Detailed American Economic Assn. Professional Climate Report

The American Economic Association (AEA) - the major professional association in the economics field - has been issuing "climate" reports, particularly after some revelations about sexual and other misbehavior in the field.

The latest report is largely a descriptive statistical compendium and doesn't contain a real "bottom line" conclusion. However, it was distributed today by email and the email contains the following wording:

{Click on image to enlarge.}

...(T)his extensive report includes statistical analyses, a review of open-ended survey questions, and some comparisons with the findings of other professional surveys. What remains evident is that many members of the economics profession have suffered harassment and discrimination during their careers, including both overt acts of abuse and more subtle forms of marginalization.

Full text of email/announcement available at https://www.aeaweb.org/news/member-announcements-sept-26-2019

The new report is at:
https://www.aeaweb.org/resources/member-docs/final-climate-survey-results-sept-2019

The chart above and table below suggest the descriptive flavor of the report.

{Click on image to enlarge.}

How do you feel about that? - Part 2

We now learn how the Bruin editorial board feels about the new campus climate phone app:*

UCLA’s approach to assessing campus climate seems to consist of little more than Venn diagrams and an iPhone X.

The Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion’s research and development branch, BruinX, recently finished beta testing a mobile app aimed at better gauging campus climate. The app, BruinXperience, will roll out in fall quarter and remind students to complete a survey every two weeks, so as to give frequent data to researchers.

The goal is ambitious and the intent admirable. But the app’s faulty design fails to take into consideration the students it will survey, and only further highlights how detached the administration has become from the campus community.

In order for any conclusions to be meaningful, the app will depend on regular engagement from a large number of students. But UCLA has done little to motivate participation beyond raffling off a new iPhone X.

Such lazy methods of engagement demonstrate how little administrators know about their students. UCLA professors and teaching assistants are barely able to persuade students to fill out just one end-of-the-quarter evaluation, sometimes even when they factor it into students’ grades. A slim chance at winning a new smartphone is unlikely to encourage regular participation from students.

Administrators have said the new app is not meant to replace any current structure for surveying campus climate, and act as a source for additional data the university can base decisions off.

But it doesn’t take an expert in statistics to recognize the glaring holes in their approach. By not controlling for the demographics of students who they actually gather data from and relying on voluntary participation, administrators could wind up with a pool of participants that isn’t representative of the campus as a whole.

For starters, the survey answers would suffer from volunteer bias, where answers would be skewed in a particular fashion given the subset of students who would bother to answer are either curious students or those in tune with the administration’s plans.

Moreover, the app stands to give little insightful data at all. Its current format involves answering merely two simple questions. The first one presents the user with six Venn diagrams to choose from to show how synced with the UCLA community they feel. The next question asks the user to explain their choice for the first question.

This approach to getting the campus’ pulse is laughable. Just asking students how much they feel part of the university community is unlikely to elicit useful information about campus climate, especially when asked in such a simplistic format. On top of that, it does little to probe into the discord the campus faces when controversial events take place, be they the inviting of alt-right speakers or divisive student government elections – events the administration should seek to understand through a data-driven approach, not through having students choose between low-quality blue and yellow pictures on an app.

There’s certainly potential if UCLA takes a more active approach in reaching out to a representative group of students on a regular basis and catering questions to their personal experiences.

But implementing an effective program would require administrators to realize students are more than just individuals who would mindlessly fill out a survey every two weeks for a chance to win an iPhone X. Rather, students are a complex population with varying experiences and viewpoints on the campus.

BruinXperience’s data would at least prove that much.

Source: http://dailybruin.com/2018/07/15/editorial-bruinxperience-app-represents-lazy-ineffective-attempt-to-connect-with-students/

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*Our earlier post on the app is at:
http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2018/07/how-do-you-feel-about-that.html

How do you feel about that?

From the Bruin: UCLA researchers will launch a new app that aims to better understand the campus climate, which includes a variety of factors that contribute to students’ experience at UCLA.

BruinX, the research and development branch of the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, finished beta testing their new app, BruinXperience, last month. UCLA undergraduate and graduate students can start using the app fall quarter.

The app will remind students every two weeks to complete a two-item survey which asks them to select a picture that best describes how they feel at that moment, then provides a text box for them to explain their choice.

Carli Straight, a research scientist for BruinX, said collecting survey responses more frequently will be advantageous because students can remember recent personal events more accurately.

Data can also be collected in closer proximity to specific events to observe how opinions change before and after the event.

She added that the app allows students to directly tell administrative officials about what affects their experience on campus.

“We not only ask students to report how they feel but why they feel the way they do, giving them the platform to tell us, in their own words, what affects them,” Straight said.

Lauren Ilano, a research analyst at Student Affairs Information and Research Office, said she thinks collecting data more frequently could help improve programs that use campus climate data.

