So The Register's Marla Jo Fisher is at it again. Almost one year ago, Chancellor Michael Drake's and Dean Sally Peterson's dog robber was taken to task to write a puff piece on UC Irvine's problem with hate speech from radical Islamists. In this poorly researched article, Fisher depicted concerned students as alarmists and more abhorrently as outsiders, despite convincing evidence to the contrary. To support her assertions, she cited one Jewish student's apparent apathy. Today, that pusillanimous number has grown to a colossal five. In her article, Fisher cites an Orange County Hillel press release written by five Jewish "leaders" which calls for the allowance of administration officials to use redundant talking points, and ambiguous explanations to relieve themselves of their obligatory duties. Ostensibly, the premise of this press release similarly echoes Chancellor Drake's sentiments:

In lieu of recent controversy over the limits of free speech rights at UC Irvine, we, the Jewish student leaders, stand by the UCI Administration in their efforts to protect first amendment rights, as well as promote the free exchange of ideas.

Who's First Amendment Rights? Who's free exchange of ideas? Apparently when it comes to enforcing these ideals, the self-professed "leaders" not only prefer echoing Drake's own words, but also his apparent indecisiveness and leadership deficiency: to stand idle and selectively set aside moral courage as a matter of immediate convenience. The very idea that they would attack victims of vile hate speech and a demeaning campus environment, all while targeting these very same victims as suppressors of the free exchange of ideas is not only reprehensible but insulting to the intelligence. This portion of the press release would have more effectively been written:

In lieu of recent controversy over inflammatory speech and an unsavory conditions at UC Irvine, we, the Jewish student leaders, stand by the UCI Administration in their efforts to protect first amendment rights, as well as promote the safe and  free exchange of ideas.

The former merely masks the problem, and attempts to silence critics. The latter serves dual purposes. It recognizes the deficiency in civility, and it works to actively promote the enforcement of the ideal. Essentially, to enjoy the fruits of an expensive education without being told you are the scourge of the Earth; or being targeted with the dubious and monolithic claims that your country and heritage lacks political and ethnic legitimacy.

Bewildering, is the five's contradicting admonishment of alleged "outsiders" who have issued false allegations against the administration for failing to confront anti-Semitism, and their own admission that the problem of anti-Semitism continues to exist at the end of the letter.

The Admonishment:

Over the past few months, off-campus organizations have issued allegations that the UCI Administration has failed to properly address issues of anti-Semitism, arguing that Jewish students are consistently victims of physical threats. As representatives of the larger active Jewish community on campus, we challenge this claim and extend an open invitation to any outside organization( s) who wishes to experience Jewish student life at UCI first- hand.

The Admission:

The reality is that verbal anti-Semitism spurred by controversial student groups unfortunately continues to exist on campus. However, Jewish student life is able to expand and prosper due to the constructive approach taken by Hillel Foundation of Orange County and Jewish Federation, in conjunction with the support of UCI Administration.

The following is a sample of what a Jewish or pro-Israel student could potentially experience during daily campus life at UC Irvine and the Muslim Student Union's quarterly anti-Jewish, anti-American, and anti-West programs:

1. The desecration of Israeli flags with swastikas and blood stains.

2. Intimidation and abuse while practicing student journalism and protest during Muslim Student Union events. This has included the use photo capture of the faces of Jewish or pro-Israeli students for the use of future intimidation; pushing, shoving, and shouting in the faces of Jewish or pro-Israeli students; and assault with hurtful objects such as rocks by Muslim Student Union Members.

3. Muslim speakers who express their desire for Israel to be wiped off the map.

4. Muslim speakers who express their hatred towards Jews involved in politics.

5. Muslim speakers who blame Jews on undesirable social conditions.

6. Muslim speakers who tell Jews to get out of their ghettos.

7. Muslim speakers who boast that Jews are afraid to get on buses in Israel out of fear of the     "freedom fighters" who strap bombs to their bodies.

8. Muslim speakers who assert that "Jews are the new Nazis."

9. Depictions of Jews with hooked noses in exhibits.

10. Plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty meant to demonize Jews.

11. The intimidation of Jewish and pro-Israeli speakers by members of the Muslim Student Union.

12. Programs hosted by the Muslim Student Union titled: "Holocaust in the Holyland," "Genocide in Gaza," and "Israel: The 4th Reich."

13. Posters on campus suggesting that Israeli soldiers target Arab children to shoot on sight.

Fisher's grand premise that Jewish life thrives on campus lacks credibility on two accounts: First, it is based on a press release with 5 signatories claiming to represent the community at large. Second, the credibility from a portion of the signatories Fisher cited is entirely questionable.

One of the signatories, Isaac Yerushalmi, who is also President of Anteaters for Israel, is flatly telling falsehoods in his assertions of a thriving campus environment. Early February, while protesting a speech given by Imam Mohammed Al-Asi (who has called on violence against Jews), Isaac nearly came to blows with a Muslim student during a nose-to-nose verbal confrontation over the Israeli-Arab conflict. I saw this incident first hand. A crowd of Muslim and Jewish students surrounded the two at the Student Center Terrace, while a UC Irvine Campus Police Officer stood idly by until a student compelled him to neutralize the situation.

