<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
	xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"
	>

<channel>
	<title>FrontPage Magazine &#187; UC Davis</title>
	<atom:link href="http://www.frontpagemag.com/tag/uc-davis/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com</link>
	<description></description>
	<lastBuildDate>Wed, 31 Dec 2014 16:20:06 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language>en-US</language>
		<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
		<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
	
	<item>
		<title>Ignoring Anti-Semitism in the Name of Palestinian Solidarity at UC Davis</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/richard-l-cravatts/ignoring-anti-semitism-in-the-name-of-palestinian-solidarity-at-uc-davis/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=ignoring-anti-semitism-in-the-name-of-palestinian-solidarity-at-uc-davis</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/richard-l-cravatts/ignoring-anti-semitism-in-the-name-of-palestinian-solidarity-at-uc-davis/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 06 Nov 2014 05:35:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Richard L. Cravatts]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Anti-Semitism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Free Speech]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Islam]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[students for justice in Palestine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[UC Davis]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.frontpagemag.com/?p=244598</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Who gets "free speech" and who doesn't. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/justice-for-Palestine.jpg"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-244602" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/justice-for-Palestine-450x304.jpg" alt="justice-for-Palestine" width="306" height="207" /></a>Since its founding in 2001, the radical campus group Students for Justice in Palestine has had as its mission to demonize Israel and promote a campaign to accuse the Jewish state of apartheid, racism, brutal occupation, and crimes against humanity, among other accusations. Its radical behavior has created a toxic atmosphere on campuses where its programs and events have regularly morphed into what has been categorized as being anti-Semitic in nature. Now, apparently in an effort to bring that same vituperative ideology to the faculty, a group on the UC Davis campus calling itself Faculty for Justice in Palestine recently decried a letter sent to the UC Davis administration by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) which warned that</p>
<blockquote><p>“In the wake of the recent crisis, anti-Israel organizations are placing increasing pressure on academic institutions to engage in . . . ‘Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions’ (BDS) activities,” and that school officials should be aware that groups were undertaking a campus campaign “all in an effort to isolate and demonize Israel and Jewish communal organizations. These efforts serve only to polarize students on campus, inflame existing tensions, and often isolate and intimidate Jewish students.”</p></blockquote>
<p>In an opinion piece that ran in <em>The California Aggie</em>, the UC Davis student newspaper, professor of English Joshua Clover and professor of Asian American studies Sunaina Maira preposterously claimed that the ADL, far from being a civil rights organization, “is an avowedly Zionist lobbying organization with a long history of attempting to silence criticism of the Israeli state,” and claimed that the group’s intention was actually to suppress Palestinian activism and obscure the predations of Israel, a view that professor Maira was bound to harbor, given that she is a member of the American Studies Association Council which voted for an academic boycott against Israeli scholars and an organizer in the <a href="http://www.usacbi.org/">U.S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott</a>of Israel.</p>
<p>The paranoid notion that the ADL’s letter amounts to “unacceptable interference by off-campus interests” which is “baldly racist,” and which somehow “chills” political advocacy on the UC Davis campus, is, of course, ridiculous. More troubling is that this statement reveals that the professors naively believed that pro-Palestinian activists can institute an ideological assault against Israel, call for Jewish academics to be shunned from the community of world scholars while simultaneously singling out and attacking the Jewish state as an illegal, colonial occupier on stolen Palestinian land, and libel and harass Jewish students and other supporters of Israel by making them complicit in, and responsible for, the actions of their government in perpetrating what activists define as an “illegal occupation” without anyone with opposing views answering back these slanders with counter-arguments and opposing views.</p>
<p>The faculty members’ motivation was purportedly to “show support for Palestinian solidarity activism,” but several working definitions of anti-Semitism, including those by the U.S. State Department and the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, suggest that such actions, in targeting Israel and holding it to a different standard of behavior than all other nations—something which the actions and speech of UC Davis’s Students for Justice in Palestine and the organization American Muslims for Palestine clearly do—is one criteria by which speech and actions can be considered anti-Semitic, which of course the professors here conveniently ignore or of which they are sadly ignorant.</p>
<p>Whether or not these Professors for Justice in Palestine believe the activism they support is anti-Semitic is not relevant; anti-Semites rarely admit to their behavior, or to the consequences of their actions and speech. And their accusation that the ADL sent its letter to Chancellor Katehi, not on its own merits, but in an underhanded attempt to “silence criticism of the Israeli state” is also consistent with a pattern that David Hirsh of Engage in Britain has termed the “Livingstone Formulation,” part of which is “the counteraccusation that the raisers of the issue of antisemitism do so with dishonest intent, in order to de-legitimize criticism of Israel. The allegation is that the accuser chooses to ‘play the antisemitism card’ rather than to relate seriously to, or to refute, the criticisms of Israel.”</p>
