Opinion

A MIX OF IDEAS

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Editorial

Dry g
- ones

When Campus Hate Boils Over

I

n the midst of heightened tension for
Jewish students on American cam-
puses of higher education, an alliance
of Jewish groups has asked the U.S. secre-
tary of education to review a policy that
appears to preclude addressing discrimi-
nation complaints on the basis of religion.
The coalition wants the U.S. Department
of Education to preside over complaints
of top-tier campus anti-Semitism, like it
did under Kenneth Marcus' tenure as head
of the department's Office for Civil Rights
from 2003 to 2004.
We hope Secretary Arne Duncan heeds
the request, made via a March 16 letter.
Continuing instances of aggressive
anti-Israel activism by the Muslim stu-
dent group at the University of California,
Irvine, including allegations that Jewish
students have been verbally and physi-
cally harassed, prompted the Zionist
Organization of America in 2004 to claim
that the U-C Irvine administration was
tolerating a hostile environment for Jewish
students on campus. While the highest-
profile campus under scrutiny, U-C Irvine
is not the only school generating religious
discrimination cases that the Office for
Civil Rights should be hearing.
We understand the fine line between
anti-Israel and anti-Zionist sentiment pro-
tected by freedom of speech and the anti-

Semitic harassment hurled at students
only because they are Jewish. We also
understand the increasing chance of anti-
Semitism becoming virulent through what
the alliance letter defines as "conduct that
threatens, harasses or intimates particular
Jewish students to the point that their
ability to participate in and benefit from
their college experience is impaired:'
The letter argues that the Office for Civil
Rights indeed is empowered to look into
allegations of discrimination grounded in
race or national origin. It argues that the
office is treating campus anti-Semitism
solely as a manifestation of religious
bias, over which the U.S. Department of
Education lacks jurisdiction, according to
the Forward.
Perceptively, the letter further acknowl-
edges that "much vehemently anti-Israel
and anti-Semitic speech can — and
should — be protected First Amendment
activity" and that "there is a high bar
before any speech or conduct can amount
to legally actionable harassment."
Students should never fear for their
safety just because they are Jewish. We
understand that can be subjective, but
please: At least give the Office for Civil
Rights the right to hear these complaints!
Like Richard Foltin, the American
Jewish Committee's director of national

WHAT IS THE
DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN A DEADLY
TARGETED BOMBING
IN AFGHANISTAN
WITH COLLATERAL
CIVILIAN DAMAGE

and legislative affairs,
told the Forward,
Jewish students
"should have some
recourse and some
remedy if they're sub-
ject to intimidation
or harassment on the
basis of their identity
of being Jewish. We
want to make sure
that the resources of
our national institu-
tions, our federal gov-
ernment, are in place
for those students
when they're needed."
Other letter signa-
tories reinforced the
range of ideological
support for, and merit
of, the cause. They
include the American
Jewish Congress, the Anti-Defamation
League, Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish
Campus Life, the Jewish Council for Public
Affairs, the Religious Action Center of
Reform Judaism and the Orthodox Union.
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act bars fed-
eral funding of institutions that discrimi-
nate on the basis of race, color or national
origin. The Office for Civil Rights appar-

SIMPLE
QUESTION

AND THE TARGETED
EXECUTION OF A
KNOWN HAMAS
KILLER IN DUBAI ?

DryBonesBlog.com

ently

interprets that statute to exclude
incidents of religious discrimination,
including anti-Semitism.
Plainly, Jewish students don't have
recourse through the Civil Rights Act if
they are discriminated against because of
their faith. So support through the Office
for Civil Rights becomes a necessary and
critical relief valve.

❑

Reality Check

Who Needs Talent?

E

very so often I abandon my
monkish existence — por-
ing over obscure volumes of
Kaballah and Popular Mechanics — and
emerge into the culture of the times.
What I see leads me to scurry back to
my lonely cell.
There is this woman named Kate
Gosselin, who is frequently described
as a star of reality TV. This would seem
to be a contradiction in terms, since the
whole point, as I see it, of these shows is
to demonstrate that no star qualities are
needed to become a star.
This is a woman of fairly average looks,
with no discernible talent and a sullen
expression perpetually on her face. She
also competed on Dancing with the Stars,
although her dancing is something that
must be seen to be believed.
The closest I can come to it was in a
musical I saw years ago with Kate Smith.
At one point, Smith, all 200 pounds of
her, lurches toward the camera, winks

and shouts "Ha cha cha."
Gosselin's performance is much
worse.
Maybe there's a contrast to
be made here. Smith was an
enormous talent on radio. At
one point, only Bing Crosby
was paid more than she was.
Her soothing contralto was
a comforting presence and
she hosted the first of the TV
talk shows directed towards a
female audience, with celebrity
guests and cooking tips, each
weekday afternoon. Her record-
ing of "God Bless America"
became a national treasure.
But TV was also her undoing. She
was a big-boned woman who exuded no
glamour and did not in any way look like
a star. Smith did not share her diet tips
with viewers, either. But she was a huge
star because she had enormous talent.
What a concept!

Now, I would like to float an
idea for a reality show called
So You Want To Be a Lounge
Lizard. In this one, various
middle-aged crooners would
wrap their tonsils around the
works of the best songwrit-
ers in the American musical
canon.
One night it would be
Jerome Kern; another Johnny
Mercer and a third might be
Vernon Duke. Their songs
involve some rather difficult
structures to negotiate. Kern's
"All the Things You Are for
example, features an enharmonic change,
in which a note is held while the harmo-
ny beneath it shifts. It's not quite "Baby
Got Back."
They are mostly songs that avoid the
hair-tearing histrionics that the contes-
tants on "American Idol" feel they must
go through. In fact, they use understate-

ment as their emotional base. That may
be why they endure.
One chorus of "Last Night, When We
Were Young:' or "Here's That Rainy Day"
packs so much more of a wallop. The
screamers and kvetchers don't seem to
get that, though.
I admire their sense of courage, howev-
er misplaced it may be, in dancing before
a national audience. I wouldn't dream of
attempting that, but then I am acutely
sensitive to the pain of my neighbors.
Italians say the tarantella is meant to
simulate what happens after a person is
bitten by a tarantula. They don't include
that dance on the Stars competition.
Maybe they should, using real spiders.
Until then I agree with Kate Smith. It's
all ha-cha-cha, honey, and pardon my
dust. ❑

George Cantor's e-mail address is

gcantor614@aol.com.

April 29 2010

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