university in the study, UC Irvine, had 43 people.
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This story was originally published in the Los Angeles Times.
