The glass wall of UC Santa Cruz’s Cowell Ranch Hay Barn separated two modes of dialogue on Jan. 28. Though both events discussed the topic of Jewish Studies, the atmospheres were starkly different.
On one side, academics and community members listened to a lecture about Muslim-Jewish Relations in Interwar Algeria.
On the other, demonstrators crowded a moonlit entryway, chanting, “Free, free Palestine!”
At 5 p.m., the student organization Jews Against White Supremacy (JAWS) led a march from the base of UCSC’s campus to the barn, where The Humanities Institute and the Center for Jewish Studies (CJS) hosted the 16th annual Helen Diller Distinguished Lecture in Jewish Studies.
The event, led by Joshua Schreier, author and professor of Jewish Studies at Vassar College, included a lecture and Q&A, titled “The Sheikh’s Jews: Muslim-Jewish Relations in Interwar Algeria.”
The Helen Diller Family Foundation (HDFF) is a Jewish philanthropic organization with a mission to “support global Jewish needs.” HDFF has donated $1.5 million to the CJS, the largest private donation ever given to the Humanities Division.
The HDFF also donates money to the Heritage Foundation, whose founder assisted in constructing President Trump’s Project 2025 policy plan. They also donate to Turning Point USA, a conservative political advocacy group for high school and university students across the U.S.
“These organizations are active participants in Israel’s genocide in Palestine,” a JAWS representative said during the rally. “Although Diller would have you think that all they do is ‘charitable donations,’ their position as a capitalist landlord means that this money is their weapon, and who they choose to spend it on is where they choose to strike.”
Student demonstrators march up to the Hay Barn, and gather behind an orange and white striped barricade. Demonstrators chanted outside the building, protesting the “Muslim-Jewish Relations in Interwar Algeria” lecture hosted by The Humanities Institute at UC Santa Cruz.
This sentiment was shared amongst participants in the “DROP DILLER” march, organized in reaction to the evening lecture. Around 25 students and community members, many wearing keffiyehs, hiked up Coolidge Drive onto Ranch View Road as the sun set and the event began. As demonstrators arrived at the Hay Barn, they continued chanting toward the glass entrance of the building, peering inwards at the lecture participants.
“Killer Diller, you can’t hide, you’re financing genocide,” they yelled.
One marcher handed “Killer Diller” zines to lecture attendees as they arrived, which detailed other organizations HDFF has donated to, such as Friends of the Israel Defense Forces. At the same time, other protesters chanted and banged the glass walls of the barn with their hands, feet and even a cane.
A marcher hands a zine to an event attendee detailing what the Helen Diller Family Foundation is and where they donate money to.
Despite the protest outside, the lecture continued onwards. With 20 community members in attendance, Professor Schreier led a nuanced discussion about the work of Algerian Sheikh Abd al-Ḥamīd Ben Bādīs, who influenced ideas about how Jews fit into Algerian society, and the ramifications of French and British colonial policy. At some points of the lecture, Schreier was interrupted by the noise from the demonstration.
While attendees gather inside the Hay Barn, demonstrators on the outside chant, kick, and bang on the door. Protesters opened the door several times and yelled into the building, before administrators stepped forward and encouraged them to shut the door. Throughout the demonstration, those on either side of the glass wall recorded and took photos of one another.
In an email to City on a Hill Press, Schreier said that although he finds educational Jewish events crucial, he shares JAWS’ fear of universities becoming dependent on wealthy donors, impacting what professors teach.
He wrote, “As much as I object to the actions of organizations that the Diller Foundation supports (including several that attempt to shut down discussions of Palestine on campus and have targeted me personally), I feel it is important to take full advantage of whatever support we still have in the humanities and social sciences to do and publicly share critical scholarship.”
As the event neared its end, demonstrators continued to chant, and JAWS’ sentiment remained clear.
“Organizations like Helen Diller … are all around us, and awareness and alertness to them is critical,” a JAWS organizer said during a speech at the rally. “But as Israel and Trump prepare to move into the next phase of their plan to ethnically cleanse Gaza, and as the West Bank experiences the most intense settler violence it has faced in decades, arguably ever, we must not lose sight of why we are really here.”
City on a Hill Press reached out to Nathaniel Deutsch, endowed chair of Jewish studies, to better understand the relationship between CJS and HDFF. Deutsch, and Alma Heckman, chair of Holocaust studies in the History Department, requested that their full, unedited response be included in the article.
Below is their written response to all four of our questions:
