New Low for UCSB

Last Sunday, June 16, 2024, I had the privilege of attending my daughter’s graduation from UC Santa Barbara. While proud for her accomplishments, the ceremony itself reached a low well beneath the stature of a publicly supported university.

For background, it’s relevant to note that I graduated with a BA in Philosophy from this same UC campus some 47 years ago. While the Vietnam war and associated protests were at the forefront of political controversy back then, there were no demonstrations on campus, nor did discussions on that topic dominate any of my in-class time.

While I’ve not had reason to attend classes at a university for many years, one need only read the news to know that views over the conflict between Israel and Hamas are visible — if not dominant — topics on many college campuses today. pro-Palestinian voices are the loudest, and their acts of violence the most visible.

While I wouldn’t expect the effort, there is no way Prof. Hale can effectively distance himself from the words or actions of Gaye Theresa Johnson last Sunday — her pro-Palestinian views are well known and well-published. In short, her invitation to speak was essentially his, if not UCSB’s, stamp of approval of an anti-Israel and anti-Jewish stance. To see and hear Gaye Theresa Johnson’s words at my daughter’s graduation ceremony tarnished the event and made me ashamed of the institution that I not only graduated from, but which I have, for many, many years, supported financially.

I am but one person, but most likely every Jewish son or daughter graduating from UCSB that day felt disenfranchised from and by the institution, as did the parents, siblings and grandparents of those young graduates in the audience. I can only say shame on Dean Hale for bowing to the sympathies-of-the-day and, through his decision, choosing to fuel a pro-Palestinian, anti-Israeli and anti-Jew perspective that harbors no room for dialogue nor coexistence. In my opinion, Dean Hale’s choice of speaker showed him to be unworthy of his position. Indeed, he failed to demonstrate the courage to truly lead, opting instead for popularity by choosing a proxy who, in his stead, demonized Israel for defending itself and, by extension, Jews and others who support the existence of the Jewish state.