Department of Education Reopens Case Against UC Irvine
Posted by: Jonathan Constantine | 06/06/2008 3:27 PM
ZOA has the details:
June 6, 2008
Contact Morton A. Klein at: 917-974-8795 or 212-481-1500
Attn: NEWS EDITOR
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT INITIATES NEW INVESTIGATION INTO UC IRVINE'S RESPONSE TO CAMPUS ANTI-SEMITISM
By letter to the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) dated April 25, 2008, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has indicated that it will be investigating several incidents of alleged anti-Semitic harassment, intimidation and discrimination that occurred in May 2007, at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). The ZOA had brought these incidents to OCR's attention almost one year ago, asserting that the incidents show that UCI has continued to respond ineffectively to campus anti-Semitism, in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI). Title VI requires that recipients of federal funding (like UCI) ensure that their programs and activities are free discrimination based on "race, color, or national origin." If the recipient is found to have violated Title VI, it can lose its federal funding.
The ZOA first brought UCI's alleged violation of Title VI to OCR's attention in October 2004, when the ZOA filed a Title VI complaint on behalf of Jewish students with OCR, the federal agency responsible for enforcing the law. The ZOA's complaint alleged that Jewish students had been facing a longstanding pattern of anti-Semitic harassment and hostility on the campus, and that UCI had failed to respond effectively to the problem, in violation of its obligations under Title VI. After reviewing the ZOA's allegations, OCR decided that an investigation into UCI's conduct was warranted.
In the course of that investigation, the ZOA furnished OCR with evidence about several incidents of harassment that had occurred at UCI as late as May 2007. The ZOA repeatedly urged OCR to interview witnesses with pertinent information about these incidents. Even though these incidents were relevant to the allegations of the ZOA's October 2004 complaint asserting a pattern or practice of anti-Semitic discrimination at UCI, OCR refused to investigate the incidents or to interview crucial witnesses.
OCR typically resolves Title VI complaints within 180 days after they are filed. It took OCR more than three years to issue a decision on the ZOA's October 2004 complaint. In November 2007, when OCR finally issued its decision, it absolved UCI of wrongdoing. It was plain from the decision that OCR had applied a narrower interpretation of Title VI than the one that OCR had said it would enforce when it issued two policy statements in the fall of 2004. At that time, OCR had made it clear that consistent with federal precedent recognizing that Jews were a racial or national origin group for purposes of affording civil rights protections, OCR would likewise protect Jewish students from anti-Semitic harassment under Title VI. Later, under new leadership at OCR, that policy was whittled down, so that Jewish students would no longer be afforded the protections of Title VI as a racial or national origin group.
OCR's decision in November 2007 engendered deep concern from Members of both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives, which was expressed in powerful letters to U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings. In the letter from U.S. Senators Arlen Specter (R-PA), Jon Kyl (R-AZ) and Sam Brownback (R-KS) - all three of whom are Members of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary - they questioned the decision that OCR reached in the ZOA's case against UCI, and the interpretation of Title VI that OCR had applied in the case. According to the Senators, OCR's conclusion in the ZOA's case "is inconsistent with its prior policy statements." The Senators asked probing questions of Secretary Spellings, including why there were witnesses "that the ZOA proffered . . . whom OCR did not interview."
The letter from Members of the House also raised troubling concerns about OCR's decision in the ZOA's case, and demanded answers from Secretary Spellings about whether OCR's policy for enforcing Title VI was affording Jewish students the protections they need. U.S. Representatives Brad Sherman (D-CA), Linda Sanchez (D-CA), Steven Rothman (D-NJ), Allyson Schwartz (D-PA), Robert Wexler (D-FL) and Shelley Berkley (D-NV) emphasized that OCR's conclusion in the ZOA's case "reversed OCR policy, as clarified in 2004, of protecting Jews against anti-Semitism."
The leadership of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, the umbrella group for more than 50 national Jewish organizations across the religious and political spectrums, also criticized OCR's decision in the ZOA's case against UCI. In a letter to Stephanie Monroe, the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education, the Presidents' Conference urged OCR to reconsider its decision in the ZOA's case. The decision "will affect Jewish students not only at UCI, but also at other colleges and universities across the United States. At a time when reports of anti-Semitic harassment and intimidation on college campuses is [sic] increasing, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), whose mission is to redress racial and ethnic discrimination, should be seeking to expand the protections of the law."
