Excerpt:
The AMCHA Initiative, a grassroots coalition dedicated to protecting Jewish students on university campuses, particularly throughout the University of California system, recently launched its new website to serve as a resource for anyone who cares for the well-being of Jewish students. However, the AMCHA Initiative has already come under fire from the very people who maintain the unacceptable status quo. Daniel M. Dooley, senior vice president of external relations for the Office of the President at the University of California, recently criticized the AMCHA Initiative for being "outdated and completely uninformed." The following is a response to Mr. Dooley's aspersions by the AMCHA Initiative's co-founders, Tammi Rossman-Benjamin, lecturer at UC Santa Cruz, and Leila Beckwith, professor emeritus at UC Los Angles.
Dear Mr. Dooley,
We are faculty at the University of California and co-founders of the AMCHA Initiative, a grassroots coalition of thousands of members of the California Jewish community, who are concerned with the serious and growing problem of anti-Jewish bigotry at the University of California. The AMCHA Initiative comprises UC alumni, parents, grandparents, rabbis, religious school principals, synagogue members, etc., who have joined together to speak in one voice, demanding that UC administrators ensure the safety of our Jewish students on UC campuses.
In your response to a member of the AMCHA Initiative (forwarded below), you impugn our coalition's efforts, saying that they are based on "outdated information," and that we are "completely uninformed." Presumably as evidence of the UC administration's efforts to address the intimidation and harassment of Jewish students, you mention President Mark Yudof's "campus climate initiative," the "Olive Tree Initiative," and the "aggressive position in prosecuting abusive and intolerant behavior" taken by the UC Chancellors with the support of President Yudof.