Anti-Defamation League Ordered Destruction of Videotapes of Muslim Student Union Events
Posted by: Jonathan Constantine | 02/24/2008 11:10 AM
Recent UC Irvine graduate Philip Schlesinger in his response to Kevin O'Grady's scathing critique to the task force investigation rightfully concludes that the ADL's and other group's lethargic pen-and-ink responses to antisemitism have been largely ineffective. What's even more alarming is that the ADL is destroying evidence while claiming to represent Jewish student on campus:
Dear Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, University
of California, Irvine Chapter,
I'm sure you've all now seen the Orange County / Long
Beach Anti-Defamation League's response - penned by
their Regional Director, Kevin O'Grady, whom I first
met in May 2004 - to the Orange County Independent
Task Force on Anti-Semitism's 34 page report as
forwarded by Henry Wyle of UCI SPME.
The Director O'Grady named me at the end of the first
paragraph of their response:
"Further, in a public presentation of the report at
Temple Bat Yahm, Taskforce member Phil Schlesinger
requested that the Jewish community stop donating to
the Federation, Hillel and ADL."
The end of Director O'Grady's response also states:
"I believe the members of the Taskforce should be
ashamed that the reprehensible request to withhold
funding from vital Jewish agencies was made. If Mr.
Schlesinger does not represent the views of the
Taskforce and was only speaking for himself, the
Taskforce should issue an immediate and public apology
and retraction. If Mr. Schlesinger does represent the
view of the Taskforce, the Jewish community should
denounce these demands, and withdraw support from the
Taskforce."
Let me set the record straight right now:
I am not, nor have never been a member of the OCITF.
To my recollection, I have never stated that I was a
member of the OCITF. My only relationship to the
OCITF has been to give several hours of testimony, and
- of my own volition - to try to get the word out that
the report had been issued under the principle of "The
World Must Know", to use the title of a book published
by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.
It would seem that unlike me, some in our community
were not raised with, nor are firm believers in a
related principle: "Never Again".
In addition, what I stated standing at the bimah of
Temple Bat Yahm of Newport Beach, CA on Wednesday
February 13, 2008 was my personal views and my views
alone:
If people want to effect a significant change in the
environment on campus, instead of encouraging UCI and
local Jewish organizations such as Hillel, the ADL,
and the Jewish Federation to continue their so-far
ineffective courses of action, I suggest that when
filling out their next donation checks, those donors
should tear them in half and give the right halves of
each check to UCI and/or those local Jewish
organizations, keeping the left halves to themselves
until things improve.
I do not apologize for this point of view, nor should
the OCITF be coerced into distancing itself as - again
- I am not a member of the OCITF, nor was I ever.
Getting back to Director O'Grady's response, I do not
know where he got the idea that I was a member of the
OCITF. Do me a favor: ask Director O'Grady from where
he got this incorrect data.
With that said, there are some other statements in the
Director O'Grady's response that necessitate review.
But first, a little background:
As I described at TBY last Wednesday, Hillel, the ADL,
and the Federation have done great things, including
recently bringing Professor Alan Dershowitz to speak
on campus, organizing Shabbas Dinners, and an Open
Town Hall Forum with UCI Chancellor Michael Drake in
May 2007 (to be discussed later in this document).
I then discussed my first interactions with Director
O'Grady:
In May 2004, during the time period of the UCI Muslim
Student Union's annual Zionism Awareness Week, I
talked at length one-on-one with Director O'Grady.
I asked Director O'Grady what the ADL was doing to
fight the anti-Semitism being espoused on campus. He
told me that they were doing the best they could, but
unfortunately all they could do was write stern
letters to the UCI administration and hold backroom
meetings, and as was plainly evident, those actions
had no visible effect.
I asked Director O'Grady if the ADL might consider
suing UCI - or referring me to a pro-bono attorney who
might consider suing UCI - for permitting the creation
of a pervasive hostile environment.
After all, I and every other Jewish student on campus
was paying $10,000 a year - double that if the Jewish
student lived on campus - for the privilege of having
to listen to amplified shouts from MSU-invited
speakers that we Jews controlled the government, the
economy, and the media; that we Jews were a mix
between "white supremacy and the Chosen People"; that
people should ask us Jews why America was in Iraq
(basically, America went to war at the Jews's
bidding); and so on.
I used as a comparison the following: if UCI was a
corporation, and if UCI - upon learning of the
pervasiveness of the hostility against Jews in their
workplace - did not take effective action to eliminate
the pervasiveness and hostility, then I and other Jews
could sue, and we might have a good chance of winning
the lawsuit.
Director O'Grady refused to consider suing UCI or to
refer me to an attorney who might consider suing UCI.
I asked Director O'Grady if the ADL was videotaping
the anti-Semitic events. He was not. I asked him if
he would consider videotaping the events; the answer
was "no". I asked him if he would give me a video
camera so I could videotape the events; again, the
answer was "no".
The very next day, I heard that Director O'Grady
apparently had a change of heart, for someone
witnessed him pulling out a video camera and
videotaping a Zionism Awareness Week event. I
contacted him immediately and asked him if I could see
the videotape, for I had missed the event due to
classes.
