By letter to the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) dated April 25, 2008, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has indicated that it will be investigating several incidents of alleged anti-Semitic harassment, intimidation and discrimination that occurred in May 2007, at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). The ZOA had brought these incidents to OCR’s attention almost one year ago, asserting that the incidents show that UCI has continued to respond ineffectively to campus anti-Semitism, in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI). Title VI requires that recipients of federal funding (like UCI) ensure that their programs and activities are free discrimination based on “race, color, or national origin.” If the recipient is found to have violated Title VI, it can lose its federal funding.
June 8, 2008
Federal Government Initiates New Investigation Into UC Irvine’s Response To Campus Anti-Semitism
May 9, 2008
Daily Pilot: Religious debates draw ire at UCI
Religious debates draw ire at UCI
UCI students will debate Middle East issues as the Muslim Student Union and pro-Israel groups host a series of speakers in an annual event that has generated considerable controversy in the past.
“Never Again? The Palestinian Holocaust” is the name of the activities presented by the Muslim Student Union through May 14, which kicked off Wednesday with “What’s the Fuss? Is Criticism of Israel Anti-Semitic?” featuring speaker Norman Finkelstein. Jewish community leaders are already protesting.
“There are a lot of very concerned people,” said former UCI student and Israeli-American Reut Cohen, who runs a blog about what she considers anti-Semitic activities on the campus. “It is a hate week designed to harass people.”
There is also an online petition, which has 232 signatures thus far, posted online condemning this year’s Muslim Student Union program.
Efforts to reach Muslim Student Union representatives were unsuccessful.
May 7, 2008
Petition protests Anti-Semitism at UCI
To: UC Irvine
We, the undersigned, condemn this year’s “Never Again? The Palestinian Holocaust” as yet another program sponsored by UC Irvine’s Muslim Student Union that demonizes Jews, Zionism and Israel with falsehoods and misrepresentations, including the monstrous lie that Israel is perpetrating a holocaust against the Palestinian Arabs. These programs are not legitimate political discourse about the conflict in the Middle East. They are hateful, anti-Semitic, and violate UCI’s principles and values, which call for a campus environment of positive engagement and mutual respect, free from expressions of bigotry. As the United States Civil Rights Commission declared, “Anti-Semitic bigotry is no less morally deplorable when camouflaged as anti-Israelism or anti-Zionism.”
We call on the Muslim Student Union to renounce the rhetoric of hate and engage in civil intellectual discourse that is free from falsehoods, misrepresentations, prejudice and bigotry.
Sincerely,
April 23, 2008
Higher Education, Harassment, and First Amendment Opportunism
Article on First Amendment mentions Task-Force at the end.
BY KENNETH L. MARCUS
CUNY Baruch College School of Public AffairsAbstract:
Much of the rhetoric, and some of the legal argument, surrounding university campus harassment - and especially campus anti-Semitism - consists of FirstAmendment opportunism. That is to say, it consists of agenda-driven efforts, varying in degree of success, to change the topic from harassment to speech in a context in which the First Amendment is arguably inapplicable. These efforts are fraught with social, political and legal significance, as they mark a struggle to shift the boundaries of constitutional discourse in a way that could increase some protections while decreasing others.
April 4, 2008
JPost: Fight UCI Anti-Semitism
A group of students at University of California, Irvine - known as one of the more militant campuses in the country when it comes to anti-Israel activity - took the chancellor to task in a news release this week for failing to adequately respond to the ongoing incidents on campus
The 20 current and former UC Irvine students said they were “deeply concerned about the anti-Semitism at UCI that has been frequently couched as false and hateful attacks on Israel.”
The letter follows a statement by campus Jewish groups that called concern over anti-Semitic activity “exaggerated” and defended the administration’s handling of the situation
The authors of the letter disagree: “We do not believe that UCI Chancellor Michael Drake has exercised his responsibility as an educator and university leader in response to the anti-Semitism,” they stated. (more…)
April 2, 2008
Students express concerns about UC Irvine
Students express concerns about UC Irvine
Published: 04/02/2008A group of current and former University of California, Irvine students are “deeply concerned” about anti-Semitism on their campus.In a news release issued earlier this week, 20 students countered an earlier release from Jewish student leaders at UC Irvine denying anti-Semitism was a serious problem on their campus and defended the administration’s handling of the matter.“We are current and former students at UC Irvine who are deeply concerned about the anti-Semitism at UCI that has been frequently couched as false and hateful attacks on Israel,” the new release said. “We do not believe that UCI Chancellor Michael Drake has exercised his responsibility as an educator and university leader in response to the anti-Semitism.”
One of the signers of the new release says he attends California State University, Fullerton.
The release also repeated earlier criticism of the decision by Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life to provide Drake with a “coveted platform” to speak at its recent summit in Washington.
