US Civil Rights Commission Investigating California Campus Anti-Semitism

Today's Los Angeles times reports that the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is for the first time conducting an investigation of anti-Semitism on a college campus. It is focusing on the University of California Irvine. Renewed concerns have arisen on campus as the school's Muslim Student Union has scheduled a program for next week titled "Holocaust in the Holy Land". Jewish leaders are not asking university officials to cancel the program, but do want them to condemn the use of the term "Holocaust" in its title. Chancellor Michael V. Drake issued a more generic statement on Tuesday, merely calling on students "to show appreciation for one another, for people of diverse opinions, backgrounds and cultures and for ideas that may be different from their own." Last month, the U.S. Civil Rights Commission made a number of recommendations to counter campus anti-Semitism. (See prior posting.)