Director O'Grady's answer was again "no", and that the
New York office of the ADL had reprimanded him for
videotaping the event, ordered him to destroy the
videotape, and he followed those orders. He then
added that I should just forget that it ever happened.
This was just one anecdote from my speech at TBY on
February 13th. I also told anecdotes about my
experiences with the leadership of Hillel and the
Jewish Federation of Orange County, and it was based
on these and other anecdotes that I took my point of
view as stated above.
Now, let's go over the Director O'Grady's other
statements in his response, for they do necessitate
review. Ask Director O'Grady about the following:
- "ADL has worked on the UCI issue for at least six
years. Our work has included the following:... I have
written letters to the editor of the Register, the LA
Times, and the Jewish Journal and Op-Ed pieces calling
for changes on the UCI campus."
I searched the Orange County Register and LA Times
websites and found no letters to the editor or op-eds
by him published on those websites.
The only opinion piece by Director O'Grady that I was
able to find was an op-ed in the Jewish Journal
lambasting the Council for American-Islamic Relations
for "sponsor[ing] a speaking tour by 'the renowned
Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss, director of Neturei
Karta.'" It's a great op-ed; I thank Director O'Grady
for pushing for it to be published three and a half
years ago.
The miniscule coverage of the situation on campus in
those newspapers should also be noted. With maybe two
or three exceptions, the coverage has been almost
completely been phrased to make it as if UCI can do no
wrong, often describing it, to quote Martha Mecartney,
then outgoing Chair of the UCI Academic Senate, at the
SPME Tolerating Intolerance screening at University
Synagogue, as it's a "conflict between Jewish and
Muslim students" (see discussion below for more about
this).
Maybe I missed some of the other letters to the editor
and op-eds in the OC Register, the LA Times, and the
Jewish Journal - would Director O'Grady please inform
us where we can find them?
- "ADL took a cadre of 20 Jewish student leaders for
weekend long training in our Confronting Anti-Semitism
program. These students became trainers in this
program and returned to their campuses qualified to
run their own workshops." and later "Supported Hillel
with programming and training for students."
During the Q&A portion of the February 13th TBY event,
Jeff Rips, Executive Director of Orange County Hillel,
stood up without being called on, introduced himself,
and then said that the audience should hear from some
of the current UCI Jewish student leadership - who in
fact happened to be attending that night. Isaac
Yerushalmi, President of the UCI Anteaters for Israel,
then stood up, introduced himself, and basically
stated that he was not aware of any anti-Semitism at
UCI. Michelle Eshaghian, President of Hillel, then
stood up and more or less parroted what President
Yerushalmi had just stated.
Then Shalom Elcott, CEO of the Jewish Federation
spoke. "Screamed" actually might be more appropriate.
I'll discuss that at length at another time. Back to
the topic at hand:
After the Q&A, when President Yerushalmi approached me
on the bimah, I asked him if he knew of any students -
other than Reut Cohen, who filed several complaints to
the UCI Dean of Students Office with detailed evidence
of violations of UC and UCI policies by the MSU, and
who has since graduated - who had filed complaints
with the Dean of Students Office, as that is a very
necessary first step to combating the anti-Semitism on
campus. He said "no".
I then asked President Yerushalmi if there had been
any educational programs where Jewish students were
taught their rights or how to properly file a
complaint with the Dean of Students Office. Again,
his answer was "no".
It would seem therefore that either:
(a) No UCI Jewish students were part of that "cadre of
Jewish student leaders", or
(b) The "Confronting Anti-Semitism program" did not
include materials detailing Jewish student rights and
how to properly file complaints, or
(c) The UCI Jewish students who were in that "cadre"
just forgot what they were taught.
In addition, it would seem that the local Jewish
organizations have not effectively educated the UCI
Jewish student leadership, let alone the Jewish
students themselves, about their rights or how to
properly file complaints.
President Yerushalmi later that evening volunteered to
Susan Tuchman, Director of the Center of Law and
Justice for the Zionist Organization of America, that
he himself knew of multiple Jewish students who had
experienced anti-Semitism at UCI, thereby
contradicting what he had publicly announced only
minutes earlier to the audience at TBY.
It would seem that the local Jewish organizations -
including the ADL - have not effectively educated the
UCI Jewish student leadership to recognize
contradictions such as this one, nor the
inappropriateness of not telling the truth to
synagogue audiences.
The following day, I found out from three separate
witnesses that at the UCI MSU "From Auschwitz to Gaza:
The Politics of Genocide" featuring Imam Mohammad
Al-Asi the prior Thursday, a Muslim student had walked
up to President Yerushalmi, stood nose-to-nose with
him, and preceded to start a shouting match.
According to one of these witnesses, "it almost came
to blows" before the police stepped in and broke up
the fight. While I do not know the substance of the
shouting match, given the heated nature of the
"Auschwitz to Gaza" event, as well as the speaker's
history of anti-Semitic remarks such as "you can take
the Jew out of the ghetto, but you can't take the
ghetto out of the Jew", I think it is likely that some
of the words exchanged included anti-Semitic
statements by the Muslim student.
If this is the case, it would appear that the local
Jewish organizations - including the ADL - have not
effectively educated the UCI Jewish leadership on how
to recognize anti-Semitism when it is not only staring
them in the face, but shouting at them too - for as I
mentioned earlier, Presidents Yerushalmi and Eshaghian
stated to the TBY audience that there is no real
anti-Semitism on campus today.
This would seem to contradict Director O'Grady's
statement.
- "More than fifty community presentations urging
members of the Jewish and non-Jewish communities to
lobby UCI for change."
I am only aware of one or two of these presentations.
Director O'Grady might be telling the truth. It would
be interesting to see a list of where and when these
happened, the guest speakers for each event, and the
changes lobbied.
I also should note that almost every member of the
local community - Jewish and non-Jewish - with whom
I've talked has stated to me that they were not aware
of the level of anti-Semitism, violence, and
intimidation going on at UCI. Apparently those 50+
community presentations missed those people.
- "Met with UCI police to discuss hate crime
enforcement." and later "The UCI police department is
actively engaged in supporting Jewish students on
campus."
This must have begun after May 2007.
I state that because in May 2007, Reut Cohen
(mentioned above) had a camera shoved in her face
repeatedly by a Muslim female; she happened to catch
the assault and the perpetrator on her video camera.
She complained immediately to a nearby UCI police
officer who refused to take any action. She filed a
complaint with the UCI Dean of Students Office,
submitting as evidence the videotape. To date, she
states that neither the Dean of Students Office, nor
the UCI police have done anything about it.
This would seem to contradict Director O'Grady's
statement.
- "Ten days ago, I met with the Chancellor to discuss
the situation and said again that it is incumbent upon
him to condemn speakers by name." and later "What
difference have these efforts made? / The university
Chancellor [Michael Drake, MD] has strongly condemned
anti-Semitism. / The university administrators
understanding the nexus of anti-Zionist speech and
anti-Semitic speech."
In 2006, Chancellor Drake issued three emails to the
entire campus discussing the issues of free speech and
civility. In the third email, dated May 30, 2006, he
said the following "Hate speech is difficult to define
precisely. It is largely defined by the individual
hearing it: what some or many may find hateful or
offensive, others may not...Make no mistake: I find hate
speech abhorrent, illogical and ultimately pitiful."
So Chancellor Drake condemns "hate speech", but we
have no idea what he thinks "hate speech" is.
Is saying that the Jews control the government, the
economy, and the media "hate speech"? We Jews say
"yes", the MSU says "no", and Chancellor Drake
wouldn't know.
Is AFI's display at UCI of the burned, twisted shell
of Bus 19 - which was destroyed by a 24-year-old
suicide bomber, killing 11 and injuring over 50, with
13 seriously wounded - "hate speech"? We Jews said
"no", the MSU and SAS said "yes", and the Chancellor
Drake wouldn't know.
In May 2007, the local Jewish organizations sponsored
an Open Town Hall event with Chancellor Drake as guest
speaker. 500+ people attended and overall, it was a
great event.
Standing at one of the microphones during the Q&A,
Julie Sager of the Zionist Organization of America
explicitly asked Chancellor Drake to state his
definition of anti-Semitism, or at least to give some
examples of anti-Semitism, and if he couldn't come up
with any examples, she could throw out a few and see
what his thoughts were.
Chancellor Drake stated that he would not define
anti-Semitism, nor would he give examples of it.
Is saying "you can take the Jew out of the ghetto, but
you can't take the ghetto out of the Jew" - as
mentioned above - "anti-Semitism" or "anti-Zionism"?
We Jews say "anti-Semitism", the MSU says
"anti-Zionism", and Chancellor Drake wouldn't know.
This would seem to contradict Director O'Grady's
statement.
- "The university has put programs in place that
attempt to mediate between the two student groups."
The wording of this statement is troubling, as it
somewhat parrots the above quote of former Chair of
the UCI Academic Senate, Martha Mecartney, where she
said that it's a "conflict between Muslim and Jewish
students".
To my knowledge, the Jewish students aren't causing
trouble - their speakers' rhetoric is nothing near to
what the MSU brings in. Meanwhile, the Jewish
students and speakers are getting attacked by the
Muslim students, both verbally and physically.
The above comparison is like calling the Holocaust is
a "conflict between the Nazis and the Jews"; such an
equalization is inappropriate here too.
Thus, this statement by Director O'Grady might reflect
a poor grasp of the real situation.
But let's talk about those university programs:
In 2002 or 2003, an agreement was hammered out between
the MSU and the UCI administration that the MSU would
no longer use Swastika = Jewish Star in their posters
or literature.
By 2004, that MSU leadership had graduated and posters
and placards reappeared with Swastika = Jewish Star.
When I asked about that agreement in May 2004, Dean of
Students Sally Peterson stated that the agreement was
just a guideline and thus was unenforceable.
Per Dean Peterson's suggestion, a meeting was held
between herself, Director O'Grady, Director Rips,
Director Breland, Assistant Ombudsman J. Michael
Chennault, Israel on Campus Coalition President Allan
Bernstein, Director and Title IX/Sexual Harassment
Officer (and now Assistant Executive Vice Chancellor)
of the UCI Office for Equality and Diversity Kirsten
Quanbeck, and 11 Jewish students including myself.
Each of us Jewish students presented our experiences
on campus personally dealing with anti-Semitism.
