Pirate's Cove

The LA Times editorial board, and the paper overall, haven’t had an issue with hardcore Democrat voters of all stripes running rampant on campus over the years. Not a peep when students and faculty do everything the can to stop people from speaking who have different views. With students taking over campus offices for whatever their Outrage Of The Day is. Nor did they say anything about students and faculty showing their Israel and Jew hatred before, nor their support for terrorist organizations. So, what’s changed?

Editorial: Too much heated rhetoric on campus. Bring informed debate back to universities

At moments like this, when violence in the Middle East has reached a fever pitch that has left the world horrified, universities have an important role to play in convening open debate. Or at least they used to.

The past weeks could have been the perfect time for relevant learning on the Israel-Hamas conflict, an antidote to the extraordinary campus strife we are seeing at the University of California and elsewhere across the nation. Instead of painting others as the enemy, people might have searched for common ground, or at least deeper understanding.

However, how can there be common ground with students and faculty screaming for the end of Israel, death to Jews, and supporting a State Dept designated terrorist organization? How do the Jewish students find common ground with those who are screaming in their faces and acting in a threatening way?

Institutions of higher education could have called on their experts, such as those in history, geography, international relations and religion to hold seminars and teach-ins for students and community members. They could have organized talks and speaker panels in which people listened to each other instead of belittling and insulting those with different backgrounds and views. How many people, after all, truly know the history and understand the current politics of the Middle East?

Except, a good chunk of those experts at the schools believe the same extremist things the students believe. Who do you think taught the students to hate Israel and Jews? And, anyone holding a teach-in in favor of Israel would have been shouted down.

This is a big part of what students should be getting out of college: deep learning, shaped by debate and discussion, leading to informed opinion. Unfortunately, as the roiling accusations and fears on U.S. colleges campuses show, that has become hard to achieve.

When did universities become places where people started conversing less and expressing open hostility more?

When they were taken over by hardcore Leftists, and, while there has been a leftist bent for decades, I’d say it was around the time of the election of George W. Bush, and those on campus went nuts. And now you cannot say or do anything that goes against them, as it will get ugly. Remember, universities are run by Democrat voters. The teachers are mostly Democrat voters. This is on Democrats for being beyond intolerant.

The American Assn. of University Professors believes that free discussion became more easily chilled about a decade ago, when some students began calling for trigger warnings before classroom discussions of topics they might find upsetting; that led to demands that faculty members provide trigger warnings on assigned literature.

The flood of social media, often created to fuel outrage, and political polarization during the Trump era certainly haven’t nurtured civility.

Where’s that incivility coming from? Who’s pushing this? Weirdly, the LA Times editorial board doesn’t say.

No wonder that when faced with gut-wrenching news like the Israel-Hamas war, many students react in hostile ways that chill the speech of others and make their fellow students feel threatened. Unfortunately, in some cases, their professors do the same or worse.

Who do they vote for? This is all rather sanitized

Vehement student protest has a time-honored place on campus. Students should be angry about injustice; how else will they fight it? But protest should be based on verified information, and should lead to discussion devoid of vituperative insults, harassment or threatening language. The opposing factions might not end up agreeing; in fact, they probably won’t. But they may end up with a deeper understanding of each other’s views and becoming better informed.

Which side is screaming, harassing, and threatening?

UC will spend $2 million on education programs to foster better understanding of antisemitism and Islamophobia and to teach students about the history of the Middle East. An equal amount will go to teach UC leaders and staff on how to be true educators and helpers.

And therein lies the problem: it mostly isn’t a problem with Muslims being harassed and threatened, with “Islmophobia.” It’s the students and teachers doing this against Jews and Israel supporters.

Read: Suddenly, The LA Times Editorial Board Is For Informed Debate On Campus »