“Having more campus climate data collected at closer intervals could potentially help departments make adjustments to their programming,” Ilano said. “Campus climate issues are extremely important and having more regular data is one way to assess initiatives in real time.”

Lena Nguyen, a rising second-year political science and pre-communication student, said she thinks BruinXperience will make the campus climate survey process more convenient for students.

“(Past campus climate surveys) just never came up,” Nguyen said. “But I would do it if I saw it online or on my phone because it’s faster.”

Straight also said that BruinXperience will not replace existing survey infrastructure, which includes traditional, more in-depth quarterly surveys.

“Information collected from both short-interval and annual surveys will contribute to a more complete understanding of students’ perceptions of campus climate,” she said.

Source: http://dailybruin.com/2018/07/08/app-issuing-biweekly-surveys-of-campus-climate-to-be-released-fall-quarter/

How do you feel?

Gauging how students feel on campus is often the job of annual campus climate surveys, but a research and development unit at the University of California, Los Angeles, wants to change that.

The unit, called BruinX and based in UCLA's office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, recently developed and beta tested an app that will send a notification to students' smartphones every two weeks to ask them what they're thinking, how they're feeling and what they're experiencing on campus. The questions are simple and students are provided with multiple-choice responses as well as an option to write in short answers.

Jonathan Feingold, a research fellow at BruinX, hopes the app will provide a more complete picture of UCLA's campus climate.

"A standard way that you measure climate is through surveys that go out maybe once every three years, four years, 18 years, depending on the unit or the institution. There’s benefit to those surveys … but they’re also flat in all sorts of ways," Feingold said. "They’re a single snapshot -- it’s one look and it doesn't really give you a granular sense of what might be going on over the course of a year."

The app, called BruinXperience, was years in the making. Its design is partly based on research that shows that people are more accurate when asked what they're feeling in the moment.

"If you ask people about diet, and you ask people to tell you, ‘What did you eat in the past week? Just go day by day,’ they’re likely to get it quite wrong," Feingold said. "But if you ask someone, ‘What did you eat in the last half hour?’ they’ll remember what they ate in the last half hour … It's really good to ask people how they are feeling now, as opposed to remember how they might have been feeling even in the relatively near past.”

After two beta tests to work out the technical kinks, the app is set to launch campuswide this fall. All undergraduate and graduate students are eligible to participate after downloading the app from Apple's App Store or Google Play. Registration requires a valid UCLA student ID, and students will be asked to provide demographic information, such as gender, race, sexual orientation and campus living arrangement. In addition to responding to survey prompts every two weeks, students can log in and submit information whenever they'd like.

The beta tests did not yield enough data to run any analysis, but BruinX plans to eventually use the data gathered to measure how identity influences students' feelings of community over the course of a year, and how those feelings change in conjunction with local, national and global events.

Maintaining a high response rate tops BruinX's list of priorities. To do so, they will use part of a recent grant from the Lumina Foundation to create marketing campaigns and incentive structures that will keep students responding. "Obviously there won’t be 100 percent participation, but still, [we hope] that for a sufficient number of students this becomes a part of their normal mode of operations and they just use it consistently," Feingold said.

Assuming a successful rollout in the fall, BruinX plans to expand the app to include UCLA faculty and staff.

Source: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/06/22/uclas-mobile-app-aims-replace-campus-climate-surveys

Just ask:

Clarity would be appreciated

Inside Higher Ed has a story today about one UC-related survey of students replacing another. 

The University of California system has redesigned its undergraduate experience survey, positioning the questionnaire as an alternative to the National Survey of Student Engagement. This spring, the Student Experience in the Research University survey, as the California survey is called, will be administered to the nine UC campuses that offer undergraduate programs, 14 other members of the Association of American Universities and 11 international institutions in Europe and Asia.

The survey focuses on five facets of undergraduate education: social skills development, personal development, academic skills development, civic engagement, and economic opportunity and security. Steven Brint, vice provost of undergraduate education at the University of California at Riverside and co-chair of the committee that redesigned the survey, said the SERU survey is "a better fit" for public research universities than the NSSE survey...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2016/01/22/research-university-alternative-nsse

Unfortunately, although you can poke around at the links in the story, no copy of the survey appears. Is it another campus climate survey but just for students? What are the costs entailed? Such things would be nice to know. 

Mysteries are fine but...