As the last student presentation completed, I
requested to Dean Peterson that UCI launch a
fact-finding investigation into what appeared to be a
pervasive hostile environment against Jews on campus.
Dean Peterson rejected this request at the meeting,
and instead opted to try an inter-religious dialogue.
In Fall 2004, that dialogue occurred. Six events were
held on campus where local adult lay and religious
leaders discussed how they dealt with their
differences.
At one event, there seemed to be breakthrough: a
Muslim political leader - I think his name was Tareef
Nashashibi, Chairman of the Orange County Arab
American Republican Club - responded to a Muslim
student's question about the MSU's approach of using
what we would find to be anti-Semitism. Mr.
Nashashibi stated that such actions and speech were
inappropriate. An adult in the local Muslim community
had publicly criticized the MSU for its methods.
That breakthrough was short-lived, as just two and a
half months later, the MSU brought back Malik Ali, one
of their favorite anti-Semites.
Next up was the Ford Foundation funding of UCI's
Difficult Dialogues project for the 2005-2006 school
year.
The virulence of the MSU's anti-Semitism only
increased during this period.
I've met with Abraham's Vision, UCI's latest attempt
to calm the situation. I wish them the best of luck.
From what I can tell, the MSU considered the November
30, 2007 (in my and others' view) inappropriately
narrow-focused report from the US Department of
Education's Office for Civil Rights as a call for open
season on the Jews.
I should now bring up one other anecdote:
In 2004, a Jewish student attempted to videotape an
open-to-the-public MSU event that happened to be
inside a public meeting room on campus. The MSU
requested that the student stop videotaping, and when
he refused - given that it was an open-to-the-public
event - Byron Clift Breland, the then Director of
Judicial Affairs for the UCI Dean of Students Office,
acted as enforcer by throwing the student out of the
event.
The entire discussion between the student and Director
Breland was captured on the student's videotape. As
the transcript is easily available, I would assume
that, given the ADL's mission, Director O'Grady
requested a copy and has read it.
A year or two later, Director Breland quit his post.
Subsequently, Edgar J. Dormitorio took on the same
role, though he is listed as the "Acting" Director.
During the May 2007 Israel Apartheid Resurrected Week
(renamed from "Zionism Awareness Week"), I myself
attended an open-to-the-public MSU indoor event in the
UCI Crystal Cove Auditorium.
About 45 minutes into the event, a gentleman tapped me
on the shoulder, introduced himself as Edgar J.
Dormitorio, stated that the MSU leadership had asked
him to verify if I was recording the event, and if so,
I needed to stop or leave the event. I was not
recording and told him so, and stayed in my seat.
The next day, I emailed Director Dormitorio, asking
him where in UC or UCI policy does it state that UCI
has the right to enforce requests that recording not
occur at open-to-the-public indoor events, especially
since another campus administration - UC Riverside's -
had recently informed a group that it would have to
permit videotaping of their events.
To paraphrase what one commentator on the UCR
development wrote: there should be no place for secret
societies on a public university campus.
A day or two after Director Dormitorio tapped me on
the shoulder, he kicked another student out of an
open-to-the-public MSU indoor event for the crime of
videotaping the event. That student posted the video
of being kicked out on a blog, detailing how he was
also harassed by Muslim students.
California State Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, who
represents the district in which UCI resides, and who
is the State Assembly's Republican Whip, wrote a
comment on the blog post stating his distaste for what
happened to the student. I contacted Assemblyman
DeVore and asked him if he would come to UCI and, as
an act of civil disobedience, would he please
videotape the next UCI MSU indoor event. He accepted,
made a special trip from Sacramento to videotape an
open-to-the-public indoor MSU event - where the MSU
tried to shut him down, and were told to back off by
the speaker - and subsequently wrote about it in a
Daily Pilot article.
Around the same time, Director Dormitorio emailed me
that there was no official policy that gave UCI the
power to enforce requests to cease recording of
open-to-the-public indoor events, but such a policy
might be codified in the future. Several months
later, it was reported in the Daily Pilot that UCI had
stated that from then on it would no longer enforce
requests to not videotape.
It would seem that this change happened not because of
pressure from the local Jewish organizations, but from
pressure from myself, the other students mentioned
previously in this section, and Assemblyman DeVore in
his power as an elected official.
Those local Jewish organizations could have and - it
would appear - did not force the issue with the UCI
administration. You would think the ADL, if any
organization, would have pushed for recording of
anti-Semitism; why did I end up doing it?
I could go on at length well beyond what I've written,
but for now I will close by quoting the OCITF's
report, page 24:
"[Assemblyman DeVore] told the interview committee
that he was concerned as a non-Jew and could not
understand the lack of 'moral outrage' by the local
Jewish community over the treatment of Jewish students
on campus."
Assemblyman DeVore asked the OCITF, "'Where are the
Jewish Organizations?'"
SPME's membership and leadership should be asking the
same thing. Perhaps if they did, and kept the
pressure up, we could all unite together and do what
it really takes to effectively battle the
anti-Semitism, violence, and intimidation at UCI so
students can finally have the "hospitable environment"
that "it is incumbent on UCI to make [of] itself"
(ibid, p.27).
