Zionists: UCI favors Muslim student groups

New details of a federal investigation into claims of anti-Semitism on UCI’s campus surfaced Thursday when the Zionist Organization of America released a letter from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.

The Zionist Organization of America is arguing that harassment of Jewish students in May 2007 by members of UCI’s Muslim Student Union has gone without response by the school’s administration, according to a letter from the Office for Civil Rights to the organization.

As well as claiming harassment, the complaint alleges the university has played favorites by granting the Muslim Student Union privileges the school wouldn’t normally afford other groups or events, according to the letter.

The letter outlines specific instances investigators are reviewing, nine in all, and rejected eight others on the basis they weren’t timely, lacked evidence or the merits of which were addressed in a previous investigation.

“What we hope is that the government will look at these incidents and conclude that there is a hostile environment for some Jewish students on campus, that some Jewish students are afraid and that the university does not address those problems,” said Susan Tuchman, director of the Zionist Organization of America Center for Law and Justice.

The organization also filed a complaint in 2004, which the Office for Civil Rights investigated and reported on in November 2007. That report cleared the university of any wrongdoing.

“Chancellor Michael Drake has been very clear about how respect, appreciation, and compassion for people of different cultures and backgrounds is foremost among our set of values at the university, and we continue to embrace those values,” UCI spokeswoman Cathy Lawhon said.

Lawhon declined to comment on any specific portion of the complaint, as did the Office for Civil Rights. Calls to the Muslim Student Union were not immediately returned.

During the investigation, the Zionist Organization of America continued to make complaints and send the Office for Civil Rights more information, according to Tuchman.

The new investigation will look into those complaints for May 2007, most of which were made during the “Holocaust Memorial Week” or the “Israel: Apartheid Resurrected” events at UCI, according to the letter.

“It doesn’t make any sense to me why they didn’t investigate this earlier,” Tuchman said. “We asked them to conduct these interviews, but we repeatedly got no response.”

Some of those instances include an alleged incident when a student reporter claimed while they were trying to record a Muslim Student Union event and ask questions, a Muslim Student Union member pushed a camera in the student’s face repeatedly.

Another complaint suggests the university prevented the recording of Muslim Student Union events during that month and went as far as to “eject” a student who was trying to record an event.

And while some Jewish students and organizations are pushing for action by the government, others say the situation isn’t as bad as they are making it seem.

“On a personal level, I do think the administration is doing a lot to keep the lines of communication open and trying to make everyone feel safe,” said co-president for UCI’s Jewish student union Hillel Michelle Eshaghian. “Verbally, I don’t think what is being said by these speakers is appropriate, but I don’t feel threatened.”

Eshaghian added she doesn’t feel the Muslim Student Union gets special privileges.

She did agree the group does bring in some speakers who say things she considers anti-Semitic.

HIGHLIGHTS

The following are excerpts from portions of the complaint by the Zionist Organization of America depicted in a letter from U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights concerning which portions of the complaint it intends to investigate.

3. “Harassment by a university student of a rabbi visiting the campus in May 2007 for an ‘Israel: Apartheid Resurrected’ event.”

5. “Coercion and intimidation of a student by [Muslim Student Union] students following his attempt to film a [Muslim Student Union] event in May 2007.

8. “The university has failed to discipline [Muslim Student Union] members for disseminating false information that inflames hatred for Jews and Israel, despite Jewish students complaining that the falsehoods violate University codes of conduct.”

9. “During spring 2007 events, the university failed to stop [Muslim Student Union] members from displaying ‘UC’ on T-shirts and fliers containing anti-Israel sentiments, for example, T-shirts reading “UC Intifada: How You Can Help Palestine.”

DANIEL TEDFORD may be reached at (714) 966-4632 or at daniel.tedford@latimes.com.