UC Irvine's free speech and anti-Semitism problems
Roger Simon follows up on the near-riot at the University of California Irvine during Michael Oren's speech on Monday night. Simon asks a question that was bothering me: If campus police knew that this could potentially happen (and they did), why weren't they prepared to stop it, as I noted happened at Brandeis when I was there in November. The answer is not pretty. The University of California Irvine has a severe free speech problem and has had one for a long time. Part of this stems from the school’s history of what is politely called multi-culturalism – actually a euphemism for cultural relativism, a bankrupt pseudo-philosophy that provides a phony intellectual veneer to totalitarian behavior. Another part is good, old-fashioned anti-Semitism, which seems to be cropping up everywhere these days. A third part is even more old-fashioned cowardice, working in tandem with the other two.
School officials say they were embarrassed. They should be a lot more than that. They should rectify this situation immediately and in a serious way, because this is a serious case of racism. The reputation of the whole University of California system is at risk here in an era when taxpayers are in a justifiably rebellious mood. Given what’s happened, outside the sciences, it’s hard to regard Irvine as a legitimate educational institution. Why would any of us pay for what is happening there? The California Board of Regents and the administration of UCI should think about that.
But given that UC Irvine is one of the most prominent participants in the anti-Israel hatefest every spring, and given the way Oren and other pro-Israel speakers have been treated at UCI over the years, Simon's criticism is more than well-deserved.
Israel Matzav: UC Irvine's free speech and anti-Semitism problems
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