When, in the April 25, 2008 letter, OCR notified the ZOA about the new investigation of incidents that occurred at UCI in May 2007, OCR indicated that it had determined that several of the ZOA's allegations "are appropriate for investigation under the laws enforced by OCR. . . . We will contact you soon to discuss the allegations and complaint resolution process."
Morton A. Klein, the ZOA's National President, and Susan B. Tuchman, Esq., the Director of the ZOA's Center for Law and Justice, said, "We are pleased to know that the Office for Civil Rights is finally looking into incidents that the ZOA brought to OCR's attention almost one year ago. The witnesses who were ready and willing to come forward at that time are just as eager to furnish information to OCR now. As we did during OCR's first investigation, we stand ready to assist the agency in every way possible.
"Since the time that OCR issued its decision in November 2007, OCR has gotten the clear message from Members of the House and the Senate, and from the Presidents' Conference, that OCR's narrower interpretation of Title VI is of deep concern. We hope that OCR will rethink that more restrictive policy. When it conducts this new investigation, we urge OCR to keep an open mind and apply the policy it clarified in 2004 - that OCR would protect Jewish students from anti-Semitic harassment under Title VI. As the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights recognized in April 2006, Jewish students are entitled to the protections of Title VI, and the Office for Civil Rights should be vigorously enforcing the law to ensure that they are protected."
CATEGORY:
FEATURE
"But I have encountered the group you claim to be apart of at UCI, and I know them...
Yes, finally! End the hostile environment at UCI!!!!!!!!!
Great News. Hopefully, they can investigate 2008 as well.
Yes, finally! End Free Speech at UCI!!!!!!!!!
Judaism is a mental disorder.
"Anti-Semitic," it's the only argument you have...
MSU's anti-semitism, support for terrorism, and hatred of America all combine to create a hostile environment for students at the disgraced UCI. If the school administration doesn't care about the students or the school's reputation, then the govt. of that federally funded university should step in. Down with the MSU and its FBI assaulting, booze drinking members.
'The Truth'... an MSU bigot I presume?
I'll believe it when I actually see Congressional Hearings. But I'm not holding my breath over them.
Is UCI America's "Brown University"?
In 2005, I published a book entitled: Erlangen-An American's History of a German Town. It was a history of the German university town of Erlangen, near Nuremberg. I had spent almost three years in Erlangen as a young US Army MP (1966-1968). Since that time, I have returned several times, most recently this month, due to my love for the city where I spent a formative time of my youth.
During my research, I learned a lot about Erlangen in the years leading up to and during the Third Reich. In the years prior to Hitler taking power, Erlangen University acquired a reputation as a bastion of Nazi support and anti-Semitic feeling. Though there were not that many Jewish students or professors there, those that were found themselves subjected to a lot of abuse from students who were Nazi sympathizers. Indeed, the university was the first in Germany whose student government was dominated by Nazis. Hitler himself paid tribute to the university which gave him the most support in his early years of rising to power in Germany. As a result, Erlangen University boasted the moniker of "The Brown University".
I offer that as a backdrop because the university where I teach part-time, the University of California at Irvine (with the improbable mascot name "Anteaters"), has acquired a reputation in recent years as a bastion of radical Islamic activity (on the part of the Muslim Student Union), as well as anti-Israel-and anti-Jewish expression. It has reached the point where several Jewish students have opted to go elsewhere to study because of the perception. While not equating UCI with anything that existed in Nazi Germany, it is undeniable that words and deeds are on-going at UCI that can only be troubling to Jewish students and their families.
First of all, I have written extensively about this issue for over a year now, and I won't try to recount everything I have written in detail. I have also made the point that 99% of our students have nothing to do with anything that could be called anti-America or anti-Jew. Most of our students are Asian-American, and they have nothing whatsoever to do with the problems on our campus.
The problem, as I see it, is two-fold: First, we have an MSU that is virulently anti-Israel. The problem is that this has included much expression of Anti-American sentiment-and anti-Jewish sentiment on the part of MSU's sponsored speakers who come to UCI every quarter to speak. Many of MSU's speakers are radical Muslims who advocate the destruction of Israel, glorify suicide bombers, defend Hizbollah and Hamas and damn America in the process for its support of Israel and other offenses, real or imagined. Often, some of these speakers use anti-Semitic statements, usually careful to say, "Zionist Jews" to avoid the charge of anti-Semitism.
For example, Mohammed Al-Asi, an Imam from Washington DC, has referred to Jews (on the UCI campus) as "low-life ghetto dwellers." He has also stated on the UCI campus that, "You can take the Jew out of the ghetto, but you cannot take the ghetto out of the Jew". He is also a defender of the Government of Iran, as well as Hizbollah and Hamas.