<p>So not only did the professors reject some of the claims of underlying anti-Semitism in the ADL’s letter itself, they also decided that those organizations and individuals who made efforts to expose that anti-Semitism were not authentic, but were merely attempting to promote their own, pro-Israel agenda.</p>
<p>Protestations and defenses aside, the issue is far more obvious than the UC Davis professors care to realize, and much less insidious. Those who speak back to ideologues do so not to suppress criticism of Israel; academic freedom grants the professors the right to spew forth any academic meanderings they wish, but it clearly does not make them free from being challenged for their thoughts.</p>
<p>The core issue is that just as the pro-Palestinian activists on the UC Davis campus and elsewhere have the right under the umbrella of academic free speech to express their views – no matter how factually inaccurate, vitriolic, or repellant they may be – those within and outside academia with opposing views also have the right, under the same precepts of free expression, to question the those views, and to call them anti-Semitic, or racist, or genocidal, or merely historically inaccurate or incorrect if, in fact, that is the case. Also, a recently-leaked memorandum from the Binghamton University chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine revealed that the true intention of the anti-Israel activists on campus is not, as it regularly claimed, dialogue and debate, but a strategy, not only of refusing to engage in conversation with any pro-Israel groups or individuals, but to actively, and corruptly, interfere with, shut down, and otherwise suppress any pro-Israel sentiment on campuses.</p>
<p>That type of behavior violates the concepts of academic freedom and academic free speech—rights that campus radicals prefer to exploit themselves while denying the same freedoms to others and deeming speech with which they disagree “hate speech.” Spirited debate between people with opposing views is acceptable; shutting down or preventing the speech of one side of the argument, and not permitting those views to be aired in the marketplace of ideas, is not. Even though the professors claim that “the rhetoric of ‘civility’ has become the new discourse through which administrations seek to suppress political engagement,” what thoughtful administrators are trying to achieve by calling for civility in scholarly debate is reasoned, thoughtful, and fact-based discourse—not riotous, offensive, and violent expressions, regardless of the supposed sanctity of the cause.</p>
<p>That may have been the motivation for the 2013 resolution passed by the ASUCD Senate, Senate Resolution 21, which sought to condemn and identify Islamophobic speech at the UC Davis. The resolution, which was passed after a controversial Ayn Rand Society event on radical Islam, “Islamists Rising,” was held, defined Islamophobia as “the irrational fear of Islam, Muslims or anything related to the Islamic or Arab cultures and traditions.” The authors of the resolution wished to use the resolution to suppress speech by critics of radical Islam, and were successful in categorizing any view about Islam with which they did not agree to be outside the bounds of acceptable speech; in fact, it was henceforth categorized as “hate speech” and unwelcomed on campus. Presumably criticizing the genocidal charter is Islamic Hamas, or the group’s unending attacks on Israeli civilians for the purpose of murdering Jews, could thereby be considered a type of hate speech, Islamophobic, or contrary to the accepted values of the UC Davis campus.</p>
<p>The suggestion that people be careful with their speech when assessing other people was apparently overlooked during a 2012 event at UC Davis at which two Israelis –a Jewish man and a Druze woman—were to speak and whose appearance was effectively shut down by members of Students for Justice in Palestine and others who had decided, in advance, that “Events like these are not welcome on our campus anymore.” During the presentation, a protestor used the “heckler’s veto” to silence the speakers, standing up and screaming to the podium that Israel has “turned the land of Pales­tine into a land of pros­ti­tutes and rapists and child moles­ters,” and ask­ing the speaker, “How many women have you raped? How many chil­dren have you raped? You are a child moles­ter.”</p>
<p>And pro-Palestinian activists on the Davis campus obviously were not concerned about civility when three Jewish students tried to speak on behalf of Israel at UC Davis at a November 2012 protest against Israel’s Operation Pillar of Defense. The Jewish students were first shouted down with chants of “Leave our space!” “Shame on you!” “F**k Israel,” and “Long live the Intifada!” and then forced against a wall of windows while angry protestors threatened them with closed fists and physical aggression. When pro-Palestinian activists shout “Long live the intifada,” it is, of course, a grotesque and murderous reference to the Second Intifada, during which Arab terrorists murdered some 1000 Israelis and wounded more than 14,000 others, so the fact that this is what passes as intellectual debate about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict on campus is clear evidence that any hope of rational discourse or productive discussion has vanished. Civility has devolved into acrimony, and one can reasonably wonder, based on their language, what the true intentions are of those who defame, demean, and libel Israel in their effort to promote Palestinian self-affirmation.</p>
<p>Liberal-leaning academics at UC Davis and on other American campuses seemingly hold the notion that free speech is only good when it articulates politically correct, ideologically-acceptable views of protected victim or minority groups—and especially, as in the case, the perennially suffering Palestinians. But true intellectual diversity — the ideal that is often bandied about but rarely achieved — must be dedicated to the protection of unfettered speech, representing opposing viewpoints, where the best ideas become clear through the utterance of weaker ones.</p>