 

(Still) Waiting for Block

During the break, we noted that an issue of "campus climate" had arisen - this one involving a Facebook posting of blatant anti-Semitism by a student - but that the reaction from Murphy Hall had been muted.* Unlike a 2011 incident, where a student posted negative comments about "Asians in the Library" on YouTube and Chancellor Block had responded with his own YouTube video, there was nothing from the chancellor this time. At first, in connection to the latest incident, a response by email to selected persons was delegated to a vice chancellor. That pattern (delegation) seems to have been repeated thereafter. There apparently have been a couple of communications by others when inquiries have been raised about the Facebook incident.** But from Block there has been dead silence. We're still waiting. And we note that there is a Regents committee currently investigating such matters.
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*http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2015/12/waiting-for-block.html
**http://www.jewishjournal.com/los_angeles/article/free_speech_hate_speech_wheres_the_line_at_ucla

Waiting for Block

So far, waiting for Block has been like waiting for Godot

We earlier posted on a "campus climate" issue that occurred recently.* It appears to be a continuing matter, based on a submission posted yesterday in the Daily Bruin (see below).

Some blog readers may recall that back in 2011, when a student posted derogatory comments about "Asians in the library," Chancellor Block posted a YouTube personal reply. (See also below.) So far, nothing has been heard from the chancellor on the latest incident; he apparently delegated someone else to reply. (And that reply apparently went to a list of students as an email and has not been otherwise circulated in contrast to his 2011 YouTube video.)

The Bruin post: 

Submission: Bigoted Facebook posts are most recent examples of anti-Semitism at UC

By Arielle Mokhtarzadeh

December 26, 2015  Daily Bruin website

http://dailybruin.com/2015/12/26/submission-bigoted-facebook-posts-are-most-recent-examples-of-anti-semitism-at-uc/

On Dec.16, 2015, Vice Chancellor Janina Montero released an email in reference to anti-Semitic Facebook posts shared by a member of our community.

While I applaud Vice Chancellor Montero for condemning the hateful rhetoric, the email – without context or explanation – was inadequate.

Individuals at UCLA have long accused the Jewish community of having what they refer to as “Jewish privilege.” That email, without context, may be used to play into their twisted narrative. Moreover, many students were unaware of the incident before receiving the email, leaving them confused. Therefore, for the sake of transparency, I write this piece to share with the Bruin community the words that were so offensive they warranted such a response.

On Dec. 8, 2015, the administration was made aware that a student at UCLA, who also works at the UCLA Center for Prehospital Care, had made unapologetically anti-Semitic comments on a Facebook post by UCLA alumna Mayim Bialik about Zionism.

This individual employed traditional anti-Semitic rhetoric to attack the Jewish people, the Jewish state and the Jewish faith. These statements are rooted in nothing but hate, which is why they can and should be characterized as nothing other than blatant anti-Semitism.

She makes dehumanizing and stereotypical allegations about Jews and the power of the “Jewish collective,” saying, “You’re f—ing trolls, armchair politicians who do nothing but pick your nose, scratch your a– … you come into our communities and destroy our small businesses.” She then goes on to say, “You own the entertainment industry, and apparently you have so much power that you want to get me fired and sent back to the ditch I came from, don’t you? Flex your little muscles, do your worst … Where I come from, people like you, with your privilege and your wealth, are not welcomed because we know that with you comes the end of our world, sacrificed at the whims of your fancy.”

The student then attacks the Jewish state and the legitimacy of Jewish self-determination saying, “Go back to Israel, then f—ing Zionist pigs. You don’t belong here either, this land belongs to the indigenous people who were already here. Since you’re so superior, go murder some Palestinian children so you can have their parents arrested and move into their home. Greedy lifeless pieces of s— people. Capitalist colonizers who steal and kill from other races to promote your dead ideologies.”

To add pain to injury, she has the audacity to speak ill of the Jewish experience during the Holocaust. She says,“… Spare me your (H)olocaust stories. My people have been systematically enslaved and destroyed by this country, who removes them every time they become a nuisance to white people. No one is hauling your Jewish a– to a concentration camp today …”

She adds, “… go back to Poland or whatever freezer-state you’re from, and realize that faith does not constitute race,” completely denying the fact that Jews were almost always treated as second-class citizens in Europe, if they were treated as citizens at all.

Lastly, the student then savagely denies any and all diversity of the Jewish community saying, “If you’re a Jew, you’re white. Not black, not middle eastern, not Asian – white.”

And let’s not forget her final farewell, “Kiss my a– you Zionist bastards – I hope you all burn in hell on earth for the crimes committed by your people in the name of their Gods.”

In just a little over a year at UCLA I have interacted with remnants of anti-Semitism far too often. They come in the form of “conversations” about Israel, speeches about purported human rights, and eligibility for student leadership positions. It is the new normal and it is numbing.

But what sends chills down my spine is that in this instance, anti-Semitism has manifested itself into the most clear, evil form of rhetoric. It can no longer be absolved or manipulated by subjectivity. In this instance, anti-Semitism is indisputably right before our eyes.

Anti-Semitism is alive and well all over the world – least of all at a revered higher education institution like UCLA.

