The main trouble maker appears to be a Ms. Roth, which generally is considered a Jewish name? I wonder if this is more of a fight over power than a fight over religious views? There’s no nastier business than that of politics.
Roth is also a common German Catholic name, and please stop making this about politics.
It is about politics, since the student government is filled with student politicians, and racism is a (disgusting, but not exactly rare) form of politics.
To add to the irony of Fabienne Roth’s disgusting actions, she’s an international student from Switzerland according to this article:
http://news.yahoo.com/budget-standoff-leaves-uc-applications-limbo-191519710.html
How is it that fraternities get officially sanctioned for parties w themes in poor taste. But student bodies with a serious and highly visable leadership role get no rebuke at all?
Interesting that they folded like a cheap suit when the faculty advisor intervened.
or some other religion?
My son has been working on a two year research project on the topic of modern-day anti-Semitism and he mentioned this as part of the section on anti-Semitic behavior among younger people. We are not Jewish, so he was not personally aware of the breadth and depth of the problem until this project. It is unbelievably heartbreaking to see the statistics from reputable governmental and international organizations in black and white. It is substantially more common than discrimination against any other group in the world. I’m glad this small incident was not allowed to stand.
I do find the rise of anti-Semitism very troubling. It is much more on the rise in Europe than here, so I am not that surprised to see that there is an International student involved.
I’m glad that faculty stepped in and I hope this becomes a teachable moment for the students.
There is a link to the video on this website http://www.campusreform.org/?ID=6324
Small nit: Jewish IS historically and to many contemporaries considered a race as well as a religion.
As someone who is Jewish by heritage and not religion a Jew, I can honestly say that it’s treated as a race by many, many people, Jew and non Jew alike.
This behavior is deplorable, and they should be disciplined. Other are correct, had she been Black there wouldve been a huge uproar. Wrong is wrong, you cant discriminate in that manner.
The four students claimed they were questioning her biases. What they were really doing is trying to keep off the board someone who might disagree with them. ( There is a lot of student ‘government’ push for divestment from Israeli companies. ) Another chapter in the political correctness movement.
This isn’t the first example of anti-Semitism recently at UC schools either. Recently a UC Davis Jewish fraternity had swastikas spray painted on its house.
Note that they never apologized for voting deliberately to deny the candidate the position because she is Jewish. Just some weasel-worded apology for their choice of words.
I’m pleased to see only one person, Vladenschlutte, has posted a comment that truly reflects a lack of understanding. I’d ask this person - can I block someone’s posts - to state his or her religion and nationality and race and to ask if a person said something like, “You’re a Catholic and you belong to a Catholic youth organization and go to Church, so we wonder if you can be fair.” Or “You’re African-American and you belong to the African-American Student Union, so we wonder if you can be fair.” Or “You’re Japanese-American and you belong to the Asian Students Association so we wonder if you can be fair.” And then reflect on what you said.
While such questions are rightly considered offensive, I suspect that such questions are in the back of many people’s minds in political and judicial environments. For example, in court cases where the opposing parties (plaintiff/respondent or accused/victim) are of different races or ethnicities, it would not be surprising if their lawyers were probably thinking how to tip the jury selection in their side’s favor, including trying to racially load the jury to be the same race or ethnicity as their side (without speaking directly into this line of thinking).
Sadly, I don’t know why this kind of behavior is surprising. The number of Muslims throughout the world that would be thrilled with Israel’s destruction, and the rhetoric supporting the annihilation of Israel has gone on for many decades. The hatred and anti-Semitism seems to be a permanent way of thinking. It is no surprise that some of this hatred has crossed over to the US. I guess what is startling is that the students actually thought they could get away with this kind of behavior. Perhaps they thought they had plenty of supporters.
Everything about this incident is so depressing. That it’s UCLA, one of our great (and diverse) public universities. That it’s about ignorance and prejudice. That it’s about anti-Semitism (again…) That it’s about refusing to take responsibility (that lame apology)… that it’s about covering up (removal of links)… It’s all so shameful.
It would be very surprising indeed given that striking jurors on the basis of race is illegal, immoral and reportable to the state bar as a disciplinary violation. Also, a successful Batson challenge on appeal could result in a conviction being overturned and can ruin a lawyer’s professional reputation. So, actually, it would be surprising.
I would have thought questions like this were moot ever since Kennedy ran for President more than 55 years ago and faced down fears the Church would set policy saying
Sad day, indeed, at UCLA.