More than a dozen Jewish student leaders met with Chancellor Michael Drake and Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Manuel Gomez on Wednesday, October 18 to discuss the recent anti-Semitic vandalism here amidst a broader discussion about how Jewish students feel they are treated. This meeting marked the first time that the chancellor met with Jewish students about their concerns over the atmosphere on campus since his installation 15 months ago.
The students present expressed their displeasure regarding the current tense situation on campus between Muslim and Jewish students and the recent vandalism.
“I hate that things like this happen,� Drake responded, acknowledging that there has been speech on campus promoted by the Muslim Student Union (MSU) that is largely hateful. Drake called hate-speech “vile,� “awful,� and “stupid,� and said it is “weak� human beings who engage in such speech. The chancellor also asserted that hateful speech does absolutely nothing to promote understanding and tolerance.
Many Jewish students at the meeting blamed the Muslim Student Union for creating an environment in which hate speech can prosper, which they felt had a direct connection to the vandalism.
Some of the Jewish students at the meeting revealed that they and others had been subject to verbal and physical intimidation at the hands of MSU members, and that they had previously reported these claims to campus security. In light of this, some students asked that Drake place restrictions on where MSU events are held, saying that if their events were held in classrooms as opposed to public spaces, their effect would not be as broad. However, Chancellor Drake told Jewish students at the meeting that he cannot restrict any club, that it would be “violation of law to prohibit certain speech.�
Gomez emphasized that though hate speech may be present, he would not seek to curtail it, as “one person’s hate speech is another person’s education.”
Drake stated that it is not in the power of the University of California to prohibit speech on campus in any fashion because it would be against the constitutional rights of individuals.
Students at the meeting pointed to the fact that there have been threats, verbal and physical, and that the university should do more in order to ensure the safety of Jewish students. I invited Drake to come to AFI events and other Jewish events, and he said that he would plan to attend a Shabbat dinner, and speak at an AFI event.
Some students also suggested that the MSU violated campus policy, specifically, policy 102.02 (dishonesty outside the classroom) and 102.11 (harassment), for its use of anti-Israel propaganda. But I and some other leaders present objected to the approach of seeking to violate MSU students as a solution to the problem.
Students representing Hillel and Anteaters For Israel suggested working with other clubs on campus to promote more understanding, and perhaps even meet with Muslim student groups.
Jewish leaders on campus left the meeting with mixed feelings. On one hand, it is clear to the Jewish community that the administration is attempting to be supportive and helpful. On the other hand, many students worry that, as happened here, UCI personnel will take action only after students are directly and obviously targeted, as opposed to confronting the growing problem before such results occur.
Jewish Students Discuss Vandalism With Chancellor
Published by Reut Cohen October 24th, 2006 in University of California - Irvine.15 Responses to “Jewish Students Discuss Vandalism With Chancellor”
- 1 Pingback on Oct 24th, 2006 at 6:48 pm
- 2 Pingback on Oct 27th, 2006 at 1:59 pm
The administration is attempting to avoid the issue - period.
Report all harassment and assaults to the police.
I think the students should contact Jewish organizations about finding a lawyer. The administration is almost certainly using double standards - e.g., I imagine (and hope) that a group of gay students with similar complaints of harassment by socially conservative students would already have received concrete help. That is largley because gay student groups have had success suing public schools under similar circumstances - sometimes with help from the ACLU.
Harassment of Jewish students will only become officially off limits on campus when administrators fear lawsuits. True for other minorities, too. Sad, but true. The free speech argument would persuade me better if campus administrators didn’t routinely repress whatever speech might get them in trouble.
Hang in there.
A lawsuit is intially appealing, but lawsuits are what got us into this Orwellian world. Keep the damned suits out of this.
The best solution to bigotry is fresh air. Keep airing those gievances publicly.
My suggestion? Take this opportunity to make Mr. Gomez understand the impact of his words. Stage a rally based on them. If possible, get together with the black student union, the latin american student union, the asian american student union (or whatever the campus equivalents are), but if necessary, go it alone.
The rally should be in a public space, and it should involve loud, repeated chanting of racist slurs followed by “one person’s hate speech is another person’s education”
So:
Rally Leader: “Kike go home”
Crowd: “Kike go home”
Rally leader: “One person’s hate speech is another person’s education.”
Crowd: “One person’s hate speech is another person’s education.”
Rally leader: “Monkeys Niggers, don’t belong”
Crowd: “Monkeys, Niggers, don’t belong”
Rally leader: “One person’s hate speech is another person’s education.”
Crowd: “One person’s hate speech is another person’s education.”
Rally Leader: “Raghead, towelhead, muslim scum”
Crowd: “Raghead, towelhead, muslim scum”
Rally leader: “One person’s hate speech is another person’s education.”
Crowd: “One person’s hate speech is another person’s education.”
(and so on, with slurs for hispanics, asians, etc. Then repeat from “Kike go home”)
Spend an hour chanting that on the lawn in front of his office, invite some press, and see if that doesn’t have an impact.
“one person’s hate speech is another person’s education.�
Gomez is simply a moron. I mean that in an educational sense.
Anybody who supports Israel deserves whatever they get in terms of this so-called “hate speech”. Israel is an apartheid, segragationist, & racist state. Israel has Jim Crow like laws against the Arabs living in Israel proper. Israel has no right to exist as the jews imposed themselves on the Arabs in 1948, hence stealing their land, demolishing their villages, etc. Israel is illegally occupying the West Bank and has been since 1967. Israeli settlements (JEWISH ONLY, how’s that for “tolerance”???) in the West Bank are ILLEGAL.
Shake off your evil, racist, zionist ways and join this group:
www.jewsnotzionists.org
or
http://www.jewsagainstzionism.com/
http://www.nkusa.org/
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/jews_against_zionism.html
http://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/
Jim
We students should find our own voices instead of getting used by outside organization whose sole purpose is to act as Israeli apologist. If jews are protesting occupation, MSA would not have to organize events.
Jim Jenson says: ‘Anybody who supports Israel deserves whatever they get in terms of this so-called “hate speechâ€?.’
So, your logic, is because you disagree with their Zionist views, it’s all right to call Jews kykes? Yeah, thats not anti-semitic.
You’d hope Jewish kids would be outraged about Israel’s recent murderous bombing campaign than a laughable bit of anti-Zionism.
Ha! You’re getting off easy by only being called names. You go back to your comfortable dorm room, probably have a nice car, mom and dad pay your bills…. then you run your mouth shouting things like “Support Israel”, as if it’s some sports club. Do you have any idea how Palestinians have suffered, especially since ‘67? How about Lebanese? Israel is a war monger. It is an evil regime. You need to wake up and get out of your “Club Jew” mentality. Supporting Israel is supporting evil. Read these websites:
http://www.jewsagainstzionism.com/
http://www.nkusa.org/
http://www.jewsnotzionists.org/
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/jews_against_zionism.html
http://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/
Israel only hurts jews in the long run, trust me on this. Anybody who truly cares about worldwide Jewry does not support Israel.
Jim, no one believes that you give a damn about the Jewish people– that’s why you think it’s ok to call them kykes based on their political views.
Try to refute my points instead of using ad hominem.
You already called me an “Anti-Semite” (yawn).
Actually, Jim, an ad hominem attack is a logical fallacy that is irrelevant to the conversation at hand– in Latin, literally, an argument against the person. I\’m not claiming that your anti-semitism alone proves you wrong– it just reveals your prejudice when it comes to discussing the politics of the only Jewish state in the world.