A commenter of mine raised an interesting question. Did Hillel Executive Director Jeffrey Rips neglect his duty by not encouraging Jewish students to testify before the OC Independent Task force Investigating Antisemitism? In the report there was an entire litany of incidents depicting antisemitism on campus (including an incident when a student's Israeli flag was vandalized outside her dorm room), yet UCI Hillel President Michelle Eschaghian is denying that she and other students have ever testified. I suspect that Rips is demanding students issue flat out denials to the press, and down play the actions of the Muslim Student Union in order to save face for not taking action:

OC Hillel was the chief sponsor of the OC Task Force on Anti-Semitism from its inception in December 2006 until the summer of 2007, when OC Hillel's Board of Directors voted to end its sponsorship. During the period of the Hillel sponsorship, Jeff Rips, Executive Director of OC Hillel (now outgoing), was a member - and possibly a chair or co-chair - of the Task Force. The original Feb 13, 2007 Hillel-letterhead press release stated the following in its last paragraph: "Anyone in the community with knowledge of, or who has witnessed acts of racism or anti-Semitism at UCI, is encouraged to contact the Task Force though Hillel's Executive Director Jeffrey Rips or Ted Bleiweis at 949-435-3444 ext. 276 or taskforce@OCHillel.org." (text: Link) Rips, in his role as Executive Director, interacts with the student leadership and membership of UCI Hillel quite often - sometimes multiple times each week. Contrast that with the third paragraph of the NewU article: "Michelle Eshaghian, a third-year political science major and president of Hillel: The Jewish Student Union at UCI, stated that she and a lot of other Jewish students and leaders were not contacted for the investigation..." It would seem that Director Rips shirked his duty by not bringing UCI Hillel student President Eshaghian to the Task Force.