Erwin Chemerinsky is the dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law. He previously served as the UC Irvine School of Law dean from 2008-2017, a period in which I was an adjunct teacher in the UCI Extension. He is regarded by many as one of the country's leading legal scholars.
That may be true, but over the years, Chemerinsky (of whom I have occasionally written pieces on this site) has shown an alarming tendency to deny anti-Semitism on campus. When he took the reins at UCI Law, I saw him speak once (in April 2010) and heard him downplay the problem at UCI. He told the audience that he never would have brought his family to UCI if he thought there was a problem on the campus with anti-Semitism.
Now, in the wake, of the horrors of October 7 and the disgusting shows of support for Hamas on campuses across the nation, the scales have apparently dropped from his eyes. He has penned an article that appears on a site called Prawfsblawg in which he, as a Jewish person, expresses his shock and dismay at the open displays of anti-Semitism on US college campuses.
While I welcome Chemerinsky's words at this time, my reaction is; where has he been all these years?
From 2007 to my departure from UCI in 2016, I documented countless expressions of anti-Semitism at UCI (and other universities). At UCI, I attended anti-Israel events and listened to their speakers rail against Israel and occasionally against Jews. Where was Chemerinksky when radical Oakland imam Amir Abdel Malik Ali was calling individuals, "Zionist Jews", literally spitting out the words? Where was Chemerinsky in May 2008 when the Muslim Student Union put up a caricature of Ariel Sharon drawn in the style of the old Nazi weekly, Der Stuermer? Where was Chemerinksy in May 2016 when Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) violently disrupted a pro-Israel event forcing Jewish students to barricade themselves in the room as the thugs tried to bang their way in? Need I mention the 2010 disruption of the Israeli ambassador Michael Oren's speech at UC Irvine? I don't know if he was in the audience (I was), but it was during his tenure as UCI Law School dean. At the time, he refuted the Muslim Student Union's free speech claims but argued for leniency.
In addition, in September 2022, I exchanged letters with Chemerinsky when students in his law school announced they would not invite any pro-Israel speakers. His response to my initial letter is here.
And there is this from his post on Prawfsblawg:
"But if you listen to what is being said on college campuses now (emphasis mine), some of the loudest voices are not advocating for a change in Israeli policies, but are calling for an end to Israel. Students regularly chant, “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and “We don’t want no two states, we want all of 48,” referring to going back to 1948 before Israel existed."
Now? Is this really the first time he has heard the phrase, "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free"? Over the past couple of decades, I have heard that ditty so many times, it is ringing in my ears. Is it just now that Chemerinsky has realized that this entire pro-Palestinian campaign that has been raging on our campuses for so many years was not just about "justice" for Palestinians, but rather hatred against Jews in general-both Israelis and in the diaspora?
I recognize that the campus situation is now worse than ever, but this is nothing new. It has been going on for decades. Where was Erwin Chemerinsky all these years?
*Update: I have been advised that Chemerinsky's article initially appeared in the LA Times.
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