The University of California Faculty Assembly has voted down a proposal to add an ethnic studies course to UC’s A–G admissions requirements. Known as Area H, the proposal was defeated with 12 votes in favor, 29 opposed, and 12 abstentions.
First introduced in 2020 through a student petition at UC Berkeley, the Area H proposal was promoted by a group of faculty advocating a “liberated” model of ethnic studies. But critics argued that this version of the curriculum was ideologically narrow, academically weak, and potentially harmful to Jewish students.
One of the most vocal critics was the AMCHA Initiative, a nonprofit that monitors antisemitism on college campuses. AMCHA Director Tammi Rossman-Benjamin warned that the proposal would mandate a curriculum that “casts Jews as ‘privileged’ oppressors and portrays Zionism—a movement central to the identity of most Jews—as inherently evil.” In an April op-ed, she called the proposal “a backdoor for introducing into every California high school an ethnic studies curriculum likely to incite virulent antisemitism.”
Rossman-Benjamin also criticized how the proposal advanced through UC’s shared governance system. Although the Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools (BOARS) initially approved the plan, it reversed course in 2023. Instead of halting the process, the Academic Senate Chair pushed the proposal forward, triggering a systemwide review. That review generated 79 pages of feedback from faculty committees, most of it critical.
“The Area H proposal is the Trojan horse—and shared governance is the gate it’s passed through,” Rossman-Benjamin wrote.
Supporters of Area H had claimed it aligned with AB 101, a 2021 state law mandating ethnic studies in California high schools. But UC’s own April 2025 Assembly agenda acknowledged that the law remains unfunded and unenforced, undercutting that justification. As Rossman-Benjamin put it, “Area H is no longer supporting a mandate; it is attempting to create one—through UC’s internal governance process.”
The Faculty Assembly’s rejection of Area H follows years of petitions, letters, and public commentary from students, faculty, and advocacy groups concerned about politicization in education. The vote is being seen as a reaffirmation of the university’s commitment to academic rigor, shared governance, and inclusion based on educational merit rather than political agendas.
Rossman-Benjamin warns of the broader consequences of such policies: “Every high school classroom forced to adopt this requirement will carry the weight of a decision driven not by academic merit, but by a politicized ideology—one that has already shown hostility toward Jewish students and disregard for the values a university should uphold.”
Cover image by John Kannenberg via Flickr
