Combatting Bias on Campus

Hat tip American Thinker

Richard Cravatts of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, a pro-Israel organization fighting anti-Semitism on campus, has written an excellent piece for American Thinker, in which he excoriates the thought police who are taking over college campuses in the guise of fighting intolerance. Chief among these groups is the Black Lives Matter movement.

http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/12/the_pea_of_victimization_under_twenty_campus_mattresses.html#ixzz3t4oxVKkY

Like Cravatts, I am personally involved in the issue of campus anti-Semitism, which the thought police have largely overlooked whether by accident or design. Currently, I am involved with like-minded allies in working to see meaningful action by the University of California to combat the worst bias problem on campus-that of anti-Semitism (which threatens to be soon overtaken by anti-white bias). As part of this effort, we are monitoring the UC Regents efforts to draft a meaningful statement of principles on intolerance that will specifically address anti-Semitism.

This leads to what I think is an interesting question: Should we hitch our wagon to the grievance industry groups described by Dr Cravatts? Should we demand mandatory sensitivity training for faculty, administrators, and in-coming students as to the issue of Jew-hatred? Should we demand departmental chairs and more hiring of Jewish faculty as well as more Jewish student admissions? Should we demand the resignations of university presidents and chancellors? Should we start accusing others of micro and macro aggressions?

(You are laughing already.)

Should we march through libraries disrupting students who are trying to study and present them with our demands? Should we intimidate and bully those who disagree and refuse to go along? Should we hurl racial epithets at them-all in the name of fighting bigotry?

I say no to all of the above. Though speaking as a Gentile, I think that our side should stand apart from the type of disruptions we are witnessing at places like the University of Missouri and Dartmouth, to name a few. I might add that up now, we have refrained from the above type of actions. And before some wise guy jumps on me and starts pointing out Jews who do act out on campus, I say, "Yes, but you are talking about people like Jewish Voice for Peace and all the other misfits that support the Palestinian side and who give aid and comfort to the Jew haters who are making life on campus hard for Jewish students that support Israel". Jewish students who support Israel and who complain about the problem of anti-Semitism on campus have tried to work through the system. To be charitable, it has been a long, difficult process-at least in the University of California case. Unfortunately, it is the squeaky wheel that gets the grease-as we see at places like Dartmouth and Mizzou. To add insult to injury, Jewish students who speak out in some universities, such as UC Irvine, are attacked by the local Hillel and Jewish Federation of Orange County-as has been well documented here.

Despite all this hype, in my view, there are only two real bias problems on campus. Number one is anti-Semitism, and number 2 (and fast catching up) is anti-white bias. Both are threatening to result in violence and potential tragedy.

In spite of the squeaky wheel analogy, I still think we should stay away from tactics that will only turn off the community at large. If working through the system doesn't work in academia, I say resort to the courts.

"For what?" you ask.

Failure to provide a safe study environment. And I don't mean a safe space.