America's Wackiest University (UCSC) Is Under Investigation

Hat tip to OC Independent Task Force on Anti-Semitism


Well, it looks like UC Santa Cruz is back in the news again. America's Wackiest University is now under investigation by the Dept. of Education Office of Civil Rights. Why? It is alleged that UCSC, with all its Israel-bashing events and professorial bias in the classroom has created a hostile atmosphere for many Jewish students and supporters of Israel.

http://octaskforce.wordpress.com/2011/03/13/office-of-civil-rights-of-the-u-s-department-of-education-ocr-to-open-a-title-vi-civil-rights-act-of-1964-investigation-at-the-university-of-california-santa-cruz/
(Courtesy of OCITF)

This is the same type of allegation that was made in 2007 against the University of California at Irvine and investigated by DOE-OCR.

The crux of the problem is this; It is not that Israel is being criticized by certain groups. That is everyone's right. Rather the problem is that the huge and well-organized movement against Israel has resulted in annual Israel Apartheid weeks on many campuses in North America that feature some pretty radical speakers. And some of these speakers have crossed the line when it comes to referring to Jews as a people. The result has been an atmosphere of tension for Jewish students who support Israel or even wish to assert their Jewish identity in such things as wearing yarmulkes or other Jewish garb.

And its not just from other students that this abuse comes. Often it is from leftist professors who feel it is their mission to crucify Israel in their classrooms (when they are not crucifying America).  Whether any of this is the case at UCSC, I cannot say because I am not there. I will say, however, in the interest of full disclosure that the complaining Jewish teacher at UCSC, Tammi Rossman-Benjamin, is a friend and colleague of mine. Furthermore, I support what she is doing.