<p>For Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, for instance, the protection of free expression for all views was essential, not only to allow discourse of popular topics, but, even more importantly, in instances where unpopular or currently-controversial speech is deemed offensive and unworthy of being heard. “If there is any principal of the Constitution,” he observed, “that more imperatively calls for attachment than any other, it is the principal of free thought — not free thought for those who agree with us but freedom for the thought that we hate.”</p>
<p><strong>Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: </strong><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref%3dnb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&amp;field-keywords=david+horowitz&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&amp;qid=1316459840&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;sort=daterank"><strong>Click here</strong></a><strong>.   </strong></p>
<p><a href="http://horowitzfreedomcenter.us1.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=caa6f67f1482e6214d83be62d&amp;id=c761755bdf"><strong>Subscribe</strong></a><strong> to Frontpage&#8217;s TV show, <em>The Glazov Gang</em>, and </strong><a href="https://www.facebook.com/glazovgang"><strong>LIKE</strong></a><strong> it on </strong><a href="https://www.facebook.com/glazovgang"><strong>Facebook.</strong></a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/richard-l-cravatts/ignoring-anti-semitism-in-the-name-of-palestinian-solidarity-at-uc-davis/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>15</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Leftists Defend Radical Islam &#8212; Conservatives Befriend Secular Muslims</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/larry-greenfield/leftists-defend-radical-islam-conservatives-befriend-secular-muslims/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=leftists-defend-radical-islam-conservatives-befriend-secular-muslims</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/larry-greenfield/leftists-defend-radical-islam-conservatives-befriend-secular-muslims/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 29 Apr 2013 04:38:18 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Larry Greenfield]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Daniel Pipes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Islam]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Left]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Moderate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[secular]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[turkey]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[UC Davis]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=187384</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Why do "progressives" give anti-Islamist Muslims short shrift?]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/rtr1j5cw.jpg"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-187458" alt="rtr1j5cw" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/rtr1j5cw-450x338.jpg" width="270" height="203" /></a>On April 11th, 2013, I participated in a public forum entitled “Islamists Rising in the Middle East: Where Next for America?”</p>
<p>The panel was held at the University of California at Davis, (UCD), as a free event for the community, organized by the student club of the Ayn Rand Institute (ARI).</p>
<p>As an alum of nearby UC Berkeley, I expected some interest in the program, having previously <a href="http://www.jewishpolicycenter.org/458/the-rise-of-campus-anti-zionism-in-california">documented</a> campus radicalism in California.</p>
<p>The panel included a leading scholar on the Middle East, Daniel Pipes, known for well-informed and well-traveled insights. His main theme for the evening was that radical Islam is the problem, and moderate Islam is the solution.</p>
<p>Joining Dr. Pipes and myself was Elan Journo, a thoughtful author on international affairs and ARI professional.</p>
<p>Our panel explored fundamentalist Islamic text, law, theory, and practice, the rise of the third Jihad, global Islamic violence and terrorism, the concept of abrogation (later Koranic verses replace earlier, more peaceful ones), martyrdom ideology, UN Bias against Israel, and how the Revolutionary Republic of Iran has long deceived the West about its nuclear proliferation program.</p>
<p>Interestingly, 4 days before the terror attacks in Boston, we also focused on Central Asian radicalism, including Chechen Islamists.</p>
<p>The audience was polite and offered sincere applause at several points. There was a spirit of calm, thoughtful learning, and the organizers and attendees are to be complimented for inviting, allowing, and participating in the event.  We did not hold back from castigating violent Islamist actions and Jihadist ideology.  One self-identified Muslim Student Association leader rose to challenge our views, but he offered not a single rebuttal to our fact-based presentation.</p>
<p>All good, right?  Except for the fact that on the day of the event, the California Aggie, the weekly student newspaper, published a <a href="http://www.theaggie.org/2013/04/11/letter-to-the-editor-regarding-islamists-rising-event/">letter</a> to the UC Davis Chancellor condemning the “hate” speakers as “racist” and “Islamophobic.”</p>
<p>This pre-emptive, censorious, and libelous attack, by an organized group of campus students and faculty leftists, failed to prevent the event, but threats of disruption required campus police and security to be present, at taxpayer expense (the student group received no funding from the University for the program).</p>
<p>However, a week later, it was revealed in a <a href="http://www.theaggie.org/2013/04/18/event-sparks-free-speech-debate-among-campus-community/">letter</a> to the editor at the Aggie that the UC Davis administration had been intimidated into responding to the students with its own letter full of careful language opposing “hate speech.”</p>
