Dear President Yudof,
My name is Gary Fouse, and I am an adjunct teacher at UC
Irvine Ext. I am writing to you to urge that you and the UC chancellors take a strong
and open position in defense of Tammi Rossman-Benjamin’s right of free speech
and to denounce the intimidation and anti-Semitic harassment she has been
subjected to. I am a friend and colleague of Tammi, and I support everything she
is saying.
I myself have been witnessing the climate of intimidation on
the UCI campus since 2006. As you may know, I have spoken out publicly about it
and will continue to do so. In my view, there is no greater problem on the UC
campuses than the anti-Semitism that is brought to fore by these asinine Muslim
Student Union/Students for Justice in Palestine events, in which many speakers make
statements that go far beyond criticism of Israel and into the area of outright
Jew hatred. I say this as a Christian who knows where this hate leads.
Just this past week, UCI saw its annual May hate fest in which
efforts were made over and over again to stop me from videotaping, which is my
right to do in a public venue. This week, the MSA at San Diego is holding the
same events and will no doubt try to enforce a no-videotaping “rule” that the
university helped them enforce last year. It is intimidation, pure and simple,
and it is illegal.
In addition, I wish to point out to you that virtually every
recitation of the Koran that I heard at UCI last week at the opening of the events
spoke of “God’s punishment for the disbelievers”. I assume you know who that is referring to
(Christians and Jews). Intimidation?
Sir, you and your officials have a duty to provide a safe
working environment for all your teachers-including Tammi. I have been saying
for years that it is just a matter of time before one of our campuses
experiences a tragedy. I urge you to take
steps to stop this campaign of smears and intimidation against one of your
teachers.
Sincerely,
Gary Fouse
Adj teacher
UC Irvine Ext.
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