JEWISH STUDENTS URGED TO AVOID ANTI-SEMITIC UC IRVINE

Jewish students urged to avoid UC Irvine (JTA)
Anti-Semitism is so rampant at the University of California-Irvine that Jewish students should avoid enrolling, a new report says.

An unaffiliated task force made up of Jewish residents of Irvine conducted 80 hours of interviews with students, faculty and residents and determined that anti-Semitic acts are “real and well documented” on campus, according to an article in the local Daily Pilot.

“Jewish students have been harassed. Hate speech has been unrelenting,” the report alleges. The report takes faculty to task for “political correctness” that prevents them from speaking out against anti-Israel events and speakers sponsored by the school’s very active Muslim Student Union.

UC restrictions on Israel study challenged (JTA)
Students at the 10 University of California campuses are ratcheting up efforts to overturn restrictions on study abroad in Israel.

Jewish students and Hillels will appeal to the state legislature to overturn the 2002 decision of the University of California Education Abroad Program, which withholds university funding from programs in countries on the U.S. State Department’s travel advisory list on the grounds of student safety.

According to Senate Resolution 18, introduced Jan. 17 by Sen. Carol Migden (D-San Francisco), UC students who choose to study in Israel must formally withdraw from the university, risk losing their financial aid and, if they are readmitted, have no guarantee that their credits will transfer.

The resolution notes that the State Department travel advisory was never intended to apply to study abroad programs, which form an increasingly important part of a university education. It further notes that several other state university systems have reinstated their study programs in countries with less severe travel advisories,such as Kenya and Nepal. The resolution suggests that the University of California do the same.