SPME, show me that you can do it.
Philip Schlesinger
UCI BS '05 MS '06
Dear Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, University
of California, Irvine Chapter,
I'm sure you've all now seen the Orange County / Long
Beach Anti-Defamation League's response - penned by
their Regional Director, Kevin O'Grady, whom I first
met in May 2004 - to the Orange County Independent
Task Force on Anti-Semitism's 34 page report as
forwarded by Henry Wyle of UCI SPME.
The Director O'Grady named me at the end of the first
paragraph of their response:
"Further, in a public presentation of the report at
Temple Bat Yahm, Taskforce member Phil Schlesinger
requested that the Jewish community stop donating to
the Federation, Hillel and ADL."
The end of Director O'Grady's response also states:
"I believe the members of the Taskforce should be
ashamed that the reprehensible request to withhold
funding from vital Jewish agencies was made. If Mr.
Schlesinger does not represent the views of the
Taskforce and was only speaking for himself, the
Taskforce should issue an immediate and public apology
and retraction. If Mr. Schlesinger does represent the
view of the Taskforce, the Jewish community should
denounce these demands, and withdraw support from the
Taskforce."
Let me set the record straight right now:
I am not, nor have never been a member of the OCITF.
To my recollection, I have never stated that I was a
member of the OCITF. My only relationship to the
OCITF has been to give several hours of testimony, and
- of my own volition - to try to get the word out that
the report had been issued under the principle of "The
World Must Know", to use the title of a book published
by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.
It would seem that unlike me, some in our community
were not raised with, nor are firm believers in a
related principle: "Never Again".
In addition, what I stated standing at the bimah of
Temple Bat Yahm of Newport Beach, CA on Wednesday
February 13, 2008 was my personal views and my views
alone:
If people want to effect a significant change in the
environment on campus, instead of encouraging UCI and
local Jewish organizations such as Hillel, the ADL,
and the Jewish Federation to continue their so-far
ineffective courses of action, I suggest that when
filling out their next donation checks, those donors
should tear them in half and give the right halves of
each check to UCI and/or those local Jewish
organizations, keeping the left halves to themselves
until things improve.
I do not apologize for this point of view, nor should
the OCITF be coerced into distancing itself as - again
- I am not a member of the OCITF, nor was I ever.
Getting back to Director O'Grady's response, I do not
know where he got the idea that I was a member of the
OCITF. Do me a favor: ask Director O'Grady from where
he got this incorrect data.
With that said, there are some other statements in the
Director O'Grady's response that necessitate review.
But first, a little background:
As I described at TBY last Wednesday, Hillel, the ADL,
and the Federation have done great things, including
recently bringing Professor Alan Dershowitz to speak
on campus, organizing Shabbas Dinners, and an Open
Town Hall Forum with UCI Chancellor Michael Drake in
May 2007 (to be discussed later in this document).
I then discussed my first interactions with Director
O'Grady:
In May 2004, during the time period of the UCI Muslim
Student Union's annual Zionism Awareness Week, I
talked at length one-on-one with Director O'Grady.
I asked Director O'Grady what the ADL was doing to
fight the anti-Semitism being espoused on campus. He
told me that they were doing the best they could, but
unfortunately all they could do was write stern
letters to the UCI administration and hold backroom
meetings, and as was plainly evident, those actions
had no visible effect.
I asked Director O'Grady if the ADL might consider
suing UCI - or referring me to a pro-bono attorney who
might consider suing UCI - for permitting the creation
of a pervasive hostile environment.
After all, I and every other Jewish student on campus
was paying $10,000 a year - double that if the Jewish
student lived on campus - for the privilege of having
to listen to amplified shouts from MSU-invited
speakers that we Jews controlled the government, the
economy, and the media; that we Jews were a mix
between "white supremacy and the Chosen People"; that
people should ask us Jews why America was in Iraq
(basically, America went to war at the Jews's
bidding); and so on.
I used as a comparison the following: if UCI was a
corporation, and if UCI - upon learning of the
pervasiveness of the hostility against Jews in their
workplace - did not take effective action to eliminate
the pervasiveness and hostility, then I and other Jews
could sue, and we might have a good chance of winning
the lawsuit.
Director O'Grady refused to consider suing UCI or to
refer me to an attorney who might consider suing UCI.
I asked Director O'Grady if the ADL was videotaping
the anti-Semitic events. He was not. I asked him if
he would consider videotaping the events; the answer
was "no". I asked him if he would give me a video
camera so I could videotape the events; again, the
answer was "no".
The very next day, I heard that Director O'Grady
apparently had a change of heart, for someone
witnessed him pulling out a video camera and
videotaping a Zionism Awareness Week event. I
contacted him immediately and asked him if I could see
the videotape, for I had missed the event due to
classes.
Director O'Grady's answer was again "no", and that the
New York office of the ADL had reprimanded him for
videotaping the event, ordered him to destroy the
videotape, and he followed those orders. He then
added that I should just forget that it ever happened.
This was just one anecdote from my speech at TBY on
February 13th. I also told anecdotes about my
experiences with the leadership of Hillel and the
Jewish Federation of Orange County, and it was based
on these and other anecdotes that I took my point of
view as stated above.
