More Nazi Imagery on UC Irvine's Campus. Administration on Hate Speech: "One Person's Hate Speech is Another Person's Education".
On Sunday, October 8th at 00:15 someone phoned in a complaint to the Irvine police department that went something like this: "hi, I was walking by the student housing at Vista Del Campo, and it appears that somebody has painted swastikas all over the building". Twenty days or so days later, we finally find out about this - apparently this isn't a big deal around these parts any more. The only reason we found out at all is because LAist linked to two articles in CampusJ about the issue. CampusJ is apparently some sort of Jewish Campus journalism outlet. We can't figure out more than that because the site has been knocked offline (a quick glance at Technorati leads us to blame Steven Weiss for this, but there could be others). We do know that CampusJ is not the official UCI campus outlet. For one thing, the UCI paper is called the New University. For another, the author of these articles - Reut Cohen - probably couldn't have written something like this for the New University. Some time last year the New University specifically asked Cohen to tone down her pro-Israel coverage because it was causing too much controversy (allegedly... that's what we heard at least). So they probably wouldn't let her publish something like this.
So this incident: the University really wants you to believe that someone was really pissed off about a student housing policy, and that they decided the way to express that was through anti-Semitic hate speech. Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Manuel Gomez even put out a statement on this question, making it one of his foremost talking points: (Google cache):
We are addressing this vandalism as a top priority and are pursuing a police investigation. Please contact the UCI Police Department if you have any pertinent information. The initial review of the police report leads one to believe that on the face of it, a person(s) is/are unhappy with Vista del Campo. The juxtaposition of the vulgar language and swastika symbol leads us to this impression. Nevertheless, the use of this symbol is disturbing, especially so when it appears where we live. We are well aware that even though this seems to be directed at the Vista del Campo, it still affects our students and campus community.
The last time we talked about Vice Chancellor Gomez, he was giving an interview to a hate group about anti-discrimination efforts targeting the UCI campus (can't imagine what they had to be concerned about). The hate group sympathized deeply with his plight, and then went on to use the situation to launch thinly veiled threats against the Jewish students and campus leaders that Gomez supposedly speaks for. On the basis of their interview with Gomez, they threatened that "the large majority of citizens" are about to "lose patience" with "the Jews".
Let's not mince words: the UC Irvine administration is currently on the wrong end of a ZOA lawsuit because they've let their campus degenerate into an anti-American, anti-Semitic cesspool. They teach explicitly anti-American classes. They allow student funds to be used for the most disgusting kinds of anti-Semitic incitement. And so their students end up dressing and talking like terrorists. Except it's not just make-believe: the FBI has begun to investigate UCI students for terrorism. Because apparently some students were incited by all of the incitement that their student funds funded.
And how is the University dealing with this hate speech? With these preachers brought in by the Muslim Student Union who scream about "Zionists" and then nudge-nudge wink-wink the crowd? How is the University dealing with Nazi-link statements that may or may not have led to Nazi-link vandalism? We couldn't make this up: (Google cache):
Some of the Jewish students at the meeting revealed that they and others had been subject to verbal and physical intimidation at the hands of MSU members, and that they had previously reported these claims to campus security. In light of this, some students asked that Drake place restrictions on where MSU events are held, saying that if their events were held in classrooms as opposed to public spaces, their effect would not be as broad. However, Chancellor Drake told Jewish students at the meeting that he cannot restrict any club, that it would be "violation of law to prohibit certain speech." Gomez emphasized that though hate speech may be present, he would not seek to curtail it, as "one person’s hate speech is another person’s education."
That. Is. Awesome.
Here's a hint to Chancellor Drake and Vice Chancellor Gomez: it's no longer about you prohibiting hate speech. Sure, it'd be nice if you took some step like saying "the University does not endorse it when Muslim clerics link Jews to conspiracy theories". But let's not get crazy. At this point, we're asking for no more fodder to hate groups, no more paying for hate speech, and no more pretending that you don't have a gigantic problem on your campus.
For instance, let's say that this vandal really was just angry with the management of the Vista Del Campo housing complex. Wouldn't that make it worse for the UCI administration? Wouldn't it mean that their students now, as a matter of course, find deploying anti-Semitic hate speech to be the most natural thing in the world? Because after all, as Vice Chancellor Gomez says, "one person’s hate speech is another person’s education". Seriously, this is disgusting. That man should resign or be fired. But of course he won't be, because "protecting academic freedom" means never having to say you're sorry because your students have become violent anti-Semites under investigation by the FBI for terrorism.
