The brilliant speech delivered by former President Bill Clinton at the Democratic convention reminded me of his winning 1992 election slogan – “It’s the Economy, Stupid” – and its relevance to the current debate over steps to combat anti-Semitism on UC campuses. With one small change. The best way to understand the raging reports, petitions and counter-petitions is to cut to the heart of the matter – the basic civil rights of students attending UC. Nothing more, nothing less. It’s the Students, Stupid.
First a quick primer. In the past few years there has been a growing anti-Israel protest movement on UC and other campuses. The annual zenith of these campaigns is a series of well-organized Israel “Apartheid” weeks across North America. These include mock checkpoints in which students portray Israeli soldiers abusing Palestinians, graphic depictions of Israelis as Nazis, and accusations of Israeli genocide, ethnic cleansing and other crimes against humanity.
These activities, together with increasing numbers of virulently anti-Israel faculty, have created a hostile environment for Jewish students on campus, leading to both emotional and, more rarely, physical intimidation. The culture of aggressive, excessive and unwarranted anti-Israel incitement grew to such a level that in 2010, the Office of Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Education extended the protections of the 1964 Civil Rights Act to Jewish students on university campuses.
In response to these incidents of intolerance, the UC President’s Advisory Council on Campus Climate, Culture and Inclusion was established in June 2010. Fact-finding teams interviewed students, faculty and community members to identify challenges and recommend steps to “make campuses more welcoming and inclusive, while upholding free speech and academic freedom.” The “UC Jewish Students Campus Climate Fact Finding Team Report and recommendations” was co-authored by San Diegan Rick Barton, national education chair of the Anti-Defamation League, and Alice Huffman, president of the NAACP. The report was submitted on July 9, 2012, with eight recommendations on constructive and effective measures to reduce anti-Semitism and campus hostility toward Jewish students. The report will be voted upon at the Climate Council.
All well and good, you would think. Primary research by qualified and respected authorities. A range of reasonable recommendations aiming to balance First Amendment rights with the UC’s own “Principles of Community,” which require that debate and critical inquiry take place in a “safe, caring and humane environment” in which “discrimination and hatred are not tolerated.”
This was not to be. Anti-Israel groups have denounced the report, mobilized an Ad Hoc Committee on Jewish Campus Climate, and issued a petition asking the Advisory Council to reject the climate report. A counter- petition has been organized by StandWithUs, an Israel education organization, calling for the acceptance of the report and its recommendations. Both petitions have received thousands of signatures.
The Israel/Palestine debate provokes passionate opinions and differences, both within the diverse Jewish community as well as the broader population. People feel strongly about the issues, and feel the need to express their views. It IS an emotive issue and, justified or not, a cause célèbre for many student groups. Some believe Israel is evil incarnate, the greatest threat to world peace and abuser of human rights; for others it is an embodiment of their religion, nationality and basic identity, a miraculous and beloved rebirth of the Jewish people after the horrors of the Holocaust and 2,000 years of exile. The Israel/Palestine conflict casts a long shadow over campus activity, the international priority and importance of the issue transcending conventional campus norms and routine. Israel “Apartheid” week, student intimidation, the Campus Climate report, the petition against, the petition for – are, unfortunately, only some of the events attesting to this.
However, the issue is NOT Israel/Palestine. However central this conflict may be to students’ identity, however passionate they may be on one side or the other, it is irrelevant. The real issue is the basic civil rights of all students on campus. Jewish students included.
Jewish students also have fundamental, inalienable, constitutionally and UC guaranteed civil rights. The right to attend a campus free of hostile intimidation. The right to not have grotesque distortions and lies directed against them that cause severe emotional and occasional physical harm. The right to freely express and celebrate their own identities. The same rights given to, and demanded by, all students.
It’s not Israel/Palestine. It’s not Good vs. Evil. It’s the Students, Stupid.
Silver, a UCSD third-year student, is a Stand With Us Emerson Fellow.
