Five Democratic members of Congress have taken the bold initiative to hold UC Irvine accountable for antisemitism. If memory lapses, the Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights (OCR) vindicated UC Irvine late last year from accusations of failing to maintain a safe campus environment and to adequately address student concerns of intimidation. The OCR also made the false and narrowly tailored claim that Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act failed to apply to UCI for the reason that discrimination of Jews is associated to its religious context, therefore failing to constitute national origin discrimination. Despite policy recommendations from the United States Commission on Civil Rights, and case law that proves otherwise, the OCR's decision ignored these precedents.

The letter from the five Democratic members of Congress comes on the heels of a similar Judiciary Committee letter from Republican Senators Sam Brownback, Jon Kyl, and Arlen Specter last February. All three Senators demanded the vigorous application of Title VI.

Disappointingly however, is the inaction of local Orange County Congressmen and women. Why for example, is Rep. John Campbell's name (whose district includes UC Irvine) not on this letter? What about Loretta Sanchez, Dana Rohrabacher, Gary Miller, or Ed Royce? Were they excluded as signatories? If so, why didn't they issue their own inquiry?

Students have taken painstaking efforts to fight this pervasive environment and hold administrators accountable, putting clout behind a simple letter is the least our local representatives can do:

Letter to Secretary Spellings dated April 30, 2008, Representatives Brad Sherman (D-CA), Linda Sanchez (D-CA), Steven Rothman (D-NJ), Allyson Schwartz (D-PA) and Robert Wexler (D-FL)


"RE: Title VI Applies to Anti-Semitism

Dear Secretary Spellings,

We are writing to express our concern regarding anti-Semitic incidents aimed at
Jewish students at several colleges and universities and the response to such incidents by
the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR). In particular, we are
concerned about whether OCR is enforcing Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title
VI) to protect Jewish students from anti-Semitic discrimination.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

On October II, 2004, the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) filed a
complaint with OCR alleging a pattern of anti-Semitic harassment, intimidation, and
discrimination on the campus of the University of California at Irvine (UCI). Such
conduct allegedly interfered with the ability of UCl's Jewish students to participate in
and benefit from academic and extracurricular activities. Many of the students reportedly
felt threatened, and some transferred to other schools due to the harassment. The
complaint further alleged that because UCl's administration failed to respond effectively
to repeated complaints about anti-Semitism on campus, UCI had violated Title V.

Over three years later, on November 30,2007, OCR concluded that it lacked
jurisdiction under Title VI over many of the allegations in the ZOA's complaint. Title
VI prohibits discrimination based on "race, color, or national origin." Because OCR
reasoned that none of these categories generally apply to anti-Semitism, OCR did not
have the authority under Title VI to pursue most of the alleged claims of discrimination.
This reversed OCR policy, as clarified in 2004, of protecting Jews against anti-
Semitism....."

Read entire letter here.