Leaders of five Jewish student organizations at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) denounced calls by the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) for donors to cease contributing to the Orange County campus because of alleged inaction by university administrators in the face of ongoing anti-Semitic and anti-Israel activity. The New York-based ZOA also urged potential students not to apply to the university.
The ZOA’s appeal followed the Feb. 8 speech by Michael Oren, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, at the UCI Student Center in which he was repeatedly heckled and jeered by anti-Israel protestors. The incident resulted in 11 arrests, including students from UCI and UC Riverside (UCR), among them the president of UCI’s Muslim Student Union (MSU).
In an open letter, Moran Cohen, president of Anteaters for Israel, UCI Hillel President Ami Kurzweil, and the heads of the campus Chabad, AEPi fraternity and AEPhi sorority called the ZOA’s directive “counterproductive and one of the worst ways to deal the MSU at UCI.”
“As students on this campus, we feel that one of the very best ways to send a message to the MSU is to increase the attendance of students who will speak out against them and stand up for the American principles such as freedom of speech. One of the greatest advantages of living in this country is access to a quality university education, and we are proud that UCI is one of the finest and safest academic institutions in the nation.”
The students decided to issue the letter in response to sentiment among their peers that their voices needed to be heard, Cohen said.
“This is to show the perspective of the students who are here every day, to show what we feel about our campus. In the past few years, we’ve really grown the Jewish community and the only way to continue this is to bring more students and to show Israel in a more positive light.”
Oren’s speech was interrupted 10 times by protestors and culminated in dozens of students boisterously walking out of the auditorium to stage a demonstration outside. This was the latest in a series of anti-Israel actions by the MSU in recent years. The group has hosted several anti-Israel speakers, including Oakland-based Muslim cleric Amir Abdel Malik Ali and British politician George Galloway. The latter incident resulted in a pending FBI investigation into alleged fundraising by the MSU for Hamas, following a complaint in October 2009 by the ZOA to the university and the U.S. Department of Justice.
In 2004, the ZOA filed a federal complaint charging UCI officials with failing to rectify long-standing anti-Semitic harassment. Civil rights investigators found insufficient evidence to support the allegation.
Speaking from Israel, ZOA National President Morton A. Klein called the students’ criticism a “legitimate difference of opinion” on tactics, adding that he believes the real issue is why the university has not condemned the MSU’s activities. He said his organization had consulted with UCI students and faculty, many of whom urged even stronger action, before issuing its statement.
Cohen said she had not spoken to ZOA representatives, nor had the other four signatories to the student missive, to the best of her knowledge.
“We have taken this approach after six years of trying every other avenue,” Klein said. University inactions have forced our hand to take a more serious step.”
B’nai Brith International and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) called on UCI Chancellor Michael Drake to step up efforts to deal with manifestations of anti-Semitism on campus following the incident, but ADL National Director Abraham Foxman criticized the ZOA’s call to boycott the university, calling it “inappropriate, harmful and counterproductive.”
Jewish Federation Orange County CEO Shalom Elcott said in a prepared statement that he is pleased thus far with university’s actions against the protesters.
“We have faith that the University is going to follow through and do the right thing: to prosecute the 11 Muslim students who were arrested, and to take the necessary disciplinary action.”
Eight UCI students have received letters from the disciplinary office of the Department of Student Affairs charging them with violations of the student code of conduct, according to UCI spokesperson Cathy Lawhon. They had one week to respond to the charges, though Lawhon would not comment on whether the students answered their notices, citing the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act. UCR Dean of Students Susan Allen Ortega said administrators at the inland empire campus are conducting their own investigation but have yet to decide on a course of action regarding the three UCR students who were arrested.
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