The below letter was written to the Chancellor's office of the University of San Diego (online) regarding the recent controversy of anti-Semitism at that university. The writer is an employee of the university. The link is below:
http://www-chancellor.ucsd.edu/letters04_7.html
Dear Dr. Chandler,
"I would like to write to you concerning an ominous rise in anti-Semitism amongst the student body. I would first like to preface this by telling you that I am a rational person who rarely leaps to accusations. I grew up in the rural south and have learned extensively how to deal with hatred of Jews, but recent developments here at UCSD are disturbing me beyond the mundane racism that I faced growing up.
I regularly spend days in the library, mostly either in S&E or upstairs on the 7th and 8th floors. Since I started here in fall 2000, I have grown accustomed to seeing bathroom graffiti that called for boycotts of Israel or condemning Ariel Sharon. To be honest, this never bothered me. Since the start of this quarter, I have several times found swastikas drawn in the men's bathrooms. In one case, the swastika was drawn rather large and followed by the phrase "3rd Reich m**** f****!" In the other incidents, a swastika would be placed on one side of a =, with the drawing of an Israeli flag on the other. If this were an isolated incident, it would not bother me, but I have seen this repeatedly over the past month and half, and it seems that the number of incidents are increasing in frequency. This concerns me greatly because such graffiti crosses the line between legitimate criticism of Israel and blatant anti-Semitism. I find myself being made increasingly uncomfortable on this campus by the anti-Semitism that is being perpetuated by actions such as these. My grandparents were Holocaust survivors (survivors of a death camp in Romania), and as someone profoundly affected by their experiences, it both disgusts and terrifies me to see swastikas finding popularity on this campus.
I ask that in whatever capacity you can, you do something to address this issue. I know that you are very busy, but perhaps sending an email out to the school as you have done in the past, or creating an investigative force to crack down on this would help to ameliorate the problem. I fear that the graffiti is the act of a small number of individuals, but I still think that their expression is more of hate speech than free speech.
If you have the time I would be delighted to meet with you and discuss this issue in further depth. Beyond this I ask that you do something to address the issue of anti-Semitism.
With profound gratitude"
Moriel Vandsburger
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