‘Censorship is not the way of the People of the Book’
The University of California is a vast, sprawling slice of academia — as of last year, it included more than 230,000 students on 10 campuses. Unfortunately, a handful of incidents on a few of its campuses have garnered the UC system a bad reputation among many Jews.
Enter University of California President Mark Yudof. As a respected legal scholar, a Jew and a leader of an enormous and prominent academic institution, he’s dealing well with the difficult hand he has been dealt.
Yudof made news recently by openly supporting dialogue on campus, especially when it comes to Israel. This is no small feat in the UC system, where the most recent events to turn Jewish heads have included:
- “Terrorists” being written on an Israeli flag at the UC Riverside Hillel
- A group of Israeli soldiers being interrupted by a people at UC Davis shouting comparisons of the speakers to rapists and murderers
- And a recent talk at UC Berkeley by the notoriously anti-Semitic Minister Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam.
(We highly recommend the Daily Californian’s editorial on Farrakhan’s visit.)
Jews are not the only group who have been attacked through hate speech at the University of California. In a March 8 statement to the UC community, Yudof wrote that African Americans at UC San Diego were “vilified by words and images that mocked their heritage” and “who felt threatened by the hanging of a noose.” Citing another incident, he said, “derogatory and profane words were spray-painted across the entrance to the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Resource Center at UC Davis.”
Regarding one incident, Yudof wrote: “Attempting to shout down speakers is not protected speech. It is an action meant to deny others their right to free speech.”
In a perfect world, students would let their detractors speak on campus, rather than shouting them down or circulating petitions, as we have seen in the UC system.
Luckily, there’s Yudof. If he were merely acting to protect groups with whom he agrees, that would be one thing. But he has applied the same principles to speakers with messages he finds deplorable. Even though he is a “strong defender of Israel,” he did not stop Farrakhan from speaking at Berkeley. Though a petition to stop Farrakhan from speaking was circulated, Yudof wrote: “As for incendiary speakers, we cannot as a society allow what we regard as vile speech to lead us to abandon the cherished value of free speech. But the same Constitution that permits some public figures to engage in hateful commentary also protects my right and duty — and your right and duty — to condemn these merchants of hatred when they come into our community.”
He also did not stop UC Berkeley and UC San Diego student senators from calling for BDS (the movement to boycott, divest from and sanction Israel), though he did state in May 2010 that the UC Board of Regents would refuse to consider the proposal.
In fact, Yudof and other university presidents are strong supporters of Israel for encouraging open dialogue, not shutting it down.
“Censorship is not the way of the People of the Book,” Yudoff told the Anti-Defamation League last year.
Yudof is in good company – the Jewish presidents of Columbia, Brandeis, and Rice University have all made strong statements in support of robust and open campus discussions. The presidents of Columbia, Barnard and Yale also quickly came to the defense of the Muslim Student Association groups that have been targets of the NYPD’s highly questionable spying programs.
And as we did when we first learned about the NYPD’s un-American activities, we continue to applaud these presidents for guaranteeing an environment for academic discourse.
In a political climate that makes it nearly impossible for all of Israel’s critics and supporters to sit down and talk, Jewish leaders in academia often get it right when it comes to free speech. Students have an inalienable right to speak their mind on any issue, and that includes Israel.
Some students in the UC system simlpy haven’t gotten that memo. Shouting others down is not freedom of speech. It’s limiting other people’s speech.
The shouting match we see on California campuses mirrors the stalled political discourse on Israel. And it’s never a good sign when the next leaders of the free world show as little progress on dialogue as their parents’ generation.
It’s good, then, that grown-ups like Yudof are acting their age.
New Voices editorials reflect the opinion of the New Voices Editorial Board.