<p>Campus officials might do well to note and advise in the future that free speech implies no feelings protection for those who assert “offense” at speakers whose views they detest.  The truth may hurt, but that doesn’t make it hateful.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the radical students had another trick up their sleeve. They proposed Senate Resolution 21, asserting concerns about the event and longstanding upset with author David Horowitz, and UC Santa Cruz teacher Tammi Rossman-Benjamin, frequent critics of abusive bullying of Jewish students on UC campuses.</p>
<p>This resolution follows similar student government resolutions passed at UC Berkeley and UC Santa Barbara condemning &#8220;hate speech.&#8221;</p>
<p>The bottom line is that there is a dedicated political strategy within radical Islam to smear critics of Jihadi violence as “discriminatory,” proclaim offense at “hate speech,” and label scholarship and teaching about human rights abuse and mass murder of Christians, for example, throughout Araby and the Middle East, as “Islamophobic.”</p>
<p>If I needed a further clarification of just how far left the campus environment has become, this was a fresh reminder.  But, what is interesting in my own case is that I truly do distinguish between radical Islamism and pro-West, peaceful Muslims who specifically and forcefully and repeatedly reject extremist, violent Islamism.</p>
<p>It is one thing for soft-hearted, utopian liberals to preach peace and to wax lovingly for all mankind.  They often have no background in military-security affairs, and no standing in the circles of patriotic defense of our country.  Mere sentiments by fools with a poor grasp of reality.</p>
<p>Of course, we know the hate-America crowd cheered the Boston Marathon massacre (that&#8217;s you, UN Rapporteur Richard Falk, and Palestinians on the streets), but they aren&#8217;t liberals; they are enemies of decency.</p>
<p>It is quite another path for conservatives to offer dialogue and connection to Muslim anti-Islamists.  We are rooted in hard-headed knowledge of, and advocacy against, such Islamo-fascist behavior as female genital mutilation and honor killings, and Sharia-based murder, beheadings, fatwas, incitement, and persecutions emanating from Madrassas, mosques, the Arab media, and radical Imams.</p>
<p>It is therefore constructive and credible for severe critics of violent Jihad to note and applaud Muslim critics of anti-Americanism, and of anti-Christianism and anti-Semitism as well.</p>
<p>On April 15th, 2013, the day of the Boston Islamic terrorist attacks, I was on a flight to the Republic of Turkey to participate in a media tour and build relationships with advocates of positive relations between Americans and moderate Muslims.</p>
<p>In a series of televised <a href="http://en.a9.com.tr/watch/161805/World-Leaders-Discuss-Peace-Religion-and-Politics/Larry-Greenfield---Fellow-in-American-Studies-at-the-Claremont-Institude-Executive-Director-of-the-Reagean-Legancy-Foundation">interviews</a> and private meetings with business, political, and cultural leaders, I offered appreciation to Muslims who have repeatedly stood up against radical Islam, violence against the West, terrorism, and the kidnapping of the Koran by extreme voices.</p>
<p>Indeed, there are non-radical Muslim scholars and thinkers who have long <a href="http://www.islamdenouncesterrorism.com/">denounced</a> Jihadi terrorism and reject their violent interpretation of the Koran.</p>
<p>Turkey, a majority-Muslim nation of over 75 million citizens, is an American ally.  A member of NATO, Turkey hosts both Patriot Missile Defense against threats by the Assad regime in Syria, as well as Forward Based X-Band radars that couple with Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) batteries to help protect Europe, Israel, the U.S., and Turkish territory from Iranian ballistic missile threats.</p>
<p>Strategically located between Central Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe, Turkey has its hands full seeking resolution to its own decades-long terror problem in the form of the Marxist-Kurdish PKK, along with regional challenges in Cyprus/Greece, Armenia/Azerbaijan, and the Balkans.</p>
<p>Turkey must also deal with refugees from Syria, fallout from Iraqi sectarian violence, a powerful neighbor in Russia, and the aforementioned Iran.</p>
<p>Turkey is not perfect. The modern Turkish state is less than 100 years old, and has bounced between military rule and democratic progress.</p>
<p>Current Prime Minister Erdogan is credited with economic growth and stable politics, but has been dismissive of concerns about his treatment of his critics. His attitude towards Israel has been unfriendly, though the Turks are now at the table of reconciliation with Israel after a controversial Israeli apology for the Mavi Marmara deaths of a few years ago.</p>
<p>Historically, the Ottoman Empire, which lasted over 600 years, was unlike the bloodthirsty modern Arab wars against Israel and the West. Today, Turkey remains rooted in Kemalist secularism, though it now seeks passive, not aggressive, treatment of religionists (read: more religious schools and dress are allowed).</p>
<p>By most standards, though, Turks model modernity for the entire Muslim world.</p>
<p>Impressive Istanbul offers cultural riches, dynamic economic opportunity, a diverse private sector, and the famous, gracious hospitality of the Turkish people.</p>
<p>The Turks are confident, conspiratorial, and clever.  They are also respectful of religious minorities, and completely opposed to violent Islamists who have declared war against reason and humanity.</p>
<p>Traditions of flexibility and pragmatism, along with growing economic power, political maturity, and diplomatic sophistication have made the Republic of Turkey the key to building bridges between the East and West. Diplomats and investors alike are therefore grabbing onto Turkey’s rising regional star and hanging on for the ride.</p>
<p>This is all lost on un-informed student radicals at UC Davis, who have failed on all fronts.  They failed to take the opportunity to learn from a scholarly panel; they failed to stop the campus community from hearing some truthful free speech about radical Islam; and they are unaware of conservatives with bona fides in confronting the Jihad (Daniel Pearl was my boyhood pal) who engage with and applaud moderate Muslims who regularly speak out against both militant and politically hostile Islamism.</p>
