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Three University of California faculty members are working hard this summer to keep issues plaguing Jewish students at the top of the U.C. president’s agenda.

In a June 28 letter to U.C. President Mark Yudof, the three faculty members, along with 12 Jewish organizations, admonished U.C.’s responses to acts of intolerance against Jewish students.

Those responses have been weak, the letter said, especially when compared to the university’s responses to discrimination against other minority students, such as two incidents this past school year at U.C. San Diego — the discovery of a noose hanging in the library and an off-campus party that allegedly mocked Black History Month.

“For years there have been issues creating a hostile environment for Jewish students that were not responded to with nearly the same speed, concern or sensitivity — if they were responded to at all,” said Tammi Rossman-Benjamin, a lecturer at U.C. Santa Cruz.

The letter was crafted and signed by Rossman-Benjamin, Leila Beckwith, professor emeritus at UCLA, and Roberta Seid, lecturer at U.C. Irvine. Twelve prominent national Jewish organizations, such as the Orthodox Union and the pro-Israel StandWithUs, then signed on.

The letter cited what it said were increasing instances of bigotry on many U.C. campuses, including anti-Semitic graffiti, acts of physical and verbal aggression, and anti-Israel speakers, films and exhibits.

The letter also cited an online petition signed by 700 U.C. students and referenced some of their answers to a questionnaire. Jewish students described feeling “harassed and intimidated at U.C. Irvine, U.C. San Diego and U.C. Berkeley,” the letter stated.

Yudof released a statement July 6 saying he is “extremely sympathetic to the concerns of Jewish students” and promised to “do everything in [my] power to protect Jewish and all other students from threats and actions [of anti-Semitism].”

At the same time, he criticized the letter as an “ill-informed rush to judgment” against the University of California’s response to some recent “troubling incidents” on some U.C. campuses. He said “all incidents of hate speech, including the depiction of swastikas on campuses, have been promptly investigated.”

Yudof is Jewish and his wife, Judy, is the former lay president of United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism (one of the 12 groups that signed on).

He noted his concern that comments in the letter were based on selective responses that “imply a representation of the U.C. Jewish student community not substantiated in the letter.”

“My take is that their perspectives are more mixed than you suggest,” Yudof stated.

He also expressed disappointment at the “premature and disheartening” manner in which the letter had dismissed the formation of the Advisory Council on Campus Climate, Culture and Inclusion. On June 16, Yudof named 17 members to the council, which will work closely with the U.C. Board of Regents on enhancing and sustaining a tolerant environment on each of the university’s 10 campuses.

Rossman-Benjamin was quick to point out that the signatories of the letter didn’t suggest that the council is “no good,” but rather it lacks “an explicit focus on anti-Semitism and acknowledgment that it’s been a problem.”

“No one has mentioned the word ‘anti-Semitism’ in a formal statement from the U.C. administration,” she said. “For whatever reason, this issue is invisible.”

Ealon Joelson, who signed the letter in his role as president of the Palo Alto-based Israel Peace Initiative, echoed Rossman-Benjamin's sentiments.

"Even when I was a student [at U.C. Berkeley some 20 years ago], I recognized attacks on Israel and Zionism were actually thinly veiled expressions of anti-Semitism," Joelson said by e-mail. "Over time, this has become increasingly apparent."

Joelson's agency supports students and faculty who advocate on behalf of Israel on Northern California campuses.

"The University of California has to realize an atmosphere of hostility toward Jews, Israel and/or Zionism is counterproductive to creating a welcoming campus community," he noted.

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