UC Santa Barbara has become the setting for controversy after the university temporarily closed its MultiCultural Center on Feb. 26 in response to students posting signs in the center expressing their support of Palestine, and their criticism of the administration and Associated Students President Tessa Veksler.

Signs posted on walls throughout the center, which were photographed and reported by Daily Nexus student journalists, stated: “Zionist not welcome”; “When people are occupied resistance is justified”; and “Get these Zionists out of office.”

Numerous signs were directed toward Veksler and some named her, with statements written such as, “You can run but you can’t hide Tessa Veksler.”

As of Wednesday, the MultiCultural Center had been closed for nine days, and its reopening date was unclear. In the meantime, the university suspended all of the center’s social media accounts and is investigating the incident.

“Student Affairs is working to resume activity and programming at the MultiCultural Center as soon as possible,” UCSB spokeswoman Kiki Reyes told Noozhawk. “There’s a great sense of urgency to resume activity at the center because of its vital role in supporting underrepresented students and communities.”

A university-wide email from Chancellor Henry Yang and other administrators condemned the signage.

“We were distressed to learn of incidents over the weekend that included offensive social media messages and signage at the MultiCultural Center entrance. Campus offices are reviewing these unauthorized and unofficial messages,” the email read.

“The signage has been removed, and the campus is conducting a bias incident review based on potential discrimination related to protected categories that include religion, citizenship, and national or ethnic origin.”

Veksler said she has received relentless harassment on social media and has found her name written on bathroom doors across campus since she’s been speaking about the ongoing war between Israel and Palestinians and expressing her support of Israel.

“I felt extremely on edge, obviously, and uncomfortable,” Veksler said, “because there’s a lot of fear associated with the fact that you can’t connect the name to a face online and I never know who I’m standing next to, who I’m sitting with in class, who’s walking into my office and my meetings.”

The organization Students Supporting Israel at UCSB condemned the signage and called on the university to protect Jewish students. The group compared the signage stating “Zionist not allowed” at the MultiCultural Center to signs stating “Jews are not welcome” in Nazi Germany.

“While the MCC prides itself on dedicating to creating a safe and inclusive space for cultural minorities, this attempt aims to silence, threaten, intimidate and discriminate against the Jewish community,” the statement posted on the group’s Instagram read. 

UCSB Jewish Voice for Peace and Students for Justice in Palestine put out a joint statement claiming that neither group was involved with the planning or execution of the events at the MultiCultural Center and that they supported students reclaiming the space as a center for Black and other marginalized students. 

“We know that as student organizers we must participate in the healing from harm caused,” the statement on the group’s Instagram read. “We have begun the process of accountability within our organizing spaces and will continue to work in the community to unlearn oppressive and discriminatory systems.”

UCSB Jewish Voice for Peace and Students for Justice in Palestine did not respond to Noozhawk’s request for comment on this story. 

Following the MultiCultural Center closure, numerous student interns and staff members were doxxed and had their personal information posted online.

On X (formally known as Twitter) a popular account @StopAntisemites posted images of MultiCultural Center staff along with their full names and emails. 

On Instagram, the account @IsraelWarRoom shared a now-deleted post of images, names, majors and campus positions of the MultiCultural Center’s Jackson Scholars Interns, including a poster from Monday signed, “With love, Jackson Interns + MCC Student Staff.” 

While there hasn’t been an official statement from the MultiCultural Center, there was a statement on a recently created Instagram account @our.mcc. The statement provided context about the history of the center, the events of Feb. 26 and addressed the doxxing of center staff.

The statement was not signed, but the account owner is believed to be affiliated with the center. 

“During a time when anti-Palestinian rhetoric is rampant in the media and our campus, the neglect of the UCSB administration has led to repeated instances of doxxing, intimidation tactics, retaliation and threats that harm and endanger pro-Palestine voices and bodies,” the statement read.

The post went on to acknowledge a poster that stated, “Zionist not welcome here,” and wrote that it needed to be contextualized.

“Our condemnation of Zionism is a condemnation of the 75+ years of occupation ethnic cleansing legitimized by an extremist political ideology,” the statement read.

The statement described instances of racism, classism, transphobia and misogyny that were directed toward students and staff. The post claimed that allies entered the center in response to “the growing presence, loud bullying, intimidating and aggressive behavior of students identifying themselves as Zionist.”

“In an effort to be proactive, our actions ended up contributing to a tense environment. This culminated in an uncoordinated action,” the post read. “As a result, comments and posters were made that perpetuated antisemitism and contained harmful tropes about Jewish people, which is not in line with our values.”

On Feb. 28, UCSB announced the University of California’s first systemwide Office of Civil Rights, which aims to provide leadership, guidance and support relating to protecting civil rights.

In the same message, Yang announced a new anti-discrimination policy and addressed the incident at the MultiCultural Center.

“There have been recent campus antisemitic incidents targeting Jewish students with hateful signs and messages,” Yang and other university administrators wrote to students via email.

“These reprehensible incidents are currently under investigation, but as a campus, we must be clear that antisemitism and discrimination of any kind, including any efforts to intimidate, harass or discriminate against members of our community, will not be tolerated.” 

Going forward, Veksler said, she hopes to see the administration facilitate a solution that serves and protects all students and that university leaders set clear boundaries about what is and isn’t allowed.

“I think setting boundaries and saying doxxing is not allowed. You are not allowed to dox Palestinian students, you are not allowed to target individual students, you are not allowed to exclude Jewish students from campus spaces, being extremely specific with the wording and really expressing what that means in an academic setting, and our responsibility in that setting,” Veksler said.

“It is my main priority, and I just hope that our campus can move to a place where we’re really focusing on the students within it rather than the conflict abroad.”