UPDATE: Remember, according to Vice Chancellor Gomez, this is "another person's education" (and this is from a man helping to run an educational institution, so he's an expert):
"Every time we fought in the name of Allah, we always won... we are not afraid of THEM". Psst - when he says "Zionists", he means "Jews".
UPDATE 2: CampusJ is back online, so we've modified the links to Cohen's articles from the Google cache to the original articles. Google cache links have been left in parenthesis in case the site goes down again.
So this incident: the University really wants you to believe that someone was really pissed off about a student housing policy, and that they decided the way to express that was through anti-Semitic hate speech. Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Manuel Gomez even put out a statement on this question, making it one of his foremost talking points: (Google cache):
We are addressing this vandalism as a top priority and are pursuing a police investigation. Please contact the UCI Police Department if you have any pertinent information. The initial review of the police report leads one to believe that on the face of it, a person(s) is/are unhappy with Vista del Campo. The juxtaposition of the vulgar language and swastika symbol leads us to this impression. Nevertheless, the use of this symbol is disturbing, especially so when it appears where we live. We are well aware that even though this seems to be directed at the Vista del Campo, it still affects our students and campus community.
The last time we talked about Vice Chancellor Gomez, he was giving an interview to a hate group about anti-discrimination efforts targeting the UCI campus (can't imagine what they had to be concerned about). The hate group sympathized deeply with his plight, and then went on to use the situation to launch thinly veiled threats against the Jewish students and campus leaders that Gomez supposedly speaks for. On the basis of their interview with Gomez, they threatened that "the large majority of citizens" are about to "lose patience" with "the Jews".
Let's not mince words: the UC Irvine administration is currently on the wrong end of a ZOA lawsuit because they've let their campus degenerate into an anti-American, anti-Semitic cesspool. They teach explicitly anti-American classes. They allow student funds to be used for the most disgusting kinds of anti-Semitic incitement. And so their students end up dressing and talking like terrorists. Except it's not just make-believe: the FBI has begun to investigate UCI students for terrorism. Because apparently some students were incited by all of the incitement that their student funds funded.
And how is the University dealing with this hate speech? With these preachers brought in by the Muslim Student Union who scream about "Zionists" and then nudge-nudge wink-wink the crowd? How is the University dealing with Nazi-link statements that may or may not have led to Nazi-link vandalism? We couldn't make this up: (Google cache):
Some of the Jewish students at the meeting revealed that they and others had been subject to verbal and physical intimidation at the hands of MSU members, and that they had previously reported these claims to campus security. In light of this, some students asked that Drake place restrictions on where MSU events are held, saying that if their events were held in classrooms as opposed to public spaces, their effect would not be as broad. However, Chancellor Drake told Jewish students at the meeting that he cannot restrict any club, that it would be "violation of law to prohibit certain speech." Gomez emphasized that though hate speech may be present, he would not seek to curtail it, as "one person’s hate speech is another person’s education."
That. Is. Awesome.
Here's a hint to Chancellor Drake and Vice Chancellor Gomez: it's no longer about you prohibiting hate speech. Sure, it'd be nice if you took some step like saying "the University does not endorse it when Muslim clerics link Jews to conspiracy theories". But let's not get crazy. At this point, we're asking for no more fodder to hate groups, no more paying for hate speech, and no more pretending that you don't have a gigantic problem on your campus.
For instance, let's say that this vandal really was just angry with the management of the Vista Del Campo housing complex. Wouldn't that make it worse for the UCI administration? Wouldn't it mean that their students now, as a matter of course, find deploying anti-Semitic hate speech to be the most natural thing in the world? Because after all, as Vice Chancellor Gomez says, "one person’s hate speech is another person’s education". Seriously, this is disgusting. That man should resign or be fired. But of course he won't be, because "protecting academic freedom" means never having to say you're sorry because your students have become violent anti-Semites under investigation by the FBI for terrorism.
UPDATE: Remember, according to Vice Chancellor Gomez, this is "another person's education" (and this is from a man helping to run an educational institution, so he's an expert):
"Every time we fought in the name of Allah, we always won... we are not afraid of THEM". Psst - when he says "Zionists", he means "Jews".
UPDATE 2: CampusJ is back online, so we've modified the links to Cohen's articles from the Google cache to the original articles. Google cache links have been left in parenthesis in case the site goes down again.