<p>But, of course, radical Islamists and their leftist defenders actually have no interest in secularist Muslims, or the honorable goal of befriending and encouraging them in the battle for the future of both Islam and Western peace, freedom, and security.</p>
<p><strong>Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref%3dnb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&amp;field-keywords=david+horowitz&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&amp;qid=1316459840&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;sort=daterank" target="_blank">Click here</a>.  </strong></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/larry-greenfield/leftists-defend-radical-islam-conservatives-befriend-secular-muslims/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>27</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Jewish Students Threatened at UC Davis</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/leila-beckwith-and-tammi-rossman-benjamin/jewish-students-threatened-at-uc-davis/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=jewish-students-threatened-at-uc-davis</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/leila-beckwith-and-tammi-rossman-benjamin/jewish-students-threatened-at-uc-davis/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 29 Jan 2013 04:52:10 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Leila Beckwith and Tammi Rossman-Benjamin]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[attack]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Israel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jewish]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Protest]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[students]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[UC Davis]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=175283</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[University refuses to act. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em><a href="http://frontpagemag.com/2013/leila-beckwith-and-tammi-rossman-benjamin/jewish-students-threatened-at-uc-davis/logo_bikecircle_large/" rel="attachment wp-att-175327"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-175327" title="logo_bikecircle_large" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/logo_bikecircle_large.jpg" alt="" width="252" height="168" /></a>Editor&#8217;s note: The following is the text of a letter written by Leila Beckwith and Tammi Rossman-Benjamin, co-founders of the AMCHA Initiative, to UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi regarding the university&#8217;s silence and inaction in the face of anti-Jewish hostility during a recent student protest.</em></p>
<p>Dear Chancellor Katehi,</p>
<p>As you know, we are faculty members at the University of California, who have been investigating and documenting anti-Jewish bigotry on California public university campuses for the last several years.</p>
<p>We are writing to you now to express our serious concern regarding an incident that occurred during a student protest on November 19, 2012, during which UCD students “occupied” an administration building on campus. We believe that numerous violations of state and federal law and university policy may have occurred at the event.  To our knowledge, your administration has neither acknowledged nor addressed these violations.</p>
<p>In addition, it appears that at least 5 university administrators, including the Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, were present and witnessed much of this behavior, yet they did not take action to ensure the safety of the students who were targets of possible assault and hate crimes. Please see below for an account of the events as well as the federal and state laws and university policies which were potentially violated as a result of them.</p>
<p><strong>Detailed Account of Events</strong></p>
<p><em>Takeover of Dutton Hall</em></p>
<p>We have learned the following from newspaper articles, on-line videos, and conversations with Jewish students who attended the rally on the East Quad and the subsequent &#8220;occupation&#8221; of Dutton Hall.</p>
<p>At 12:30pm on November 19, a rally entitled &#8220;March in Solidarity with Gaza,&#8221; sponsored by the Graduate Student Association, began on the East Quad. (See <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/175738562564528/">HERE</a> for an announcement of the rally).</p>
<p>At approximately 2pm, about 40 of the protesters marched from the East Quad to Dutton Hall, where they hung a larger <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=180741878730796&amp;set=oa.37658860242932%0D9&amp;type=1&amp;theater">banner</a> that read &#8220;DAVIS+GAZA ARE ONE FIST&#8221; from the building&#8217;s entryway and &#8220;occupied&#8221; the building&#8217;s entrance hall. Several protesters held anti-Israel and anti-Zionist signs and large banners, two of which read &#8220;DEATH TO ZIONISM&#8221; and &#8220;LONG LIVE THE INTIFADA!&#8221;</p>
<p>The occupation leaders refused entry to Jewish students who were known to identify with the Jewish state, and at least one Jewish student associated with a pro-Israel group on campus reported that when he tried to enter Dutton Hall at the beginning of the &#8220;occupation,&#8221; a rally organizer physically blocked his entry through the front doors and refused to let him pass, because he was a &#8220;Zionist.&#8221;</p>
<p>At about 2:15pm, three Jewish students managed to slip into Dutton Hall, and one of them proceeded to film the discussion taking place inside the &#8220;occupied&#8221; entrance hall. Although a chief complaint of the &#8220;occupiers&#8221; was that pro-Palestinian students were being stifled on campus and not afforded their constitutionally-guaranteed right to freedom of speech, nevertheless, several times in the 20 minutes of the rally captured <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIFpoVkQk0c&amp;feature=youtu.be">on video</a>, the &#8220;occupiers&#8221; themselves expressed the sentiment that &#8220;Zionists,&#8221; including pro-Israel students at UCD, should not be given freedom of speech. For example, when a Jewish student wanted to know whether free speech could involve a civil discussion between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian perspectives, the leader answered, &#8220;I would say absolutely not. I would never discuss anything with Hitler.  He is our enemy&#8230;there&#8217;s no question of free speech when it comes to the Nazis. And the KKK, when they march in Sacramento and the cops defend them&#8230;you should not talk to these white supremacist, racist, mother-fuckers.&#8221;</p>
