Another Controversy at UC Santa Cruz

"And to you too, Fousesquawk!"


What did I just tell you, folks? The University of California at Santa Cruz-America's Wackiest University. I am attaching a letter to the UCSC Provost from my friends, UCSC adjunct teacher Tammy Rossman-Benjamin and UCSC Professor Ilan Benjamin, regarding an upcoming event to be held by UCSC's Cowell College and Oakes College by an anti-Israeli group that is involved in encouraging Israeli men to avoid service in the Israeli Defense Forces. The issue is that Cowell College and Oakes College are actually sponsoring the event, thus taking a side on a political issue-as opposed to merely providing a venue for an open discussion. Here is the letter:
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Dear Provost Shemek and Provost Lau:

We are deeply concerned about a program entitled "Costs of War on
Israeli Society: Two Unheard Perspectives", that is scheduled to take
place on April 20th at Cowell College, with the sponsorship of both
Cowell College and Oakes College. (See attached flyer).

We believe there are three compelling reasons why you should withdraw
your Colleges' sponsorship of this event immediately:

1) The program is politically motivated and directed, and your
Colleges' sponsorship of it violates University of California policy
prohibiting the use of the University's name, facilities and resources
for political purposes.

As you may know, the "Costs of War" event that your Colleges are
sponsoring is just one of fourteen stops of this program on a
California speaking tour that has been organized by Scott Kennedy of
the Resource Center for Nonviolence (RCNV), and it is the only one
with formal university sponsorship. According to a report on this
event at a previous venue last Tuesday, the purpose of the tour is to
promote the work of the Refuser Solidarity Network and New Profile,
two organizations that actively promote the demilitarization of Israel
and provide support to Israeli men and women who refuse compulsory
military service. Along with the RCNV, these two groups are co-
sponsors of the April 20th event.

The RCNV, too, is an organization that has engaged in a great deal of
anti-Israel political activism in order to demonize and delegitimize
the Jewish state. Over the last decade, the RCNV has sponsored several
dozen events about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, both on the UCSC
campus and in the community, and all of these have been unabashedly
anti-Israel. In addition, the RCNV is a member of the US Campaign to
End the Occupation, which supports illegal boycotts, divestment, and
sanctions against the Jewish state.

Scott Kennedy, the founder and director of the RCNV, makes no secret
of his pro-Palestinian sympathies: He flies a Palestinian flag
outside of his Santa Cruz home and was warmly welcomed by the leader
of the terrorist organization Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, when he met with
him in Gaza in November 2006, on one of the many trips he has made to
that region in support of the Palestinians. Kennedy himself was a
featured speaker at "Pulse on Palestine", another Israel-bashing event
sponsored by Cowell College and the RCNV in January 2009. At that
event, Kennedy used his university-sponsored bully pulpit to encourage
students to engage in activism against Israel by joining or donating
money to several organizations that engage in anti-Israel activism,
some with links to terrorist organizations.

It is also worth mentioning that Ofra Yeshua-Lyth, who is one of the
two featured speakers in this program, is a well-known Jewish anti-
Zionist, who has written a book which calls for the elimination of the
Jewish state. Yeshua-Lyth also actively supports Israelis who refuse
compulsory military service

When you consider all of these points, it is quite obvious that the
April 20th event which your Colleges are sponsoring will be
politically motivated and directed, and that your sponsorship of it
therefore violates UC policy, which expressly prohibits the use of the
University's name, facilities or resources for political activities.


2) The program is being brought to UCSC for the express purpose of
promoting and raising money for a foreign NGO that encourages illegal
activity in its home country, and your Colleges' sponsorship may
violate federal law.

According to Scott Kennedy, who organized the California tour of the
"Costs of War" program: "Proceeds from the speaking tour will support
the work of New Profile, a feminist Israeli organization that offers
support for those refusing military service". By providing a venue
and funding for this event, you are also supporting an organization
which actively encourages Israelis to break Israeli law and has been
investigated by the Attorney General of Israel for incitement to avoid
military service. Your Colleges' sponsorship of this program may thus
be a violation of both U.S. law and UC policy, which prohibits the use
of University property "for the purpose of organizing and carrying out
unlawful activity".


3) Most importantly, your Colleges' sponsorship of a program whose
sole purpose is to harm the Jewish state will be deeply offensive and
hurtful to many Jewish students on our campus, and an egregious
violation of UCSC's Principles of Community. In addition, the fact
that over the last several years both Cowell and Oakes Colleges have
sponsored numerous virulently anti-Israel programs, but none that
demonizes or delegitimizes any other minority group on campus, is
perceived by many Jewish students as a flagrant double standard that
is anti-Semitic in effect if not in intent.

