University of California students and faculty are criticizing an anti-Semitism report that recommends the schools to consider ban on hate speech and campus sponsorship of protests against Israel.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports more than 2,200 students, faculty and alumni signed a petition asking UC President Mark Yudof to disregard the report, commissioned in response to turmoil over campus discrimination.

The petition to Yudof accuses the report's authors of emphasizing right-wing views and ignoring bullying of anti-Israel Jews from their pro-Israel counterparts at UC. And it opposes the recommendations to outlaw hate speech and define anti-Semitism.

"We believe in the principles of free speech and that these principles stand on their own and do not require any additional regulation," the petition says.

In a letter to students Wednesday, Yudof said restricting speech is not the solution to anti-Semitism, reports Sacramento Bee.

The contentious recommendations came from a UC fact-finding team tasked with understanding Jewish student experiences following accusations of anti-Semitism on UC campuses, including the appearance of swastikas and harassment of Jewish students during pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

The report is part of a wider effort to confront discrimination on UC campuses, such as the hanging of a noose in a library and defacement of a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender resource office.

Richard Barton, an official from the Anti-Defamation League and a report author, told the San Francisco Chronicle that hostility toward Jewish students created by anti-Israel movements amounted to 'allowing the Klan to walk around campuses and say things about black people.'

The report also recommended schools define anti-Semitism and develop ways to sanction it, while offering cultural competency training. The authors encouraged the schools to implement a ban on hate speech, despite potential legal challenges.

The critics, many of whom are Jewish, said it wrongly equates criticism of Israel to anti-Semitism and its recommendations would have a chilling effect on free speech.