I have written several posts in which the UC Irvine Cross Cultural Center (CCC) has been featured. I have generally been critical of the CCC, which on paper, sounds like a worthy endeavor, a place where students of all backgrounds can come together and learn about each other's cultures. In practice, however, I feel that this institution has failed to live up to that lofty goal. In my opinion, the CCC has created more division than coming together.
As I have written previously, there have been pro-Palestinian disruptions of pro-Israel events on the UC Irvine campus by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and the Muslim Student Union (MSU) over the years, some of which I have observed. On several occasions, as observed by myself or others, the SJP/MSU have used the CCC as a staging area from where they proceed to the event to be disrupted, and as a debriefing area after the disruption.
On one occasion, I discussed this very issue with the then-director of the CCC and was told that he could not control the traffic in and out of the CCC.
In June 2020, a group of people associated with the UC campuses across California, predominantly students, and several student groups signed a letter calling on the University of California to abolish campus police and cut off all ties with Israel. This came in the wake of the George Floyd death in Minneapolis that summer, which led to riots in cities all over the nation.
Americans from all over the political spectrum were deeply disturbed by the images of the Minneapolis cop kneeling on Floyd's neck, which was captured on video. However, that did not justify the burning of cities and attacks on police all over the country. It did not justify calls to defund or abolish the police altogether.
The above-referenced letter, however, is a textbook example of far-left, looney thought. Most of the organizations listed in the letter as signees appear to be the run-of-the-mill victim identity groups. As for the individual signees, overwhelmingly students, I am not really interested in who they are. The names number in the hundreds, and it is hardly worthwhile to try and examine the names. Of course, they are free to espouse their opinions, however dopey and radical they may be.
There is one name, however, which has come to my attention, and which I choose not to identify, who is now part of the staff of the CCC at UCI. The reason I choose not to identify the name is to respect this person's privacy and acknowledge that perhaps, in the three years or so that have passed since the petition, this person's views have evolved. But if this is representative of the thinking within the CCC, it just goes to prove my doubts about this entity are well-grounded. Is this the kind of thinking that is being propagated in the CCC, or is it just the views of one employee, who may have different views today?
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