SO-CALLED REPRESENTATIVE AT UC IRVINE

Stella Paul at The American Thinker writes about Mark Yudof, the UC president, who's refused to help Jews on campus who were assaulted by anti-semitic thugs, and is now facing a lawsuit:

Since we live in a craven age, let's salute our few heroes. Meet Jessica Felber, a 21-year-old Lioness of Judah, who's suing the University of California for failing to protect her civil rights.

Felber is a student activist at Berkeley who simply asserts her right to stand on campus and hold a sign saying, "Israel Wants Peace," without subsequently needing urgent medical attention. What Jew can count on that right on a UC campus these days?

In March 2010, Felber was violently assaulted by Husam Zakharia, the leader of Students for Justice in Palestine, as she peacefully held her sign at a pro-Israel event. UC authorities "were fully aware that Zakharia, the SJP and similar student groups had been involved in other incidents on campus to incite violence against and intimidate Jewish and other students," says her renowned lawyer, Neal Sher. Nevertheless, "[d]efendants took no reasonable steps to protect Ms. Felber and others."

Felber names UC President Mark Yudof in her lawsuit and therein lies a tale. Yudof took office in 2008 amidst a blaze of schmaltzy headlines like, "New University President Keeps Kosher, Loves Israel." Yudof boasted about his wife, Judy, the first woman to serve as international president of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, and proclaimed, "I am a very strong advocate of Israel."

Well, if you say so, sir. If by "very strong advocate of Israel," you mean using your powers as UC President to ignore 63 faculty members who wrote you, "We, faculty at the University of California-Irvine, are deeply disturbed about activities on campus that foment hatred against Jews and Israelis... Some community members, students, and faculty indeed feel intimidated, and at times even unsafe."

Or maybe your "strong advocacy" includes empowering lunatic anti-Semitic professors that ride herd over whole departments, corrupt academic integrity, and punish students who disagree with their "Israel is a Nazi state" harangues.

Tammi Rossman-Benjamin, a lecturer at UC Santa Cruz, has filed suit against UC, claiming that the Santa Cruz campus constitutes a hostile environment for Jews. Benjamin maintains that university-sponsored, faculty-generated events have "crossed the line from anti-Israel to anti-Semitic." Federal authorities are now investigating whether Santa Cruz's treatment of Jews violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.

This is "strong advocacy," Mr. Yudof? What does complete abdication of responsibility look like?

Here's the unsettling question that now bedevils us: how did a self-proclaimed committed Jew and lover of Israel find himself at the business end of two lawsuits accusing him of anti-Semitism?

Just lucky, I guess.

I find his credentials as a Conservative Judaist questionable too. He clearly isn't very honest, and does not deserve his position as a university bigwig. If he ends up having to pay a hefty sum, it'll be richly deserved.