Church of England Series on US Campus Anti-Semitism

"One person's hate speech is another person's education."

This is the 6th and final installment of Peter Menkin's series on campus anti-Semitism written for the Church of England Newspaper. Much of it centers on an interview he did with my friend and colleague Susan Tuchmann of the Zionist Organization of America in New York. Not surprisingly, part of the article concerns UC Irvine, where I have taught part-time for 14 years. I was also interviewed for this series of reports.

http://www.churchnewspaper.com/?p=30141

As you can see, Ms Tuchman laments the denial of the problem at UCI by administrators, Law School Dean Erwin Chemerinsky and local Jewish organizations; first and foremost the Orange County Jewish Federation.

"What’s difficult to comprehend is why organizations in the Jewish community have minimized the problems that Jewish students have been facing, or denied that there have been problems at all.  That happened with respect to the Irvine case, which is a sad commentary on our community.  If we were united in fighting the problem of campus anti-Semitism, the problem would be remedied more quickly and more effectively."

I concur wholeheartedly with Ms Tuchman's assertions.