UC Irvine: Jewish Students and Community Members March in Commemoration of the Victims of Shoah

 On Monday, several Jewish students, members of Jewish campus clubs, and community members gathered on the UC Irvine campus and held a silent march around the Aldrich Park section of the campus to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust (Shoah). The event was sponsored by the UCI chapter of Hillel, AEPi (Jewish fraternity), and Chabad at UCI. They brought posters of Israeli hostages being held by Hamas, and several Israeli and American flags were also present. At one point, part of the crowd proceeded on a silent march while others remained by the flagpoles to answer questions from interested students.

At the start of the event, the community members were asked not to engage with the pro-Palestinian protesters who had set up an encampment on the campus. The marching route was around Aldrich Park, which circles the campus inside Ring Rd, the main campus artery that also circles the campus. The encampment is set up on Ring Road. Participants were given a sheet produced by the students and the above-mentioned groups with “guidelines” they asked the community members to follow.

I myself chose to march with a couple of dozen others. We passed near the encampment but not close enough to result in any engagement. One of our group did choose to go to the encampment and stand silently with a small Israeli flag. There was a police presence at the encampment as well as police cars parked on the grass nearby where we passed. One officer followed us on foot. As we passed police checkpoints, I could hear them talking on the radio and reporting our progress. There were no incidents.

After the march and back at the flagpoles, there was considerable discussion among the participants. I had a chance to engage with a couple of students. There were some disagreements between the students and community members as to what role the community should play. Much of the disagreement circles around students feeling they are more knowledgeable about the problem since they are dealing with it on campus. Some community members, like myself, pointed out that we had been dealing with the UCI problems for 15-20 years and did have a perspective. There was definitely a concern among some students, and certainly, Hillel that community members would get involved in back and forth with the pro-Palestinians and that an incident might occur that would impact their status on campus. They were particularly concerned about a repeat of what happened at UCLA in the past week. It should be pointed out that the campus groups, in fact, asked the community to come to campus and participate in their event. One student expressed to me that the community was invited because they (Jewish students) are frustrated with the lack of any effective response from the administration of UCI. As it was, no community members violated the “guidelines”. I  pointed out to a student that the university’s own guidelines permitted more involvement in these public events (as long as they were not disruptive.) One community member (who has been very active in UCI matters over the years) expressed to me that he felt it was a waste of time. In addition, one Jewish professor told me that earlier in the protest, some protesters had come chanting into his classroom building and that it was very unnerving to the Jewish students. 

My feelings are mixed. On the one hand, I am happy that Jewish students and community members showed their presence on campus and did so in a dignified manner, quite in contrast to the methods of the pro-Hamas crowd with their loud and intimidating tactics. I can well understand why they don’t want community members to come to campus and engage in violent or disruptive tactics. The fact is, however, that we have a very good track record at UCI in not embarrassing our cause while exercising our own rights under the First Amendment. Nobody present yesterday had any intention to repeat what happened at UCLA. I do feel, however, that a more militant approach has to be taken with the university. Jewish faculty and groups like Hillel should be pounding on the desk of the UCI Chancellor, Howard Gillman. I have long felt that Hillel has been much too timid at UCI in this respect. There should be more pressure on UCI in terms of its donors and as to prospective Jewish students turning elsewhere for their education. I have stated this many times.

There was an Israeli speaking event later in the day at 3 pm, and some expected a disruption. I was not able to stay for that.

 Below is a copy of the “guidelines”. I also took a few photos and videos. I’m still working on an additional video. (Don’t expect anything you’ll see on the 6 o’clock news.)