This incident is not unique, nor are the statements shared by the perpetrator new. Hateful rhetoric, discriminatory attitudes and bigoted sentiments against the Jewish community exist across the UC – it is a fact we can no longer afford to deny.

Am I appalled by this incident? Absolutely.

Am I surprised? Never.

This is the reality of being a Jewish student on a UC campus today.

Mokhtarzadeh is a second-year political science student and vice president of Bruins for Israel.

Below is the video made by Chancellor Block in 2011 in response to the "Asians in the library" video:

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*http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-chilly-ucla-campus-climate.html

The chilly UCLA campus climate

The UCLA "campus climate" seems to have gotten chilly, apart from the weather. From the Bruin:

A UCLA official criticized anti-Semitic comments made by a UCLA student on Facebook in an email statement sent to the student body Wednesday. Janina Montero, vice chancellor for student affairs, sent the email after a pro-Israel group on campus condemned an undergraduate student for a series of comments posted on the Facebook status of Jewish actress and UCLA alumna Mayim Bialik. UCLA spokesman Ricardo Vazquez said the vice chancellor’s decision to send out emails is made on a case-by-case basis, and Montero felt this incident rose to a level that warranted the email. In the comments, the student called Jewish people “troglodyte albino monsters of cultural destruction” and “capitalist colonizers.” The student did not respond to several requests for comment for this article. 

Vazquez said the university will not pursue disciplinary action because the First Amendment protects individual’s private speech. In the email statement, Montero urged students to treat others with compassion and to not stereotype other identities. “The hurtful and offensive comments displayed ignorance of the history and racial diversity of the Jewish people,” she said. “Bigotry against the Jewish people or other groups is abhorrent and does not represent the values of UCLA or the beliefs of our community.” Liat Menna, president of Students Supporting Israel at UCLA, the group that criticized the student’s comments, said she thinks Montero’s statement was inadequate because it did not address the issue of anti-Zionism. Zionism is the belief that Jewish people should have an independent state, such as Israel. “The demonization of Jewish students on campus is directly linked to the demonization of the Zionist identity,” she said. Vazquez said the university is working to prevent similar incidents through community collaboration initiatives, the Diversity Requirement and more accessible ways of reporting bias.

Source: http://dailybruin.com/2015/12/17/vice-chancellor-criticizes-students-anti-semitic-facebook-comments/

Not surprisingly, the incident has begun to circulate on the internet:

Recently, a student at UCLA who is also a UCLA employee posted a Zionophobic rant on Facebook. Lisa Mendez introduced herself to the public with a blatantly racist declaration in response to a post written by Miayim [sic] Bialik, a UCLA alumna and respected Hollywood actress. Mayim’s post was a declaration of Zionist pride and for Lisa this was an opportunity to attack:

"GTFOH with all your Zionist bullshit. Crazy ass fucking troglodyte albino monsters of cultural destruction. Fucking Jews. GTFOH with your whiny bullshit. Give the Palestinians back their land, go back to Poland or whatever freezer-state you're from, and realize that faith does not constitute race” (Mendez)

Lisa’s statements frightened and appalled many people. Her employment status as a healthcare administrator for UCLA Center for Prehospital Care (CPC), raised even bigger concerns. Many were outraged... 

Full story at http://www.jpost.com/Blogs/Students-Supporting-Israel-SSI-blog/Medical-Practices-Departing-from-Ethical-Behavior-437650 

The full student's Facebook post is at http://www.israellycool.com/2015/12/11/ucla-medical-center-says-antisemitism-is-a-okay/. 

A full copy of the Montero email was not available, however, after a search of the UCLA website and a more general Google search. It is unclear to whom the email was sent. This incident is likely to be raised at the Regents' committee that was formed two meetings ago to deal with anti-Semitism and intolerance.

UPDATE: More info on the Montero email is available at https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2015/12/21/ucla-condemns-anti-semitic-facebook-post

Putting the Accent on Ratings

Inside Higher Ed runs an article (about an article) concerning student ratings of Asian-named instructors:

Last month, a study documented the extent to which students use different sets of words (many of them with gender implications) to discuss their male and female professors. Now a new study looks at how students on Rate My Professors rate instructors who have Asian-sounding last names, and the results suggest that these instructors are getting significantly lower scores than those with other last names in Rate My Professors' categories of clarity and helpfulness...

Many [Asian-named instructors] have accents, [said the study's author]. But they are not actually difficult to understand if one makes a little effort. He said that he is concerned that simply having an accent is being viewed as negative. Students appear to be "pushing back against this extra labor of interacting with their instructor, to overcome this extra difficulty that they face with someone who doesn't share their background." He added that "this is a big problem for an institution that wants to be an international university." ...

Full article at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/03/02/study-finds-instructors-asian-last-names-receive-lower-scores-rate-my-professors

It would be interesting if, as part of some future "campus climate" study, someone took a look at this issue at UC campuses.

