Chancellor Meets Jewish Community Leaders

About 70 Jewish community leaders gathered Aug. 24 at the Newport Beach home of Jodi and Martin Greenbaum to meet with Chancellor Michael Drake and discuss ways to promote greater understanding between students of diverse backgrounds and beliefs, an issue of particular concern for the Jewish community. After speaking to the group, Drake met individually with guests, emphasizing the importance of values like integrity, respect and appreciation at UC Irvine.

“My goal is for UC Irvine to create a legacy as a values-based enterprise,” Drake said. “I want all students to feel that this campus is their home, and exercising these core values is essential to making that happen.”

Tension between Muslim and Jewish students at UCI has received media attention in recent years. While the vast majority of students respectfully exercise their free speech rights, Chancellor Drake proactively emphasized the need for civil debate and a campus atmosphere where all students feel celebrated and welcome.

“I find hate speech abhorrent,” Drake said. “We need to respect each others’ points of view. Respect allows us to have those crucial but difficult discussions that result in progress and growth.”

Under Drake’s leadership, UCI is taking many concrete steps to promote civil discourse and respect for diversity. In December 2005, the university was one of only 27 organizations to receive a prestigious $100,000 Difficult Dialogues grant from the Ford Foundation. This grant will be used to create new programs, fund courses and host lectures dedicated to civility and tolerance.

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Chancellor Meets Jewish Community Leaders