A source, on the condition of anonymity, told me that the other student representative, Michelle Eshaghian, who is also President of Hillel on campus, was the student whose Israeli flag hanging outside her dorm room was defaced by swastika symbols. Though this incident was cited by the Independent Task Force Investigating Anti-Semitism, she denied their report lacked substance and said that she couldn't think of a single Jewish student who participated in the investigation.

Coincidentally, here is Michelle's statement in Fisher's Register Article:

"They call me a liar, these people from these outside organizations," Eshaghian said. "But I am a hard core Israel political activist, I am very Jewish, I would give up my life for Israel. I don't know if they think I don't care, but I do."

Similar to her article last year, again repeated by Fisher and her sources is the repeated talking point of "outside organizations" meant to discredit those who protest anti-Semitism. She cites the international blogosphere and the ZOA (Zionist Organization of America) as examples.

Allow me to first address the blogs. Student bloggers at UC Irvine have done far more reporting on this matter than the OC Register. Whether this is due to the decline in the quality of journalism or the shrinking size of the mainstream news room is matter of large consequence. Reut Cohen, a recent graduate of UC Irvine, took painstaking efforts away from her class work last year to document her blog with written accounts, photos, and video of MSU events only to be labeled as an outsider. The anonymous Concerned UCI student, a recent graduate student, effectively documented events relating to matters of academic dishonesty from the Muslim Student Union. On numerous occasions, after obtaining original footage of incidents at UC Irvine (where I am a student), I have tried to make Ms. Fisher aware of my work, only to be ignored in favor of press releases and administration officials who comply with her media template. Hence, our work has been spread virally throughout the web to prominent or "international" blogs, who make their appropriate citations. 

Now allow me address the issue of outside organizations. The President of ZOA, Morton Klein, is cited by Fisher as a counterweight to the claims argued in the press release:

The president of the Zionist Organization of America, which has been a nationally recognized conduit for complaints about anti-Semitism at UCI, discounted the statements by Jewish students who signed the statement, including Anteaters for Israel president Yerushalmi."This is the type of nonsense we've heard from this student," ZOA President Morton Klein said. "They're claiming it's safe, but do they feel comfortable wearing a T-shirt saying `I love Israel?' They acknowledge there's verbal anti-Semitism, but if it were black students, people would say it's intolerable."

It's appropriate that Klein was given a voice in the article, but Fisher allows unsubstantiated claims that ZOA is an outside organization to remain unanswered. Like Hillel, ZOA has a corresponding licensed campus organization. But unlike Hillel, it is getting painted with the broad brush as "outsider." One former student argues that Hillel and ZOA share common characteristics as campus groups that have support from larger outside organizations. "Students created Hillel at UCI, but Orange County Hillel has offices off campus. Still all of these students answer back to Hillel because that's where they perceive their greatest funding and support from." The student says. "Funding generally comes from Jewish federations. By that same argument Standwithus and ZOA are no longer outside organizations."

Kevin Schmelzin, the President of ZOA at UC Irvine, also disputes the presumptuous attitude of the signatories who ostensibly claim they represent the sentiments of the greater Jewish community at UC Irvine and brand their detractors as outsiders. "Most Jewish people I talk to don't agree with Isaac (Yerushalmi) or Jeffrey (Rips). It's pompous on Jeffrey's and Isaac's part; we (ZOA) have events and have done recruiting." Schmelzin says. "ZOA is one of the oldest Zionist groups in America and was founded in the 1800's. It upsets me because ZOA has done more recently than Hillel to address the problem of anti-Semitism. When people come forward, and say that they encountered anti-Semitism, Hillel didn't help them, so they came to ZOA." 

Marla Fisher also writes about the US Department of Education's probe into events at UC Irvine and their subsequent conclusion that the charges of anti-Semitism are unsubstantiated. She not only ignores the fact that the probe contradicted previous policy positions from the Office of Civil Rights and the United States Commission on Civil Rights,but fails to report that U.S. Senators Arlen Specter (R-PA), Jon Kyl (R-AZ), and Sam Brownback (R-KS) were miffed by the Office of Civil Rights Report. More specifically their decision to narrowly-tailor Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act to exclude discrimination against Jews of protection from national origin discrimination. The three Senators cited the Supreme Court case Shaare Tefila Congregation v. Cobb, 481 U.S. 615 (1987) when the majority of Justices concluded that the term "Jew" is broader than its religious context. Consequentially, UC Irvine is eligible to be barred from federal education funding if these types of racist, intimidating, and un-academic events endure on the taxpayer's dime.

It's unfortunate that the purported "leaders" on campus refuse take any action against this hateful and declining collegial environment. More disappointing is their refusal to help compel the administration to act justly. As previously reported, they have consistently been followers of outsiders such as OC Hillel Director Jeffrey Rips, who has coerced students away from reporting incidents of anti-Semitism; and Kevin O'Grady of the Anti-Defamation League, who has destroyed his own documentation of events on campus; both behaved in this manner to save face in the midst of their ineffectiveness to respond to this issue. 

Lastly, below is a letter signed by a larger cross-section (more than the 5 who wrote the Hillel Press Release) of the Jewish and pro-Israel community both inside and outside UC Irvine. The 20 signatories express dismay at Chancellor Drake's unwillingness to directly and specifically condemn the hate emitted at Muslim Student Union events, and dispute the claim of the five students who refuse to confront the self-acknowledged problem of anti-Semitism.

Click above to see a full-screen preview of the letter or click here to download the PDF.

Now Marla Jo, don't you think corrections are appropriately warranted?