Students for Justice in Palestine pushed for UC Riverside to stop selling Sabra Hummus, a partially owned Israeli company. UC Riverside capitulated at the time, but now university officials say that decision was a mistake.

Joseph Serna reports for the Los Angeles Times:

UC Riverside official: Decision to stop selling Sabra hummus a ‘mistake’

UC Riverside’s recent decision to stop selling a brand of hummus partially owned by an Israeli company because of a student group’s request was a “mistake,” school officials said Wednesday.

University spokesman James Grant Jr. said campus leadership became aware only Wednesday that the school’s dining areas had stopped selling Sabra hummus and replaced it with Tapaz2Go, a gluten-free, Mediterranean-inspired brand hummus.

The university has reversed itself and will sell both brands, Grant said.

Students on the campus of UC Riverside in 2011. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
In a letter sent to the school’s vice president of internal affairs and student government leaders, Students for Justice in Palestine said campus restaurants selling Sabra brand hummus violated the university’s “Tartan Soul” – a reference to the values of integrity, accountability, excellence and respect associated with campus mascot the Scotty Highlander.

“The product was changed due to consideration for student preferences without consideration of the political issues raised,” the university’s statement said. “However, we made a mistake in agreeing to replace one brand with another.”