I was very disappointed by new UC Irvine Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky in his interview with Marla Jo Fisher in the OC Register this morning. In response to two questions posed by Fisher regarding the intimidating and anti-Semitic environment on the UC Irvine campus, Chemerinsky stated unequivocally that he's "never seen the slightest evidence of anti-Semitism on campus:

Q. Some Jewish people have described UCI as "the most anti-Semitic campus in America." You are Jewish. What do you think about that?

A. This is something I looked at very closely. I think it's a misapprehension. There was a letter written by students at several Jewish organizations on campus talking about the wonderful Jewish student life here. As a Jew, I have never seen the slightest evidence of anti-Semitism on campus.

There have been some speeches on campus against Israel that crossed over into anti-Semitic speech. But a university has to be a forum for all ideas, even if we don't agree with them.

Q. If your children were raised Jewish, would you send them to UCI?

A. My children have been raised Jewish; there's a picture of my son's recent bar mitzvah right there (he points). If I had any trepidation at all on this point, I would not have accepted a job here. If I had the slightest concern, I would not have come.

Now Chemerinsky is either entirely ignorant or not telling the truth. If he has looked at this issue "very closely," has he seen evidence from the testimony as documented by students who were witnesses to these events? Is he aware that UC Irvine is in clear violation of Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, that is the use public funds to support speech meant to discriminate on the basis of national origin?

Apparently not. Let's just hope that Chemerinsky re-examines the evidence, and doesn't put cozy politics with the University above his purported legal ethics.