California College of the Arts Accused of Antisemitism

In June, The Deborah Project, a Massachusetts-based public interest law firm, filed a complaint in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against the California College of the Arts (CCA), naming CCA art history professor Karen Fiss as plaintiff. The lawsuit alleges that, starting October 7, CCA transformed its Eighth Street campus into an “ideologically orthodox factory enforcing a single acceptable view” that encourages negative perceptions of Jews and Israel. 

The claim asserts that CCA faculty and students harassed Jewish students for supporting Israel, pressured Jewish students to join pro-Palestinian and pro-Hamas walkouts during class hours, and silenced Jewish students in school discussions. 

In addition, Fiss stated in the lawsuit that CCA formally disciplined her for taking photographs of a student, with their consent, and for talking with the scholar about Kuwait’s expulsion of Palestinians. This incident occurred while the undergraduate was tabling at CCA for Students for Justice in Palestine, a student activist organization. 

In April, San Francisco Hillel held a Shabbat dinner with a small group of CCA Jewish students and their allies. SF Hillel serves students at nine colleges and universities in the City and north Peninsula, including the University of California, San Francisco and San Francisco State University (SFSU). The organization, which “helps students of all backgrounds cultivate connection, make meaning, [and] pursue justice”, plans to increase its engagement with CCA’s Jewish community this fall. 

SF Hillel organized the April dinner after talking to CCA’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) staff to identify measures to support Jewish students. According to Hillel International’s scorecard, the college has approximately 35 Jewish undergraduates, 2.4 percent of CCA’s undergraduate student population, and three Jewish graduate students, less than one percent of CCA’s graduate students.

“CCA is a tough climate. SF Hillel has many resources that can help,” said Roger Feigelson, SF Hillel executive director.

Philanthropist Jonathan Wornick is considering revoking his family’s annual seven-figure furniture design prize and a residency for a visiting professor in the furniture program unless CCA apologizes for an October 11 Instagram post by the college’s Critical Ethnic Studies program. The post implied support for the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel. It featured a photo of a pro-Palestinian protest and a sign that read, “Decolonization Is Not a Dinner Party.” 

Wornick also asked CCA to discipline the individuals responsible for the post and allow a third party to review its Ethnic Studies curriculum for antisemitism. CCA countered that an internal investigation indicated that the post didn’t violate its policies. 

“The Fiss case, along with our family’s is part of a national movement pushing back on the tide of what has become an intolerable environment for Jews on campus,” said Wornick, in an email to J. The Jewish News of California.

SFSU and other college campuses settled a 2019 lawsuit, Volk v. California State University Board of Trustees, which resulted in the California State University system publicly acknowledged that Zionism is a key part of Jewish identity. 

“In 2021, Hillel International performed a Campus Climate Assessment at SFSU to determine what steps the university needed to take… Last February, SFSU President Lynn Mahoney and California State Senator Scott Wiener hosted a listening session with Jewish students to see how they were feeling since October 7 and what Jewish students needed to be better supported. It’s because of that work and subsequent changes that Jewish students at SFSU feel heard and are respected,” said Feigelson. 

According to Frederick Smith, associate vice president, equity and community inclusion at SFSU, several elements helped build a less contentious campus environment. 

“These include continued funding and support for a Jewish student life coordinator on campus; the attendance of SFSU staff and faculty at annual antisemitism trainings; the scheduling of a rigorous amount of programming and events on campus for Jewish students; regular meetings with the Jewish Campus Climate advisory group, which meets twice a semester; and regular meetings with the Challenging antisemitism group, which meets every three weeks,” said Smith.