University of California's efforts to adopt principles against intolerance raise concerns

SAN DIEGO – The University of California's first draft of system-wide principles defining intolerance is drawing protests from free-speech advocates who call it censorship and Jewish organizations that say it doesn't go far enough to protect against anti-Semitism.

The UC Board of Regents is scheduled to debate the proposed "Statement of Principles Against Intolerance" at its meeting on Thursday at UC Irvine.

If approved by the board, the statement would be the first of its kind adopted by a statewide university. It calls for its 10 campuses to be "free from acts and expressions of intolerance" and would prohibit "depicting or articulating a view of ethnic or racial groups as less ambitious, less hardworking or talented, or more threatening than other groups," among other things.

Criticis say it would set a dangerous precedent.