The very same day a noose was found scrawled on a bathroom door at the
Earth and Marine Sciences Building last month, Chancellor Blumenthal
sent out a letter to the entire UCSC community, which included the
following sentiments: "There is no place on this campus for racial
intolerance or hate of any kind... there is more work to do as we
strive to build a diverse community, firmly rooted in principles of
equality and justice. Please join me in reaffirming that vision of our
future and upholding our Principles of Community". Not only will the
"Costs of War" be an event filled with intolerance and hate, it will
also violate every one of UCSC's Principles of Community.

Please understand that demonizing and delegitimizing Israel and her
supporters or calling for the elimination of the Jewish state are at
least as offensive and hurtful to a Jewish student as a Compton Cook-
out or noose are to an African American student. And the pain is so
much greater when the student's own College sponsors an event of this
nature. Consider, for example, what then-Cowell College senior Jenna
Miller wrote to Cowell administrators Adrianne Waite and Jim Carter,
pleading with them to revoke Cowell's sponsorship of the Israel-
bashing event "Pulse on Palestine":

"As a Jew, Israel is central to my identity--to my culture, to my
religion, to my ethnicity. To claim so misguidedly that Israel is
illegitimate, and furthermore, should be revoked--is so hurtful and so
offensive beyond words. Cowell's sponsorship of this event is more
than hurtful, it's absolutely unsettling. My trust in UCSC as a non-
discriminatory academic environment has been damaged."

On the same day that Jenna sent her letter, a petition signed by 90
Jewish students, requesting that Cowell College withdraw its
sponsorship of "Pulse on Palestine" because the event "is politically
biased and discriminates against the Jewish student population", was
also presented to College administrators. However, the students'
pleas were ignored. To add insult to injury, a Cowell administrator
callously asserted that the College had "every right" to sponsor such
an offensive event. These students, however, were well aware that
Cowell College would never assert "every right" to sponsor an event
that was homophobic or racist, and they experienced the College's
unwillness to extend the same respect and sensitivity to Jewish
students as a form institutional discrimination that was anti-Semitic
in effect if not in intent. We are sure that many Jewish students
will feel the same way now if you do not withdraw your sponsorship of
this event.


In conclusion, we believe that it is legally, ethically and morally
imperative that Cowell and Oakes Colleges remove their sponsorship of
this event immediately. Furthermore, we recommend that organizations
like Scott Kennedy's Resource Center for Nonviolence, which has time
and again come to campus to sow the seeds of hate against the Jewish
state and the Jews who identify with it, be banned from the campus and
prohibited from sponsoring future events at UCSC.

We look forward to hearing from you soon about our concerns.

Sincerely,

Ilan Benjamin
Professor of Chemistry

Tammi Rossman-Benjamin
Lecturer in Hebrew


CC: George Blumenthal, Chancellor
David Kliger, Executive Vice Chancellor and Campus Provost
Felicia McGinty, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs
UCSC Counsel Carole Rossi
Jim Carter, Cowell College Administrative Officer
Susan Welte, Oakes College Administrative Officer
Debra Ellis, Cowell College Coordinator for Residential
Education
Mandie Stout, Oakes College Coordinator for Residential
Education
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There's not much more that I can add to that. One point, however, may be relevant. Last year, UC Irvine got into hot water when, during the Muslim Student Union
"Israel-The Politics of Genocide" week, the university advertised the event on their outdoor event marquee under the above name. That suggested that UCI was putting its imprimatur on the phrase "Israel-The Politics of Genocide". When complaints were lodged-as far as the governor's office, the university hastily removed it.

On a similar note, I reported last year about the "Whither the Levant" event last January at UCI, which I attended. That event was sponsored in part by university departments (Middle East Studies Student Initiative at UCI and co-sponsored by the Center for Global Peace and Conflict Studies at UCI). There was nothing balanced about it. Everyone on the panel (including the obnoxious Norman Finklestein) was anti-Israel. In fact, I was probably the only person in the auditorium willing to speak up in defense of Israel (for which I was jeered).

So in the current situation at America's Wackiest University, is it proper for two colleges at UCSC to sponsor an event in which a political side is being taken? Is it the official position of the university that Israel is an illegitimate state?

At any rate, the selection of April 20th is quite coincidental in that Israel's birthday will be celebrated on that date. April 20th is also the birthday of Adolf Hitler.

How appropriate.