In the meantime, our advice to students:

How About a Time Out for Now?

We have suggested in prior blog posts that it may be time for the Regents and UC administration to create more separation between official UC and student government so that when offensive behaviors in the latter occur, the university is not held directly responsible by the external world.* Much of the problem of late has occurred in the context of various anti-Israel divestment resolutions and statements at the campus level at UC, including at UCLA. Now posters have appeared at UCLA (and apparently at other non-UC campuses) which the anti-Israel group finds offensive.** It's interesting that the most recent systemwide campus climate survey really didn't touch on this particular matter, but that fact is apparently consistent with more general findings at other universities.***

The temptation from the administrative perspective is to try to stay in the background and hope that the problem will pass. Unfortunately, when it comes to the Middle East, even when problems pass, they are more like painful kidney stones than permanent fixes - and new ones appear.  So while greater separation would be advisable in the longer term, in the interim UC and UCLA have a de facto involvement that at this late date can't be avoided. As a second best for now, therefore, UC officialdom might try and arrange a time-out on passing resolutions on world affairs. Such resolutions are not of day-to-day concern to most students, don't affect Regental investment policy, but do produce antipathy for the university at a time when public support is needed in the current conflict over tuition and budget proposals.
--
*http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2015/02/time-to-go-separate-ways.html [Links to various news sources through Feb. 18 are included in this reference.]
**http://dailybruin.com/2015/02/24/four-other-universities-report-offensive-posters-targeting-sjp/
***http://www.brandeiscenter.com/images/uploads/articleuploads/trinity-Anti-Semitism.pdf
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UPDATE: Chancellor Block emailed the statement below today. While it calls for mutual tolerance, it doesn't suggest a cooling-off period (time out) as suggested above.

To the Campus Community:

I have been troubled by recent incidents of bias on campuses across our nation. Sadly, UCLA is not immune to these occurrences.

At a recent Undergraduate Students Association Council meeting, a few council members unfairly questioned the fitness of a USAC Judicial Board applicant because of her Jewish identity. Another upsetting incident occurred last weekend when inflammatory posters on our campus implied that Students for Justice in Palestine was a terrorist organization.

We should all be glad that, ultimately, the judicial board applicant was unanimously confirmed for her position and that the posters were taken down by members of our community. We are pleased that the students who initially objected to the Jewish student’s appointment apologized, and we are reassured that the UCLA Police Department is vigorously investigating the matter of the posters.

Yet we should also be concerned that these incidents took place at all. No student should feel threatened that they would be unable to participate in a university activity because of their religion. And no student should be compared to a terrorist for holding a political opinion. These disturbing episodes are very different, but they both are rooted in stereotypes and assumptions.

Political debate can stir passionate disagreements. The views of others may make us uncomfortable. That may be unavoidable. But to assume that every member of a group can’t be impartial or is motivated by hatred is intellectually and morally unacceptable. When hurtful stereotypes — of any group — are wielded to delegitimize others, we are all debased.

A first-rate intellectual community must hold itself to higher standards.

Even in the heat of debate, we must cultivate the skill and sensitivity to express opinions without belittling others or losing sight of their humanity. Speech that stigmatizes or tries to intimidate individuals or targeted groups — even if it is constitutionally protected — does not promote the responsible debate essential for a healthy democracy. It is insufficient to reserve empathy only for those who look or act or think like we do. We must do better than that.

As Bruins, we need to be thinkers and leaders who can see one another without prejudice and can engage one another in a manner that goes beyond slogans and is above slurs.

While any incident of bias against any member of our campus community saddens us, and we understand that these incidents may occur again, we will always take appropriate action if the UCLA Principles of Community or any laws are violated. And we will do everything we can to support a healthy environment for everyone in our community. If you feel you have been subjected to an incident of bias or hate, resources are available.

UCLA will not be defined by intolerance. We will strive to create a community that will honor the dignity of all its members even if we struggle with one another’s ideas. We will strive to create a community in which all of us can fully take part in campus life and express our views and identities, safe from intimidation, threat or harm. Let us all work together to do the good work of creating that community.

Sincerely,

Gene D. Block
Chancellor

UPDATE: "...Conservative writer and activist David Horowitz admitted to orchestrating the (poster) incident."  From http://dailybruin.com/2015/02/26/editorial-communities-unified-response-to-offensive-posters-a-welcome-surprise/

Time to Go Separate Ways?

Some blog readers may recall the “Asians in the Library” episode at UCLA in 2011.  A UCLA student ranted about Asians in the library on a YouTube video – apparently to get attention as part of some venture on the Internet.  Chancellor Block then made a counter-video on YouTube, condemning the rant.* Of course, the student who did the rant-video – although enrolled at UCLA at the time – was not speaking in any official capacity for the university.  No one could hold the university officially responsible for her remarks.  But at that time, UC and UCLA officials seemed to feel responsible for everything that occurred in some relation to the university which could result in an unfortunate “campus climate” and could tarnish relations with the external world.