<p><em>Escalation of the Protest</em></p>
<p>At about 2:30pm the rally leader said, &#8220;I just want everyone to know that there are Zionists filming everything we’re saying, and I think we should ask them to leave.&#8221; Several protesters demanded that the Jewish students leave the public building, loudly chanting “Leave our space” and “Shame on you” repeatedly, and accusing the Jewish students of “hate speech” because of their support for Israel (see <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIFpoVkQk0c&amp;t=18m">HERE</a>).</p>
<p>After the Jewish student stopped filming, most of the 40 protesters surrounded the Jewish students, who were standing up against a wall of windows, and screamed &#8220;Death to Israel,&#8221; &#8220;Fuck Israel,&#8221; and other curses. For about 10 minutes the protesters, many of whom stood 1 to 2 feet away from the Jewish students, continued to scream at the Jewish students to leave Dutton Hall and pounded their fists into their hands in a threatening way. Although the Jewish students were not physically harmed, they reported feeling physically and emotionally harassed and threatened until they finally managed to leave the building.</p>
<p>When an <em>Aggie</em> photographer who had photographed the confrontation inside the hall followed the Jewish students outside for comments and contact information, protesters at the rally turned on him and demanded to see his photos of the physical confrontation and that he delete them.  <em>Aggie</em> staff members were also told by protesters that unless they were on the side of the &#8220;occupiers,&#8221; they would also have to leave the administration building.</p>
<p>See article written by an <em>Aggie</em> staff member <a href="http://www.theaggie.org/2012/11/27/editorial-let-students-speak/">HERE</a>. In the article, the staff member asserts, “We witnessed many students…[end] up leaving, disgusted, as soon as the bullying began. Free speech is crucial. Ideally, our campus would be rife with protests, counter-protests and open dialogue regularly. But if students are scared to speak — scared of other students who resort to intimidation tactics — we have a serious problem.”</p>
<p>At approximately 2:45pm, after a student in Dutton Hall expressed disagreement with one of the protest signs, a protester grabbed his collar, raised his fist and forced the student to leave the building.</p>
<p><em>UCD and Staff Member Witnesses of Event</em></p>
<p>According to a student outside of Dutton Hall at the time of the &#8220;occupation,&#8221; 3 UCD administrators (the Vice Chancellor and 2 Associate Vice Chancellors of Student Affairs) and 2 staff members associated with the Center for Student Involvement were right outside the building during the &#8220;occupation.&#8221; According to one of the 3 Jewish students surrounded by protesters inside Dutton Hall, since she and her friends were standing against a bank of windows which were in full view of those standing outside, she believed the 5 administrators and staff members could see them being harassed and intimidated by the mob of protesters.</p>
<p>The administrators and staff standing outside did nothing to help the 3 Jewish students, but when they exited the building, one of the administrators asked one of the students if she was OK, which suggests that the administrator had witnessed the violent behavior of the protestors but did not take action. The Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, who it appears also witnessed the protestors’ behavior toward the Jewish students, spoke earlier that afternoon at the rally on the East Quad, where she was <a href="http://www.davisenterprise.com/local-news/ucd/gathering-to-mark-nov-18-protesters-turn-focus-to-gaza/">quoted</a> as saying: “I will not permit violence to occur in the context of free speech.” There were no other administrators, staff or faculty present at the rally inside Dutton Hall, and at no time did any campus police appear in or near the hall.</p>
<p><strong>Violations of Federal, State, and University Policy</strong></p>
<p>We would like to bring to your attention the following aspects of this deeply troubling series of events:</p>
<p>1) We believe that incidents of this sort have the potential to create liability under the following legal authority:</p>
<p><strong> • Civil assault (Restatement 2d, Torts §21)</strong> - &#8220;An actor is subject to liability to another for assault if (a) he acts intending to cause a harmful or offensive contact with a person, or an imminent apprehension of such a contact, and (b) the other is thereby put in such imminent apprehension.&#8221;</p>
<p><strong> • Civil battery (Restatement 2d, Torts §13,18)</strong> - &#8220;An actor is subject to liability to another for battery if (a) he acts intending to cause a harmful or offensive contact with a person, and (b) harmful or offensive contact with the person directly results.&#8221;</p>
<p><strong> • Criminal assault (CA Penal Code 240)</strong> - Assault is &#8220;an unlawful attempt, coupled with a present ability, to commit a violent injury on the person of another.&#8221; To be charged with criminal assault, physical contact is not required.  A person must simply place another in reasonable fear of immediate bodily harm.</p>
<p><strong> • Criminal battery (CA Penal Code 242)</strong> - Battery is &#8220;any willful and unlawful use of force or violence upon the person of another.&#8221;</p>
<p><strong> • Disturbing the peace (CA Penal Code 415(3)</strong> - It is illegal to “…maliciously and willfully disturb another person by loud and unreasonable noise…[and to] use offensive words in a public place which are inherently likely to provoke an immediate violent reaction.” In other words, it is illegal to use “offensive words” that “necessarily invite a breach of the peace.”</p>
