UCI's Gillman: "I also urge our faculty in relevant disciplines to increase teaching and research on the rise of white nationalism and violent extremism..." (Rebel Girl)

UCI Chancellor Gillman speaks at IVC 2017 Commencement

UCI faculty and staff received an email from Chancellor Howard Gillman on Monday, written in response to the shooting at the Poway synagogue. It begins:

"Last Saturday – the final day of Passover – hate visited the Chabad Poway synagogue during morning worship service. In the wake of the ensuing gunfire a life was lost, several people were wounded, and many more traumatized. Like the mass shooting at the Pittsburgh Tree of Life synagogue last October, this attack was a hate crime motivated by anti-Semitism, which is dramatically on the rise in the United States and around the world.

One hate crime is one too many. It is troubling that so many faith communities have been affected by hate. Some of these attacks span from arson at a mosque in Escondido, to a temple defaced in Irvine, to three historically Black churches burned in Louisiana. Such attacks – and others – have a common purpose, namely to terrorize the targeted community and divide our society.

It is critical that we stand together as a diverse campus community while supporting those communities most directly affected by acts of hate..."

After directing readers to on-campus resources and programs affiliated with UCI's Confronting Extremism Initiative, Gillman, a featured speaker at IVC's 2017 commencement concludes:

"I also urge our faculty in relevant disciplines to increase teaching and research on the rise of white nationalism and violent extremism in our region, our country, and around the world..."

It was, quipped red Emma, inspiring enough to forgo early retirement and keep teaching.
It was, of course, an example of forward-thinking leadership in a time of growing crisis.

Outside the Chabad of Poway Synogogue. The shooter, a high achieving nursing student at CSU San Marcos, had no history of violence and legally purchased the AR-type assault weapon used in the attack.  The only indication the assault was imminent was an online manifesto he published shortly before.

Meanwhile, Turning Point USA seems to have established a regular presence at Saddleback College and has begun outreach efforts at IVC. Some of the materials used and distributed by them include:

When asked about the nature of Turning Point USA, the O.C. Human Relations Commission  directed Rebel Girl to this article on the Southern Poverty Law Center website:

Turning Point USA accused of ‘boosting their numbers with racists’ by long-established conservative student group

Read it and uh, weep. Or shake your head and sigh. Or do what Chancellor Gillman suggests: teach it. 

That's all for now, folks. Isn't it enough?

Sending this one out to Gary.

No, that THAT Gary, the anonymous one who lacks the courage of his convictions because perhaps they are not really convictions but something much more sordid, you know what she means? Geez, an anonymously sourced paper wouldn't be acceptable in higher education anywhere but Rebel Girl guesses we are going for the lower education bar here. Oh well.  Anyway, Rebel Girl means that other Gary, her most brilliant friend and recently departed. She loved him and Gary, he loved some Jonathan Richman.