We Own The Campus Now?

Daniel Frankenstein and Jesse Gabriel were both featured prominently in the recent East Bay Express article on anti-Semitism at Berkeley, which alleged that anti-Semitism was on the increase.

According to a May 2004 article posted by the New York chapter of the United Jewish Appeal, Daniel Frankenstein sang a much more upbeat tune than what appears in the recent East Bay Express article:

[Jesse] Gabriel, [Daniel] Frankenstein and Rebecca Simon, another Berkeley student, went to Washington to participate in the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's Saban National Political Leadership Training Seminar, an intensive program for 250 college students from 60 campuses.

"We were given the tools to take back the campus," Frankenstein said on a spring afternoon, seated in a shady spot at an outdoor caf near Berkeley's campus. ``Not only have we taken it back -- we own the campus now."

What do you mean "we" here? In my sociology department, we have several members of the Tikkun Community Network and Tzedek, in addition to several Israeli "sabras" enrolled in our graduate program. It's certainly news to them that "we" own the campus, whether "we" is defined as Jewish or Gentile.
- posted by Jon @ 5:57 PM |