<p><strong> • CA Civil Code 51.7 “The Ralph Civil Rights Act”</strong> - &#8220;All persons within the jurisdiction of this state have the right to be free from any violence, or intimidation by threat of violence, committed against their persons or property because of their race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, political affiliation, sex, sexual orientation, age, disability, or position in a labor dispute, or because another person perceives them to have one or more of those characteristics.&#8221;</p>
<p><strong> • CA Civil Code 52.1 “The Bane Civil Rights Act”</strong> -  &#8220;If a person or persons, whether or not acting under color of law, interferes by threats, intimidation, or coercion, or attempts to interfere by threats, intimidation, or coercion, with the exercise or enjoyment by any individual or individuals of rights secured by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or of the rights secured by the Constitution or laws of this state, the Attorney General, or any district attorney or city attorney may bring a civil action for injunctive and other appropriate equitable relief in the name of the people of the State of California, in order to protect the peaceable exercise or enjoyment of the right or rights secured.&#8221;</p>
<p><strong> • CA Penal Code 422.6</strong> - &#8220;No person, whether or not acting under color of law, shall by force or threat of force, willfully injure, intimidate, interfere with, oppress, or threaten any other person in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him or her by the Constitution or laws of this state or by the Constitution or laws of the United States in whole or in part because of one or more of the actual or perceived characteristics of the victim.&#8221;</p>
<p><strong> • Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act</strong> – Prohibits discrimination on the grounds of race, color, or national origin in programs or activities receiving Federal financial assistance.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>2) We believe the protesters&#8217; behavior may have violated the following UC Davis policies and principles:</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong> • UC Standards of Conduct for Students 102.06</strong> -  prohibiting the “unauthorized possession…of any University properties.”</p>
<p><strong> • UC Standards of Conduct for Students 102.08</strong> -  prohibiting  “physical assault, including threats of violence, or other conduct that threatens the health or safety of a person.”</p>
<p>•  <strong>UC Standards of Conduct for Students 102.09</strong> - prohibiting racial and other forms of harassment, defined as “conduct that is so severe…objectively offensive, and so substantially impairs a person’s access to University programs or activities, that the person is effectively denied equal access to the University’s resources and opportunities on the basis of his or her race…national or ethnic origin, alienage, religion…or perceived membership in any of these classifications.”</p>
<p><strong> • UC Policies Applying to Campus Activities, Organizations and Students (PACAOS) Section 30</strong> - “The University is committed to assuring that all persons may exercise the constitutionally protected rights of free expression, speech, assembly, and worship…It is the responsibility of the Chancellor to assure an ongoing opportunity for the expression of a variety of viewpoints.”</p>
<p>•  <strong>UC Davis Policies and Procedures Manual Ch. 270 Section 05(C)</strong> -  “The University prohibits illegal, arbitrary, or unreasonable discriminatory practices. Campus organizations receiving University privileges, assistance, or supervision must abide by the University’s policy on nondiscrimination to qualify for any University privileges or assistance.”</p>
<p><strong> • UC Davis Policies and Procedures Manual Ch. 270 Section 20</strong> - Public expression in the form of freedom of speech and advocacy may be exercised on University properties at such times and places and in such a manner as is compatible with the use of the property and as follows: 1) Assures orderly conduct; 2) Avoids disruption or interference with University operations; 3) Allows for the free flow of persons and traffic; 4) Avoids disruption or interference with the ability of the University to carry out its responsibilities as an educational institution; 5) Protects the rights of all individuals who use University properties; 6) Protects persons against practices that would make them involuntary audiences; 7) Assures the safety of all members of the University community; 8)  Does not interfere with property entrances or exits.</p>
<p><strong> • UC Davis Student Judicial Affairs Statement on Free Expression</strong> - “Efforts to quell unpopular opinions (e.g., by shouting down a speaker) stifle discourse and cut off dialogue…Even legal acts of intolerance and incivility erode our capacity to trust, and to work, live, and learn together&#8230;We can uphold both the need for respect and understanding and the right of free speech by responding appropriately to each incident. Crimes must be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent, and infringement of civil rights must be addressed by campus administrative processes and/or state or federal agencies. Discriminatory acts or violations of campus conduct standards, including disruption, are subject to disciplinary sanctions or grievances.”</p>