Now, let's go over the Director O'Grady's other
statements in his response, for they do necessitate
review. Ask Director O'Grady about the following:
- "ADL has worked on the UCI issue for at least six
years. Our work has included the following:... I have
written letters to the editor of the Register, the LA
Times, and the Jewish Journal and Op-Ed pieces calling
for changes on the UCI campus."
I searched the Orange County Register and LA Times
websites and found no letters to the editor or op-eds
by him published on those websites.
The only opinion piece by Director O'Grady that I was
able to find was an op-ed in the Jewish Journal
lambasting the Council for American-Islamic Relations
for "sponsor[ing] a speaking tour by 'the renowned
Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss, director of Neturei
Karta.'" It's a great op-ed; I thank Director O'Grady
for pushing for it to be published three and a half
years ago.
The miniscule coverage of the situation on campus in
those newspapers should also be noted. With maybe two
or three exceptions, the coverage has been almost
completely been phrased to make it as if UCI can do no
wrong, often describing it, to quote Martha Mecartney,
then outgoing Chair of the UCI Academic Senate, at the
SPME Tolerating Intolerance screening at University
Synagogue, as it's a "conflict between Jewish and
Muslim students" (see discussion below for more about
this).
Maybe I missed some of the other letters to the editor
and op-eds in the OC Register, the LA Times, and the
Jewish Journal - would Director O'Grady please inform
us where we can find them?
- "ADL took a cadre of 20 Jewish student leaders for
weekend long training in our Confronting Anti-Semitism
program. These students became trainers in this
program and returned to their campuses qualified to
run their own workshops." and later "Supported Hillel
with programming and training for students."
During the Q&A portion of the February 13th TBY event,
Jeff Rips, Executive Director of Orange County Hillel,
stood up without being called on, introduced himself,
and then said that the audience should hear from some
of the current UCI Jewish student leadership - who in
fact happened to be attending that night. Isaac
Yerushalmi, President of the UCI Anteaters for Israel,
then stood up, introduced himself, and basically
stated that he was not aware of any anti-Semitism at
UCI. Michelle Eshaghian, President of Hillel, then
stood up and more or less parroted what President
Yerushalmi had just stated.
Then Shalom Elcott, CEO of the Jewish Federation
spoke. "Screamed" actually might be more appropriate.
I'll discuss that at length at another time. Back to
the topic at hand:
After the Q&A, when President Yerushalmi approached me
on the bimah, I asked him if he knew of any students -
other than Reut Cohen, who filed several complaints to
the UCI Dean of Students Office with detailed evidence
of violations of UC and UCI policies by the MSU, and
who has since graduated - who had filed complaints
with the Dean of Students Office, as that is a very
necessary first step to combating the anti-Semitism on
campus. He said "no".
I then asked President Yerushalmi if there had been
any educational programs where Jewish students were
taught their rights or how to properly file a
complaint with the Dean of Students Office. Again,
his answer was "no".
It would seem therefore that either:
(a) No UCI Jewish students were part of that "cadre of
Jewish student leaders", or
(b) The "Confronting Anti-Semitism program" did not
include materials detailing Jewish student rights and
how to properly file complaints, or
(c) The UCI Jewish students who were in that "cadre"
just forgot what they were taught.
In addition, it would seem that the local Jewish
organizations have not effectively educated the UCI
Jewish student leadership, let alone the Jewish
students themselves, about their rights or how to
properly file complaints.
President Yerushalmi later that evening volunteered to
Susan Tuchman, Director of the Center of Law and
Justice for the Zionist Organization of America, that
he himself knew of multiple Jewish students who had
experienced anti-Semitism at UCI, thereby
contradicting what he had publicly announced only
minutes earlier to the audience at TBY.
It would seem that the local Jewish organizations -
including the ADL - have not effectively educated the
UCI Jewish student leadership to recognize
contradictions such as this one, nor the
inappropriateness of not telling the truth to
synagogue audiences.
The following day, I found out from three separate
witnesses that at the UCI MSU "From Auschwitz to Gaza:
The Politics of Genocide" featuring Imam Mohammad
Al-Asi the prior Thursday, a Muslim student had walked
up to President Yerushalmi, stood nose-to-nose with
him, and preceded to start a shouting match.
According to one of these witnesses, "it almost came
to blows" before the police stepped in and broke up
the fight. While I do not know the substance of the
shouting match, given the heated nature of the
"Auschwitz to Gaza" event, as well as the speaker's
history of anti-Semitic remarks such as "you can take
the Jew out of the ghetto, but you can't take the
ghetto out of the Jew", I think it is likely that some
of the words exchanged included anti-Semitic
statements by the Muslim student.
If this is the case, it would appear that the local
Jewish organizations - including the ADL - have not
effectively educated the UCI Jewish leadership on how
to recognize anti-Semitism when it is not only staring
them in the face, but shouting at them too - for as I
mentioned earlier, Presidents Yerushalmi and Eshaghian
stated to the TBY audience that there is no real
anti-Semitism on campus today.
This would seem to contradict Director O'Grady's
statement.
- "More than fifty community presentations urging
members of the Jewish and non-Jewish communities to
lobby UCI for change."
I am only aware of one or two of these presentations.
