ADL Considering Action
For U-M 'Insensitivity'
RICHARD PEARL
Staff Writer
T
he Michigan director of the
Anti-Defamation League of
B'nai B'rith said his office is
looking into taking action against the
University of Michigan over its seem-
ing lack of interest in handling anti-
Semitism on the Ann Arbor campus.
"We express deep and grave con-
cern at the insensitivity and passivi-
ty of the U-M administration in ad-
dressing these concerns," said
Richard Lobenthal, Michigan ADL
director.
"The fact is, the climate for Jews
at U-M is horrendous?' he said Mon-
day in the wake of the ADL's annual
national audit of anti-Semitic in-
cidents in the United States.
The audit showed such incidents
in 1988 reached their highest levels
nationally in more than five years,
with the state of Michigan also reflec-
ting an increase, though not as great
as the national.
Lobenthal said three areas con-
tributed to Michigan's 16 reported
anti-Semitic incidents, an increase of
two over 1987 — the intifada in the
West Bank and Gaza, the neo-Nazi
skinheads movement that surfaced
around Kristallnacht and an increase
in the number of anti-Semitic acts on
campus.
The U-M campus in Ann Arbor is
the worst for these incidents, he said,
citing the Michigan Daily campus stu-
dent newspaper, the writing of
obscenities, telephone harrassment
and an increase in JAP (Jewish
American Princess) cartoons and
"JAP-Buster" T-shirts, some of them
sold in campus stores.
The Michigan Daily "has a
deliberate, conscious policy to attack
Israel," said Lobenthal. "It supports
the 'Zionism is racism' United Na-
tions resolution and it editorializes
against Israel constantly."
He cited the Jan. 23 edition, with
the paper's two editorials attacking
Israel for helping Ethiopian Jews and
for its handling of the intifada and the
Op-Ed page criticizing a local right-
wing Jewish organization.
Regarding the Ethiopians, Loben-
thal quoted the paper as stating, "The
mass immigration of Ethiopian Jews
to Israel at this juncture (on the basis
of the Law of Return) is but a ruse
disguised as humanitarianism to pro-
vide more occupiers of Palestinian
land."
"They (the editorial staff) are ig-
noring the fact the Ethiopian govern-
ment has been anti-Semitic for years,"
said Lobenthal.
The other editorial attacked the
Israelis for the deaths of 350 Arabs
"but they don't talk about (mass kill-
ings by) Khomeini in Iran or by the
Shiites or the Lebanese killings,"
Lobenthal said.
Tagar, the conservative U-M cam-
pus Jewish student group and object
of the Op-Ed item, sought to protest
the recent Palestinian bombing of an
Israeli bus by placing its own bus on
the campus Diag with a sign, "Stop
Arab Terrorism." The university ad-
ministration ordered the bus remov-
ed when Arab student groups charg-
ed "racism" and told Tagar members
they should take a course in racism
from Arabs, said Lobenthal.
"But when a swastika appeared
on an Arab booth at the Diag, they
(the Arabs) didn't take it down for 10
hours. Whether it was put up by
pranksters or someone wanting to
embarrass the Arabs and create an
incident, the fact remains it was left
up for 10 hours and the university did
little about it. That's unconscionable?'
said Lobenthal.
"One of the definitions of 'pre-
judice' is 'differential treatment' and
the university is giving it to the Jews
there. It's a place of growing concern
because the administration is not
nearly as forthright in condemning
anti-Semitism as it is in condemning
other prejudices. I'm charging them
(U-M) with insensitivity," said
Lobenthal.
He said he didn't oppose the fact
university policy "is trying to stamp
out sexism and racism, which is com-
mendable." But there is a "cross-over
going on, from anti-Israel political ac-
tivities to anti-Jewish prejudicial ac-
tivities," he said. "The university has
not been vigorous in protecting Jews
from harassment?'
Lobenthal cited a U-M case in
which a professor who was honored by
the university with its Distinguished
Faculty award was involved in a con-
troversy with a Jewish student. When
the student walked out of the pro-
fessor's class because he felt the pro-
fessor was attacking Jews, the pro-
fessor allegedly responded with,
"You're a crazy, outside agitator,"
Lobenthal reported.
"It's not that a person doesn't
have the right" to say what they
want, said Lobenthal, "but they don't
have to get honors for it. I guarantee
you, if a faculty member had said
anything racist or sexist, the U-M ad-
ministration would have seriously
questioned honoring that person."
Lobenthal said about 50 anti-
Semitic incidents were reported in
Michigan in 1988, but many were
multiple incidents — such as
swastikas on several mailboxes in the
Tagar's protest bus was ordered removed by U-M officials after Arabs claimed "racism."
same neighborhood — which his office
counted in groups. He broke this down
to 16 cases of anti-Semitic vandalism
and another 10 being harassment,
with other cases not fitting into
predetermined categories.
He said there is a new Michigan
law that changes acts of vandalism
from misdemeanors to felonies when
they are done in reference to religion,
race or nationality. The question, said
Lobenthal, is how seriously the police
will take the new law.
The law, signed Dec. 20 by Gov.
James Blanchard, takes effect March
20.
- "It gives the victim the chance to
recover three times the damages plus
attorney fees, and it gives police the
power to prosecute because the act is
now a felony," said Lobenthal of the
ADL-sponsored legislation. He said
31 states now have some form of the
ADL recommended law.
According to the national audit,
there was an increase of 18.5 percent
in anti-Jewish vandalism, including
arson, bombings and swastika pain-
ting, and a 41 percent increase in
harassment, threats and assaults
against Jews, Jewish institutions or
property as compared to 1987 figures.
Michigan and Ohio tied for 12th
in reported incidents, with New York
first with 208. Illinois ranked eighth
with 29.
In a 10-year, state-by-state com-
posite (1979-88), Michigan ranked
10th with 237 anti-Semitic incidents.
New York was first with 2,951,
California second with 1,223 and Il-
linois ninth with 321. Ohio, with 171
incidents, ranked 12th behind
Georgia (177).
Cohn Lecture Series
Focuses On Talmudic Law
The Irwin I. Cohn Memorial Lec-
tures in Talmudic law will continue
Wednesday at the Jewish Federation
Building, 163 Madison, at 12:30 p.m.
Featured lecturer will be Prof. Rod
Glogower, University of Michigan, on
the topic of "Looking Out For
Number One, Duties and Rights of
American and Jewish Law?'
Prof. Glogower is adjunct pro-
fessor of Judaic studies at the Univer-
sity of Michigan and rabbinic consul-
tant to the Michigan B'nai B'rith
Hillel Foundation. He attended the
Hebrew Theological College of
Skokie, Ill., and was ordained at the
Midrasha of Machon Harry Fishel in
Jerusalem. He received a bachelor's
degree from Loyola University and
master's degree from Brandeis and
Yeshiva Universities. He is currently
a doctoral candidate at Brandeis
University.
Future lectures in the series will
feature Prof. Immanuel Schochet,
Humber College, Toronto, Ont., to
speak on "Morality and Immorality
in Practice and Law" in May, Dr.
Yakov Brauer, professor of neuro-
endocrinology, McGill University,
Montreal, Canada, peaking on "Reali-
ty in Its Shadow, Deciphering Mate-
rial Existence" in July, and national-
ly renowed attorney, Nathan Lewin,
to lecture on "The Supreme Court on
Jewish Issues" in September.
All lectures are free of charge, and
lunch is provided. For information
and reservations, contact Herschel
Finman, 737-7000.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
41