In an earlier post, we noted that matters that go on in student government – in contrast to the Asians in the Library rant – do have a formal connection to UCLA and UC. Student government is recognized as an official body representing all students. We suggested that rather than try to apologize for unfortunate events in student government that have occurred of late, mainly in the context of conflicts between anti-Israel and pro-Israel student politicians, it might be best to loosen the connection between student government and official UC and UCLA.**  It is the official status of student government that makes UC and UCLA in some sense formally responsible for what goes on there.  

At present, given its budgetary problems with the state and governor, UC needs friends in the political world and needs general public goodwill.  Folks in the legislature, for example, are currently contemplating steps to erode UC’s longstanding constitutional autonomy.*** Such erosion would be a Bad Thing. The student government events described below in the Daily Bruin seem unlikely to promote such needed external friendship; they suggests why UC/UCLA and student government need a greater degree of separation:

Last week, I attended a council meeting to support my roommate, sorority sister and best friend, Rachel Beyda, as she went through the last step of being confirmed by the council as an appointed justice to the Judicial Board of the Undergraduate Students Association Council. I greatly admire Rachel’s academic success and the passion and determination she has demonstrated toward her goal of becoming a lawyer. I have seen her accrue immense leadership skills and experience in the legal field, both at UCLA, as the current law clerk for the Judicial Board and beyond. Therefore, as I ascended the stairs to Kerckhoff 417, I incorrectly assumed the confirmation of Rachel’s appointment would be quick and simple. Rachel had been unanimously approved by the Appointments Review Committee consisting of three council members before she flawlessly introduced herself to the council. However, the first question directed at her by General Representative 3 Fabienne Roth was an attack on Rachel’s ability to be a justice based on her involvement in the Jewish community. At President Avinoam Baral’s insistence, the question was phrased slightly more considerately by Transfer Student Representative Negeen Sadeghi-Movahed, but this first question set the tone. Rachel finished the interview, making two important points: first, anyone qualified for the position would be a critical thinker who is knowledgeable about campus issues and therefore, has his or her own opinions and second, she has no significant political affiliations. Furthermore, she demonstrated an understanding of what actually having a conflict of interest means and acknowledged that a justice should remove herself from the decision-making process under those circumstances. Rachel was asked to leave the room for council discussion. What followed was a disgusting 40 minutes of what can only be described as unequivocal anti-Semitism during which some of our council members resorted to some of the oldest accusations against Jews, including divided loyalties and dishonesty…

Full story at http://dailybruin.com/2015/02/18/submission-usac-members-should-apologize-for-discriminatory-act/
 
Chancellor Block could make another YouTube response video about the event described above.  But in the end there is one key difference.  The Asians in the Library YouTube rant he condemned in his 2011 video response was not an official university activity.  Were he to make such a video response, or issue a similar statement today, about the issue described above, he could not say the same for student government.  In its current format, student government is not just another extracurricular activity, let alone something separate from the university.

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*http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2011/03/more-background-on-anti-asian-video.html and http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2011/03/background-on-anti-asian-video-posted.html.  The 2011 video by Block is currently at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6feGp0GQVJ8.  (It may have moved from its original YouTube address.)   

**http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2015/02/greater-separation-between-uc-and.html

***http://www.dailycal.org/2015/02/17/state-senators-propose-amendment-increase-state-legislative-control-uc/  
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UPDATE: The administration released a statement in the form of a letter to the editor:

I am always reluctant to comment on student processes to avoid even the appearance of influence. However, I want to applaud the Daily Bruin’s fair and principled editorial, “Objections to USAC Judicial Board appointment discriminatory,” published on Feb.12, that took to task the questioning of the qualifications of a candidate for the Undergraduate Students Association Council Judicial Board specifically based on her Jewish religious and personal identity. What would we do if a candidate was questioned because she or he was African American or undocumented, and issues related to diversity, immigration or affirmative action were expected to arise? I hope all Bruins recognize the need to rededicate ourselves to the work of embodying our True Bruin values and our commitment to the broader goal of sustaining a multiethnic democracy that respects the dignity of all its members. I believe our community is more generous, thoughtful and inclusive than this particular incident would suggest.

Janina Montero, vice chancellor for student affairs

Source: http://dailybruin.com/2015/02/17/letter-to-the-editor-bruins-must-remember-to-sustain-inclusive-diverse-student-government/

Greater Separation Between UC and Student Government May be the Answer

Sometimes it's best to stay on the sidelines.