Director O'Grady might be telling the truth. It would
be interesting to see a list of where and when these
happened, the guest speakers for each event, and the
changes lobbied.
I also should note that almost every member of the
local community - Jewish and non-Jewish - with whom
I've talked has stated to me that they were not aware
of the level of anti-Semitism, violence, and
intimidation going on at UCI. Apparently those 50+
community presentations missed those people.
- "Met with UCI police to discuss hate crime
enforcement." and later "The UCI police department is
actively engaged in supporting Jewish students on
campus."
This must have begun after May 2007.
I state that because in May 2007, Reut Cohen
(mentioned above) had a camera shoved in her face
repeatedly by a Muslim female; she happened to catch
the assault and the perpetrator on her video camera.
She complained immediately to a nearby UCI police
officer who refused to take any action. She filed a
complaint with the UCI Dean of Students Office,
submitting as evidence the videotape. To date, she
states that neither the Dean of Students Office, nor
the UCI police have done anything about it.
This would seem to contradict Director O'Grady's
statement.
- "Ten days ago, I met with the Chancellor to discuss
the situation and said again that it is incumbent upon
him to condemn speakers by name." and later "What
difference have these efforts made? / The university
Chancellor [Michael Drake, MD] has strongly condemned
anti-Semitism. / The university administrators
understanding the nexus of anti-Zionist speech and
anti-Semitic speech."
In 2006, Chancellor Drake issued three emails to the
entire campus discussing the issues of free speech and
civility. In the third email, dated May 30, 2006, he
said the following "Hate speech is difficult to define
precisely. It is largely defined by the individual
hearing it: what some or many may find hateful or
offensive, others may not...Make no mistake: I find hate
speech abhorrent, illogical and ultimately pitiful."
So Chancellor Drake condemns "hate speech", but we
have no idea what he thinks "hate speech" is.
Is saying that the Jews control the government, the
economy, and the media "hate speech"? We Jews say
"yes", the MSU says "no", and Chancellor Drake
wouldn't know.
Is AFI's display at UCI of the burned, twisted shell
of Bus 19 - which was destroyed by a 24-year-old
suicide bomber, killing 11 and injuring over 50, with
13 seriously wounded - "hate speech"? We Jews said
"no", the MSU and SAS said "yes", and the Chancellor
Drake wouldn't know.
In May 2007, the local Jewish organizations sponsored
an Open Town Hall event with Chancellor Drake as guest
speaker. 500+ people attended and overall, it was a
great event.
Standing at one of the microphones during the Q&A,
Julie Sager of the Zionist Organization of America
explicitly asked Chancellor Drake to state his
definition of anti-Semitism, or at least to give some
examples of anti-Semitism, and if he couldn't come up
with any examples, she could throw out a few and see
what his thoughts were.
Chancellor Drake stated that he would not define
anti-Semitism, nor would he give examples of it.
Is saying "you can take the Jew out of the ghetto, but
you can't take the ghetto out of the Jew" - as
mentioned above - "anti-Semitism" or "anti-Zionism"?
We Jews say "anti-Semitism", the MSU says
"anti-Zionism", and Chancellor Drake wouldn't know.
This would seem to contradict Director O'Grady's
statement.
- "The university has put programs in place that
attempt to mediate between the two student groups."
The wording of this statement is troubling, as it
somewhat parrots the above quote of former Chair of
the UCI Academic Senate, Martha Mecartney, where she
said that it's a "conflict between Muslim and Jewish
students".
To my knowledge, the Jewish students aren't causing
trouble - their speakers' rhetoric is nothing near to
what the MSU brings in. Meanwhile, the Jewish
students and speakers are getting attacked by the
Muslim students, both verbally and physically.
The above comparison is like calling the Holocaust is
a "conflict between the Nazis and the Jews"; such an
equalization is inappropriate here too.
Thus, this statement by Director O'Grady might reflect
a poor grasp of the real situation.
But let's talk about those university programs:
In 2002 or 2003, an agreement was hammered out between
the MSU and the UCI administration that the MSU would
no longer use Swastika = Jewish Star in their posters
or literature.
By 2004, that MSU leadership had graduated and posters
and placards reappeared with Swastika = Jewish Star.
When I asked about that agreement in May 2004, Dean of
Students Sally Peterson stated that the agreement was
just a guideline and thus was unenforceable.
Per Dean Peterson's suggestion, a meeting was held
between herself, Director O'Grady, Director Rips,
Director Breland, Assistant Ombudsman J. Michael
Chennault, Israel on Campus Coalition President Allan
Bernstein, Director and Title IX/Sexual Harassment
Officer (and now Assistant Executive Vice Chancellor)
of the UCI Office for Equality and Diversity Kirsten
Quanbeck, and 11 Jewish students including myself.
Each of us Jewish students presented our experiences
on campus personally dealing with anti-Semitism.
As the last student presentation completed, I
requested to Dean Peterson that UCI launch a
fact-finding investigation into what appeared to be a
pervasive hostile environment against Jews on campus.
Dean Peterson rejected this request at the meeting,
and instead opted to try an inter-religious dialogue.
In Fall 2004, that dialogue occurred. Six events were
held on campus where local adult lay and religious
leaders discussed how they dealt with their
differences.
