The Ford Foundation and The Olive Tree Initiative

        

Olive Tree Initiative logo


One of my anonymous readers has raised the connection of the Ford Foundation to the Olive Tree Initiative. It is a valid issue. The Ford Foundation was founded by Edsel Ford of the Ford car family in the 1930s. It is based in New York City and Michigan. It is also widely known as a supporter of far-left causes including pro-Palestinian issues. Indeed, the foundation has often been accused of having an anti-Israel and anti-Semitic bent. The issue here is-what exactly is the nature of the connection between the Ford Foundation and the Olive Tree Initiative?

Below is what Discover the Networks has to say about the Ford Foundation (Pay attention to the link on Ford Foundation President Susan Berresford):

http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/funderProfile.asp?fndid=5176

Here is an article from Scottish Friends of Israel regarding the Ford Foundation's support of the 2001 Durban Conference.

http://www.scottishfriendsofisrael.org/ford.htm

In addition, the Olive Tree Initiative is connected to or supported by UC-Irvine's Difficult Dialogues Program. Their web page is linked below. There is also a link to the Ford Foundation as a national resource on that site.

http://www.vcsa.uci.edu/DifficultDialogues/ExpressionImpression.php


Below is the most up-to-date list of the Difficult Dialogues (UCI) Campus Commitee (note. Manuel Gomez, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, has now retired and been replaced by Thomas Parham.

http://www.vcsa.uci.edu/DifficultDialogues/committee.php


In the below UCI link, Difficult Dialogues announces a grant from the Ford Foundation. There is also a link to OTI.

http://www.vcsa.uci.edu/FreeSpeech/messages.php

On that OTI site, there is an OTI video. At the end of the video, there is a message which gives special thanks to the Difficult Dialogues program-which "receives funding from the Ford Foundation".

http://www.olivetreeinitiative.org/video/ 

In the wake of racially-tinged incidents on various UC campuses in 2010 (including the Oren incident), a regents meeting was held last March.  Here is the text of UCI Chancellor Michael Drake's presentation.

http://www.chancellor.uci.edu/messages/2009-10/03/regents_100324.php

"We live tolerance. This past year the Olive Tree initiative (a student-organized group who travels to the Middle East to learn directly about this conflict) received one of our Living Our Values Awards. We were pleased to host a UC-wide Olive Tree conference last April where students from eight campuses discussed this issue. And this year, two other campuses have started Olive Tree Initiatives of their own.


We practice tolerance. In addition to the Olive Tree Initiative, we have had more than 200 lectures, symposia, and meetings (such as those sponsored by the Ford Foundation’s national “Difficult Dialogues” program), or other events focused on helping our students. And we will continue to do more.

Today, the campus is quiet as students prepare to start a new quarter."

(That was before May's Israel Apartheid Week.)

So we may assume that there is at least an indirect connection between the OTI and the Ford Foundation (via the Difficult Dialogues program at UCI). Another question would be just how impartial/balanced or biased is the committee of the Difficult Dialogues program.