April 1, 2008
Op-Ed: Isi Leibler “Hillel goes post-modern”
From the JPost.com:
Candidly Speaking: Hillel goes post-modern
Isi Leibler , THE JERUSALEM POST Mar. 31, 2008
Post-modernist thinking has made massive inroads at all levels, not excluding the Jewish political world, where references to right and wrong or good and evil have become rare, replaced by a politically correct lexicon. Recent controversies involving the Jewish campus organization Hillel highlight the trend.Supported by the Jewish community to further its stated objectives of strengthening Jewish identity and assisting Jewish students to confront anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic agitation on campus, Hillel extended an invitation to Michael Drake, chancellor of the University of California Irvine (UCI), to address its recent summit of Jewish leaders in Washington. The UCI campus is notorious for widespread allegations of anti-Semitic harassment that often escalates into actual violence. That harassment reached a level which compelled the Hillel director himself to complain that “Jewish students are legitimately fearful for their safety.” (more…)
March 31, 2008
“Concerned Students” Press Release
Jewish Students respond to Jewish students:
PRESS RELEASE ISSUED BY CONCERNED STUDENTS AT UC IRVINE
We are current and former students at UC Irvine who are deeply concerned about the anti-Semitism at UCI that has been frequently couched as false and hateful attacks on Israel. We do not believe that UCI Chancellor Michael Drake has exercised his responsibility as an educator and university leader in response to the anti-Semitism. We strongly disagree with the press release issued by five Jewish students at UCI on March 26, 2008, supporting Chancellor Drake.1. We are deeply disappointed that Chancellor Drake continues to refuse to condemn ongoing hate-filled programs and speeches on campus that demonize Israel and Jews. These hateful programs have included “Holocaust in the Holy Land;” “Israel: The 4th Reich;” and recently in February 2008, “From Auschwitz to Gaza: The Politics of Genocide.” Hateful and bigoted speakers have made such statements as “Zionist Jews . . . are the new Nazis,” and that “the apartheid state of Israel is on the way down . . . your days are numbered. We will fight you until we are martyred or until we are victorious.” Speakers have blamed Jews for 9-11. The medieval anti-Semitic blood libel – that Jews use the blood of non-Jews for ritual purposes – has been dredged up on campus: Last May, former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was caricatured as a cannibal, and other Israeli leaders were described as his “supporting cast.” The Star of David appeared at the bottom of the image. Also last May, a poster outrageously and falsely claimed that “children as young as 3 will be shot on sight” by Israelis, and there were images of the Israeli flag smeared with blood.
March 28, 2008
OC Register: Jewish students say UC Irvine is safe
Jewish students say UC Irvine is safe
Student leaders refute claims of dangerous anti-Semitism.
IRVINE - Jewish student leaders at UCI took the unusual step this week of issuing a press release saying Jewish student life is thriving there, and no one is in danger from anti-Semitism on campus.
The move comes in the wake of assertions from outside groups that UC Irvine is so rife with anti-Semitism that it’s become an unsafe place for Jewish students.
Tensions between fervent Jewish and Muslim students on campus, primarily over the Israeli government’s relationship with the Palestinians, have spilled over into the international blogosphere and even been investigated by the federal government. (more…)
March 25, 2008
Older Posts »Drake stays mum on UC Irvine anti-Semitism
JTA reports from the Hillel Summit:
Drake stays mum on UC Irvine anti-Semitism
The University of California, Irvine’s chancellor again refused to speak out against acts of anti-Semitism on his campus.
Michael Drake, confronted over his position at the opening plenary of Hillel’s summit Monday in Washington, issued a blanket condemnation of hate speech, including anti-Semitism, saying it had no place in society.
“It’s deplorable. It’s deplorable,” Drake said. “And we reject it absolutely.”
Drake declined to comment, however, when asked by JTA after the summit how he feels about some of the anti-Israel activity that has taken place at UC Irvine. He said the university wished to remain “content neutral.”
UC Irvine students have charged that they have been physically and verbally harassed by Muslim students, and that speakers are routinely invited to campus who compare Israel to Nazi Germany.
Drake’s participation in the summit generated vocal opposition from groups who say his refusal to condemn specific incidents of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic activity makes him unfit to speak at the event. Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life has rejected that position.
A representative of the Coalition of Jewish Concerns-Amcha interrupted the plenary following the opening remarks, seizing the microphone on the rostrum and accusing Hillel of adopting a “Do as I say, not as I do” attitude. The representative, Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld, also distributed a letter criticizing Drake.
A letter last week sent to Hillel’s president, Wayne Firestone, from 41 Jewish students condemned Drake’s invitation. Firestone met with the students last Friday.
In a meeting with reporters following the plenary, Firestone reiterated Hillel’s position on the Drake invitation and said he was “proud” the organization had given the chancellor a platform. Firestone said Drake’s participation created a “public accounting” and was an opportunity to “build sensitivity” among university administrations to issues of Jewish concern.
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