The U-C statement condemned the attack on Israel by Hamas that killed more than 1,400 Israelis and took about 240 hostages.
The statement, from UC President Michael V. Drake and Richard Leib, chair of the UC board of regents, read, in part: "This was an act of terrorism, launched on a major Jewish holiday. What should have been a quiet weekend of rest turned into days of unspeakable terror and shock. The violence is sickening and incomprehensible, and as of this moment we still do not know the fate of the hostages. This act deserves and requires our collective condemnation."
The UC Ethnic Studies Faculty Council, which described itself in its Oct. 16 letter to UC leadership as representing more than 300 faculty members across UC, condemned the UC statement for calling Hamas "terrorists."
The group said it "rejects recent UC administrative communications that distort and misrepresent the unfolding genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and thereby contribute to the racist and dehumanizing erasure of Palestinian daily reality."
The council called on UC administrative leadership "to retract its charges of terrorism, to uplift the Palestinian freedom struggle, and to stand against Israel's war crimes against and ethnic cleansing and genocide of the Palestinian people."
The UC system has also faced criticism from protesters for not speaking out against the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza as Israel has moved into the territory while vowing to wipe out Hamas. More than 8,000 Palestinians, including many civilians, have reportedly been killed, and basic life necessities like water and food remain in critically short supply weeks after the Hamas attack.