Below – scroll way down! - are reproduced some recent news items related to the recent USAC Israel divestment vote and related items.  They raise an issue which so far the powers-that-be at UC have not been anxious or willing to confront.  Typically, when incidents arise, campus chancellors send out generalized calls for tolerance. (See the links below to various statements by Davis Chancellor Katehi below.) An endless string of such calls ultimately makes them vacuous and the problem persists.  Some outsiders seem to believe that more adult supervision is needed when student government actions lead to unfortunate consequences. But more such supervision won’t work for individuals of college age who already are young adults.  

It may be that in fact less supervision is needed in the form of reduced linkage between university administration and student government.  Rather than offer repeated pleas for tolerance, chancellors and other university administrators could simply point out that they have no special relation to what goes on in student government.

Student government is much like municipal government. Most students, like most voters in municipal elections, are not much involved.  Low turnouts and indifference are the norm.  Groups that can turn out supporters can easily dominate.  If there are consequences, the university involved is nonetheless blamed because student governments are officially linked to the university in a way that many other entities that connect to the university are not. Student governments are officially recognized as representing all students and receive financial support, typically from fees, as a result.  

The powers-that-be (at UC from the Regents on down) are held responsible by the outside world for student government activities because of the official recognition.  But as in the divestment vote example, they have no control over what goes on.  Nevertheless, student government leaders are invited to speak at Regents meetings, for example, presumably as representatives of all students’ opinions.  They differ in that regard from folks and groups that make statements at the public comment sessions at the Regents in which anyone can speak.

Student government mechanisms are involved in the choice of student regents.  It then becomes hard to say that what student governments and those involved in them do or say is not some kind of official university position.  Student government is different in that regard from other activities that occur on campus or near campus, whether political, religious, social, or other.

Yours truly has to confess that he has not thought through exactly how the greater degree of separation between student government and the official university might be accomplished. Perhaps some form of voluntary fee support?  He has, however, heard from some faculty who report feeling uncomfortable with the “campus climate” that has been created of late or who reported that they have students who have felt uncomfortable.  And he does know that positions taken by student government on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are seen differently externally - and even internally - from positions on foreign policy that might be taken by, say, campus Democratic or Republican groups.  With more separation, anyone could be free to vote for anything without the university’s officialdom taking responsibility.[1]

From the Daily Bruin:

Religious affiliations and ethnic identity should not and do not disqualify someone from being an effective judge. And yet, at Tuesday night’s Undergraduate Students Association Council meeting, that’s exactly what councilmembers were arguing. During the meeting, several councilmembers, including General Representative 3 Fabienne Roth, General Representative 1 Manjot Singh, Transfer Student Representative Negeen Sadeghi-Movahed and General Representative 2 Sofia Moreno Haq, raised concerns about the appointment of Rachel Beyda, a second-year economics student, to the USAC Judicial Board, UCLA student government’s highest judicial body. After much discussion and the intervention of administrators, Beyda was eventually unanimously appointed to the position – but not before several councilmembers managed to politicize her identity as a Jewish student on campus…
http://dailybruin.com/2015/02/12/editorial-objections-to-usac-judicial-board-appointment-discriminatory/
 
From the Sacramento Bee:
Comedienne Roseanne Barr jumped headlong this week into the tensions at UC Davis, tweeting that she hopes the Davis campus “gets nuked” after student senators overwhelmingly voted to seek UC divestment from Israeli-tied businesses and two Jewish student organizations suffered hate crimes last month. Barr, best known for her 1980s and 1990s sitcom “Roseanne,” defended Israel on Twitter and took aim at student efforts at Davis and Stanford to seek university divestment from companies tied to the Middle East country. Barr posted Tuesday night on Twitter, “I hope all the jews leave UC Davis & it then it gets nuked,” according to screenshots and retweets from other Twitter users, as well as The Electronic Intifada, a website that posts news on Palestine. Barr has since removed that tweet but retained a separate one with the hashtag “#nukeUCDavisJewHaters.” …

http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article9771911.html

 

From the UC-Davis Aggie:

On Jan. 29, ASUCD Senate Resolution No. 9 passed with an 8-2-2 vote. The resolution calls for the University of California Board of Regents to divest from “corporations that aid in the Israeli occupation of Palestine and illegal settlements in Palestinian territories.” ASUCD voted down a similar resolution this past May and in 2013. Following the vote at the Jan. 29 meeting, ASUCD senator Azka Fayyaz, elected in Winter 2014, posted a picture on her personal Facebook page which stated, “Hamas & Shariah law have taken over UC Davis. Brb crying over the resilience.” Hamas is a Palestinian Islamic group designated by the U.S. Department of State, and multiple other nations, as a terrorist organization. Fayyaz’s post was met with harsh criticism. As a result of of public backlash, Fayyaz uploaded the same photo again on Jan. 29  with a different caption stating, “If a movement is not controversial, if no one is mad, it’s not strong enough & it’s not worth the fight. Israel will fall Insha’Allah : ) #UCDDivest.” She has since disabled her Facebook account. In a public statement released Feb. 2 and published Feb. 3, Fayyaz stated that the reference in the first photo was a satirical caption. At the end of the statement, she extended an apology to her own community members for any difficulties she put them through and asked them to “stand with [her] during this time.” “Although I made a comment on the picture stating that the caption was satirical, the anti-divestment community conveniently left out the comment from the rest of the picture and took the caption out of context,” Fayyaz said in the public statement. While it is understandable — and even encouraged — for a political figure and an ASUCD senator to express her excitement over a bill she supports passing, the Editorial Board believes it is inappropriate and insensitive to make a post on a public area that marginalizes and offends certain groups. Although the posts were published on her personal Facebook profile, Facebook posts are a grey area, as ASUCD senators historically use Facebook politically to promote their campaigns, publicize events and release public statements. When ASUCD officials are sworn in, they agree to certain policies. One is the ASUCD Principles of Community, which state that members of ASUCD “strive to make decisions in an open and inclusive manner that respects, nurtures and reflects understanding of the needs and interests of all community members.” We believe Fayyaz has failed to uphold the ASUCD Principles of Community with her public statement and Facebook posts. These posts did not reflect the needs of a broad range of student groups and community members on our campus. In addition to these online statements, Fayyaz has spoken publicly in a manner that we feel does not align with the Principles of Community. At the Jan. 29 meeting after senate conducted a roll call vote to see where senators stood on the issue of passing the resolution, Fayyaz made an extreme statement about the definition of Zionism. “You can’t have coexistence with Zionists. Their purpose of Zionism is discrimination, elimination and ethnic cleansing of a group of people,” Fayyaz said at the meeting. “So if you want to talk about coexistence, I’m not talking with you because you’re going to try to kill me. I’m Muslim.” …
http://www.theaggie.org/2015/02/10/editorial-board-reflects-on-actions-of-asucd-senator-azka-fayyaz/
 
From the Daily Bruin:
Hate speech reared its ugly head again on a University of California campus during divestment debates, in what has become a sad and predictable pattern. On Jan. 31, red swastikas were found spray painted on the exterior walls and grounds of the UC Davis branch of the Jewish fraternity Alpha Epsilon Pi. This despicable act occurred a few days after the Associated Students of UC Davis voted to advise the university to divest from “corporations that aid in the Israeli occupation of Palestine and illegal settlements in Palestinian territories.” Similar resolutions have been passed by the undergraduate student governments of a number of UC schools including UC Berkeley, UC San Diego and UCLA, sparking protests and counter-protests across the state…

http://dailybruin.com/2015/02/05/editorial-hate-crime-at-uc-davis-detracts-from-constructive-campus-dialogue/

From the Sacramento Bee:
…The UC Davis vote and two hate crimes against Jewish organizations in Davis have drawn national interest in recent weeks from organizations on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian divide, as well as people on social media. Comedienne Roseanne Barr this week defended Israel through a series of inflammatory tweets, including one that said she hopes the Davis campus “gets nuked” and another that simply had the hashtag “#nukeUCDavisJewHaters.” Opponents of divestment argue that the UC student movement unfairly singles out Israeli and Jewish students. Though student groups and Jewish organizations at UC Davis have downplayed connections between the divestment vote and two hate crimes, the incidents at Jewish organizations serve as reminders that anti-Semitism remains, they said. Barry Broad, board president at the Jewish Federation of the Sacramento Region, described the current climate at UC schools as “deeply troubling.” …

From: http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/education/article9936056.html

Statements by Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi:

On the Davis swastika incident: http://chancellor.ucdavis.edu/messages/2015/statement013115.html

On the divestment vote (which was accompanied by a second divestment vote that included the U.S. as a divestment target):

http://chancellor.ucdavis.edu/messages/2015/ASUCD_divestment.html

Against generalized intolerance: http://chancellor.ucdavis.edu/messages/2015/united.html

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[1] Note: I am not saying that there wouldn't be extreme situations in which university officials might be forced to comment and step in. The incident described below would certainly warrant an official reaction.

From Inside Higher Ed:

Students Urge South African University to Expel Jews

February 12, 2015

The student government of the Durban University of Technology, in South Africa, has called on the institution to expel Jewish students, although some quotes from student leaders suggest that Jewish students who support the Palestinian cause could remain, The Daily News reported. Mqondisi Duma, secretary of the student government, said, "We had a meeting and analyzed international politics. We took the decision that Jewish students, especially those who do not support the Palestinian struggle, should deregister.” A statement from Ahmed C. Bawa, vice chancellor of the university, denounced the student government's request. He called the request "outrageous, preposterous and a deep violation of our National Constitution and every human rights principle."
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2015/02/12/students-urge-south-african-university-expel-jews