At one event, there seemed to be breakthrough: a
Muslim political leader - I think his name was Tareef
Nashashibi, Chairman of the Orange County Arab
American Republican Club - responded to a Muslim
student's question about the MSU's approach of using
what we would find to be anti-Semitism. Mr.
Nashashibi stated that such actions and speech were
inappropriate. An adult in the local Muslim community
had publicly criticized the MSU for its methods.
That breakthrough was short-lived, as just two and a
half months later, the MSU brought back Malik Ali, one
of their favorite anti-Semites.
Next up was the Ford Foundation funding of UCI's
Difficult Dialogues project for the 2005-2006 school
year.
The virulence of the MSU's anti-Semitism only
increased during this period.
I've met with Abraham's Vision, UCI's latest attempt
to calm the situation. I wish them the best of luck.
From what I can tell, the MSU considered the November
30, 2007 (in my and others' view) inappropriately
narrow-focused report from the US Department of
Education's Office for Civil Rights as a call for open
season on the Jews.
I should now bring up one other anecdote:
In 2004, a Jewish student attempted to videotape an
open-to-the-public MSU event that happened to be
inside a public meeting room on campus. The MSU
requested that the student stop videotaping, and when
he refused - given that it was an open-to-the-public
event - Byron Clift Breland, the then Director of
Judicial Affairs for the UCI Dean of Students Office,
acted as enforcer by throwing the student out of the
event.
The entire discussion between the student and Director
Breland was captured on the student's videotape. As
the transcript is easily available, I would assume
that, given the ADL's mission, Director O'Grady
requested a copy and has read it.
A year or two later, Director Breland quit his post.
Subsequently, Edgar J. Dormitorio took on the same
role, though he is listed as the "Acting" Director.
During the May 2007 Israel Apartheid Resurrected Week
(renamed from "Zionism Awareness Week"), I myself
attended an open-to-the-public MSU indoor event in the
UCI Crystal Cove Auditorium.
About 45 minutes into the event, a gentleman tapped me
on the shoulder, introduced himself as Edgar J.
Dormitorio, stated that the MSU leadership had asked
him to verify if I was recording the event, and if so,
I needed to stop or leave the event. I was not
recording and told him so, and stayed in my seat.
The next day, I emailed Director Dormitorio, asking
him where in UC or UCI policy does it state that UCI
has the right to enforce requests that recording not
occur at open-to-the-public indoor events, especially
since another campus administration - UC Riverside's -
had recently informed a group that it would have to
permit videotaping of their events.
To paraphrase what one commentator on the UCR
development wrote: there should be no place for secret
societies on a public university campus.
A day or two after Director Dormitorio tapped me on
the shoulder, he kicked another student out of an
open-to-the-public MSU indoor event for the crime of
videotaping the event. That student posted the video
of being kicked out on a blog, detailing how he was
also harassed by Muslim students.
California State Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, who
represents the district in which UCI resides, and who
is the State Assembly's Republican Whip, wrote a
comment on the blog post stating his distaste for what
happened to the student. I contacted Assemblyman
DeVore and asked him if he would come to UCI and, as
an act of civil disobedience, would he please
videotape the next UCI MSU indoor event. He accepted,
made a special trip from Sacramento to videotape an
open-to-the-public indoor MSU event - where the MSU
tried to shut him down, and were told to back off by
the speaker - and subsequently wrote about it in a
Daily Pilot article.
Around the same time, Director Dormitorio emailed me
that there was no official policy that gave UCI the
power to enforce requests to cease recording of
open-to-the-public indoor events, but such a policy
might be codified in the future. Several months
later, it was reported in the Daily Pilot that UCI had
stated that from then on it would no longer enforce
requests to not videotape.
It would seem that this change happened not because of
pressure from the local Jewish organizations, but from
pressure from myself, the other students mentioned
previously in this section, and Assemblyman DeVore in
his power as an elected official.
Those local Jewish organizations could have and - it
would appear - did not force the issue with the UCI
administration. You would think the ADL, if any
organization, would have pushed for recording of
anti-Semitism; why did I end up doing it?
I could go on at length well beyond what I've written,
but for now I will close by quoting the OCITF's
report, page 24:
"[Assemblyman DeVore] told the interview committee
that he was concerned as a non-Jew and could not
understand the lack of 'moral outrage' by the local
Jewish community over the treatment of Jewish students
on campus."
Assemblyman DeVore asked the OCITF, "'Where are the
Jewish Organizations?'"
SPME's membership and leadership should be asking the
same thing. Perhaps if they did, and kept the
pressure up, we could all unite together and do what
it really takes to effectively battle the
anti-Semitism, violence, and intimidation at UCI so
students can finally have the "hospitable environment"
that "it is incumbent on UCI to make [of] itself"
(ibid, p.27).
SPME, show me that you can do it.
Philip Schlesinger
UCI BS '05 MS '06
CATEGORY:
FEATURE
ADL and Hillel come off looking terrible in this whole situation. They are supposed to help Jewish students, but too often pander to University administrations. The situation at Irvine is particularly egregious, although the problem is at many schools across the country. People shouldn't give money to these organizations until serious changes are made, that's for sure.
Well said.