<p>•  <strong>UC Davis Principles of Community</strong> - “strives to maintain a climate of justice marked by respect for each other….affirms the right of freedom of expression…and commitment to the highest standards of civility and decency towards all…recognizing the right of every individual to think and speak as dictated by personal belief, to express any idea, and to disagree with or counter another&#8217;s point of view… promoting open expression of our individuality and our diversity within the bounds of courtesy, sensitivity and respect.” In addition UC Davis vows to “confront and reject all manifestations of discrimination, including those based on race, ethnicity…religious or political beliefs, status…or any of the other differences among people which have been excuses for misunderstanding, dissension or hatred…striving to build a true community based on mutual respect and caring.&#8221;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>3) We believe the UCD administrators and staff members who witnessed the illegal and unethical behavior of the protestors but did not take action may have been negligent in carrying out their administrative responsibilities:</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>• The Vice Chancellor and 2 Associate Vice Chancellors of Student Affairs who witnessed the &#8220;occupation&#8221; are responsible for Student Judicial Affairs, whose role is to enforce community standards and campus codes of conduct. As noted above, the protestors were in blatant violation of several UC policies which have the primary goal of ensuring student safety.  Evidence points to the fact that the administrators were aware of most, if not all, of these violations, and that student safety was being threatened as a result of their inaction.</p>
<p>• Two staff members from the UCD Center for Student Involvement witnessed the &#8220;occupation.&#8221; CSI avows that it promotes the UC Davis Principles of Community, which affirm the right of freedom of expression within the Davis community and its commitment to the highest standards of civility and respect, by helping students learn from each other in a safe and constructive environment.  However, during the solidarity rally, the protestors were in blatant violation of the Principles of Community in addition to violating 7 UCD students’ rights of free expression.  Protestors also failed to treat these students with civility and respect. The staff members from this department did not ensure a safe and constructive environment for students when they failed to intervene during a student group’s assault, harassment and violation of fellow students’ rights.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Outcome of the Events</strong></p>
<p>Jewish UCD students, within sight of UCD administrators and on public university property, were harassed, intimidated, and physically threatened. This is an abrogation of university policy and unlawful.</p>
<p>We are deeply concerned about the virulent and hate-filled actions taking place on the UCD campus as a result of students’ religion and beliefs. And we are also concerned for the safety and well-being of Jewish students who want to feel free to express their beliefs and attend public university events without fear of harm or intimidation.</p>
<p>As the Chancellor of UC Davis, we know that you too have these same concerns.</p>
<p>As a result, the following are important actions that we urge you to take now in order to protect the physical and emotional safety and civil rights of Jewish (and all) students on your campus:</p>
<p>• University policy must spell out actions that campus police, administrators, and staff are responsible for taking to ensure the safety and civil rights of all students, and we urge that this policy be published widely to the campus community.</p>
<p>• Police, administrators, and staff must be immediately informed about actions they should take and protocols they can access to afford all members of the campus community — including Jewish students — the protections that are afforded to them under University policy and state and federal law.</p>
<p>• Perpetrators of disruptive and threatening behavior must be identified and appropriately disciplined.</p>
<p>• The University Chancellor should use her First Amendment rights to consistently and publicly condemn behavior which targets other students for harassment and intimidation.</p>
<p>• The official status and funding of student groups that engage in behavior which targets other students for harassment and intimidation should be subject to suspension and revocation.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>We look forward to hearing from you whether these steps can be taken to ensure that Jewish UCD students – and all UCD students – can enjoy a campus where they feel safe, protected, and able to enjoy their civil rights no matter their identity or beliefs.</p>
<p>You will be receiving a copy of this letter by U.S. mail.</p>
<p>Sincerely,</p>
<p>Leila Beckwith</p>
<p>Professor Emeritus, University of California at Los Angeles</p>
<p>Co-founder the AMCHA Initiative</p>
<p><a href="mailto:Leila@AMCHAinitiative.org">Leila@AMCHAinitiative.org</a></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Tammi Rossman-Benjamin</p>
<p>Lecturer, University of California at Santa Cruz</p>
<p>Co-founder the AMCHA Initiative</p>
<p><a href="mailto:Tammi@AMCHAinitiative.org">Tammi@AMCHAinitiative.org</a></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Cc:   UC President Mark Yudof</p>
<p>UC Regents</p>
<p>UC Chancellors</p>
<p>UC General Counsel Charles Robinson</p>
<p>UC Advisory Council on Campus Climate, Culture, and Inclusion (c/o Jesse Bernal)</p>
<p>UC Davis Counsel Steven Drown</p>
<p>California Speaker of the Assembly John A. Perez</p>
<p>California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson</p>
<p>California State Senator Lois Wolk  (Davis)</p>
<p>California State Assembly Member Mariko Yamada  (Davis)</p>
<p>Congressman John Garamendi (3<sup>rd</sup> District)</p>
<p>Bcc:    Members and supporters of the Jewish community</p>
<p><strong>Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&amp;field-keywords=david+horowitz&amp;rh=n%3A133140011%2Ck%3Adavid+horowitz&amp;ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&amp;qid=1316459840&amp;rh=n%3A133140011%2Ck%3Adavid+horowitz&amp;sort=daterank">Click here</a>.</strong></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/leila-beckwith-and-tammi-rossman-benjamin/jewish-students-threatened-at-uc-davis/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>194</slash:comments>
		</item>
	</channel>
</rss>

<!-- Performance optimized by W3 Total Cache. Learn more: http://www.w3-edge.com/wordpress-plugins/

Object Caching 468/500 objects using disk
Content Delivery Network via cdn.frontpagemag.com

 Served from: www.frontpagemag.com @ 2014-12-31 12:58:58 by W3 Total Cache -->