Amir Abdel Malik Ali, (formerly Derek Gilliam) a black convert to Islam, who is an imam in Oakland, comes to UCI every quarter and rails against Israel, America, and Zionist Jews as he defends Hamas and Hizbollah. He has appeared on tape glorifying suicide bombers in Israel.
Then there is Abdul Alim Musa (formerly Clarence Reams), from Washington DC, who echoes all of Ali's above sentiments, calls for Islam to take over the world and maintains that 9-11 was an inside job. This former drug dealer turned imam has also appeared at UCI spouting his nonsense.
This past quarter, the MSU week of "Holocaust in Palestine" featured a mock wall depicting the wall Israel has established to keep out suicide bombers. On the wall were various photos, drawings and slogans. I personally observed (and have posted) a caricature of Ariel Sharon drawn in the classic style of Julius Streicher's Der Stuermer, a vicious anti-Semitic weekly newspaper of the Third Reich. (Streicher was hanged after the war as one of the major war criminals.) Sharon was depicted with an over sized nose, thick lips and leering gaze.
In addition, there have been occasional incidents where Jewish students who monitor and film these events have been harassed, threatened and shoved by MSU members. During last quarter's events, one Jewish female student who was filming Ali's evening speech, was reportedly followed back to her car by about 6 MSU males, who surrounded her car. This incident was reportedly witnessed by a South African woman who had come to hear the speech. According to her account, when the police arrived, they treated the incident with complete indifference. (This alleged incident was reported in the Red County blog.)
This leads me to the second problem. The response of the university administration over the past several years has been negligible. Their position is that this is all a matter of free speech and free expression. Jewish students who have complained about the MSU have met with similar indifference. Certain university officials have been quoted as having called complaining Jewish students "hysterical Jews", "troublemakers" or "outside groups". Another faculty member just this week stated in an email (which I have read)that complaining Jewish students were misrepresenting the facts. He also took a shot at certain blogs like Pajamas Media and Little Green Footballs for reporting on the issue. The professor opined that whatever was being said by the MSU, no matter how offensive, was protected speech.
UCI Chancellor Michael Drake recently met in Washington DC with representatives of Hillel (a national Jewish student organization). He assured them that there was no room for hate speech at UCI. No room for hate speech at UCI? No room for imams calling Jews "low-life ghetto dwellers"? No room for Nazi-like caricatures of Ariel Sharon? No room for glorifying those who blow up innocent men, women and children on buses and in pizza parlors?
This past quarter, David Horowitz appeared at UCI and characterized it as the "worst in the country" when it came to this problem. There were at least two deans in the audience who listened to Horowitz's remarks. In the question and answer session that followed, none of these individuals took the opportunity to speak up and defend the university.
It appears that the Jewish students at UCI are on their own as far as the school is concerned. Yes, there are a few professors who are alarmed at the MSU. Yet, few if any have spoken out publicly to criticize the MSU and the administration. Some choose to lend their influence quietly in working with the administration to make changes.
I have chosen to hold the university's feet to the fire in a public manner. I have written to the campus newspaper, the UCI EEO Office and the Orange County Human Relations Commission outlining my concerns. This last endeavor was a waste of time. All I got was a nasty email from the OCHRC director, a certain empty suit hack named "Rusty" Kennedy, who called my letter a "diatribe" against the university (which was doing a great job along with his office to combat racism, blah, blah, blah.) He then had the cojones to sign his nasty-gram, "Rusty".
"Rusty".
Fortunately, the US Department of Education (Office of Civil Rights) has agreed to re-open an investigation into anti-Semitic allegations from 2007, which they had previously determined to be "unfounded". Where this will go is anybody's guess.
What is needed here is public exposure of the activities of the MSU that have brought so much discredit to what should be otherwise a fine university. As I stated above, I am not suggesting that anyone at UCI harbors pro-Nazi sympathies, but I personally believe from my own observations that anti-Jewish feeling exists among at least some of the MSU members and especially many of their sponsored speakers. If the university administration cannot or will not meet its responsibility to provide a safe and hate-free environment for its Jewish students, then they should be held up to public exposure as well. While they fiddle and preach about "free speech", UCI is gradually becoming a version of America's own "Brown University". (And that has nothing to do with the one in Rhode Island.)
Gary Fouse
Adj Teacher
UCI-Ext
fousesquawk