Keating Goes to Congress
Warning: this is a rare political post and quite a long one at that. But, I cannot ignore the challenging events in my life and soldier on stoically.
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This week, I was called to testify to Congress on antisemitism on campus for the Committee on Education and the Workforce. Since my campus is my workplace, it was natural that I would share the experiences of Jews both before and after October 7, 2023. As long-time subscribers to this Monday M.A.G.I.C. Message list know, I was in Israel on September 7th, 2023, exactly a month before the horrific terrorist attack on Israel from Gaza. Back then, I was hopeful that a two-state solution would seem well within reach. How wrong and naïve I was. Just 30 days later, the blood lust of violence — supported by a majority of Palestinians in both Gaza and the West Bank are excruciating reminders of how far apart the two sides are. This is truly going beyond the impossible. But equally troubling has been the orgy of hatred and violence on college campuses. So when Congressman Kevin Kiley [support him here] asked me to testify, I had to speak up.
Here’s my oral testimony:
My name is Professor Brian Keating. I am the Chancellor’s Distinguished Professor of Physics at the University of California, San Diego. Today, I stand before you as a professor and a Jew whose childhood dream was to explore the universe, uncover its secrets, and share this boundless wonder with the next generation of scholars and leaders.
This dream led me to the University of California, where our motto is taken from the opening sentences of the Hebrew Bible: “Let there be light”, a place I believed was dedicated to pursuing the luminous thrill of scholarship with a mission to illuminate and improve society.
The life of the mind seemed fanciful; I never thought it possible. Who would pay me to do what I love? (Please do not tell Gavin Newsom or the Regents, but I would do this job for free.) My concern is not for me — I am fully tenured, working on well-funded, cutting-edge research with a brilliant team of students and scientists worldwide.
No, today I speak for a young assistant (untenured) Professor hailing from Israel, her homeland demonized on campus with vigils held for terrorists a mere five days after the October 7 attacks on Israel. I speak for an undergraduate teaching assistant who studies and teaches ways to mitigate climate change but has to avoid campus on certain days when anti-Israel protestors libel her Jewish Professor-employer as complicit in genocide. Now, instead of considering ways to heal the planet, she is considering leaving academia.
All educators are familiar with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. It provides a framework for creating an environment conducive to optimal learning. At the base of Maslow’s pyramid are physiological needs — food, water, and shelter. Above these are safety needs, encompassing physical safety, emotional security, and a predictable environment.
Safety is particularly critical. Safety means more than physical protection; it ensures a supportive atmosphere free from bullying, discrimination, and emotional harm. When students feel safe, they (our clients) are more likely to engage, participate, and take intellectual risks necessary for growth.
You cannot learn in an environment of hate.
You cannot teach from a place of hate.
However, for decades, UC has not been a safe space for Jewish and Israeli students, staff, faculty employees, and visiting scholars.
Faculty members call their colleagues “f-ing colonizers”, get arrested, and still collect their taxpayer-funded salaries.
Professors alienate 90% of their students, boycott the campus, and encourage students to do so well. Getting arrested
Faculty that call themselves scholars yet target the citizens of the one Jewish state for academic boycott, a call to the dark ages of intellectual oppression. As for the
Students who denounce this institution as genocidal still clamor to receive its diplomas.
This is deeply hypocritical. It suggests a cognitive dissonance that destabilizes our community’s academic integrity and emotional safety. Why partake in the offerings of an institution while simultaneously condemning it? This anti-intellectualism erodes trust and fosters a climate of confusion and fear.
Take these examples:
An Israeli American undergrad student, a dedicated pre-med student teaching assistant, faces challenging classes but, worse, an environment of hate and ostracization by the very union meant to protect him, the UAW, a union that seems more interested in political posturing, demonizing his homeland and sowing divisiveness than in representing its diverse membership. When he attempts to express his rights to be heard at a Student Senate meeting, he sees the ISIS flag hoisted outside and later, fearing for his safety, flees the meeting under a police escort.
A young woman pursuing her doctoral degree receives a letter from her Professor-employer filled with hateful political rhetoric against Israel. This letter is a weapon that alienates and intimidates her, making her question her safety within her department. When she seeks refuge over a coffee at the student union, she is blocked by an illegal encampment, which is a no-go zone for her as a Jew. Following one of five daily prayer services in the camp, she is confronted by chants and signs calling for the eradication of Israel as a sovereign Jewish state. She hears calls for intifada — violent attacks on Jews in Israel and around the world. She decides the life of the mind may no longer be for her. We are the poorer for it.
In an environment where academic freedom should flourish, a professor colleague faces a hostile work environment where classes are demanded to be canceled in solidarity with political movements rather than focusing on education and dialogue. Searching for a distinguished professor of Middle Eastern studies results in the boycott of specific individuals because of their Zionism, a cause supported by over 90% of Jews worldwide.
Let me relate the story of the reprehensible “Compton Cookout,” a racist event that took place at an off-campus fraternity house in 2010; immediate steps, many coming from Black Student Union members, were taken to ensure that our campus is truly an inclusive environment.
However, when, in 2023, a Swastika made of human feces was discovered in a campus dorm where many Jewish students live during the annual “Justice in Palestine Week,” no decisive action took place. When swords and flammable materials that could be used for Molotov cocktails are found at an illegal encampment lasting five days, this must change.
Here are some recommendations:
1. Our diversity, equity, and inclusion programs must include antisemitism awareness and prevention explicitly. Every minority group deserves recognition and protection, including our Jewish and Israeli colleagues and students. A hate crime such as the feces Swastika and annual demonization events like Justice in Palestine week would not be tolerated if it was directed at any other group.
2. Young people expressing their First Amendment rights are foundational. They can even be righteous, but they can not violently threaten and intimidate employees, such as the vicious attack on a Vice Chancellor at UCLA earlier at another encampment this month. UCSD’s chancellor took vital actions that prevented a similar situation from happening here, but administrators condemned him, including the Chair of UCSD’s Academic Senate, John Hildebrand. Calling for the censure and no-confidence vote on the one UC Chancellor who acted to prevent the escalation of violence and law-breaking on campus is a violation of the duties of the Chair to represent all stakeholder employees.
3. Implement and enforce a strict zero-tolerance policy for discrimination or hate speech, including calls to eradicate the one Jewish state on earth. Germany’s federal domestic intelligence agency treats the anti-intellectual Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement as a “suspected extremist case.” noting that the movement had “links to secular Palestinian extremism.” It also stated that there were “sufficiently strong factual indications” that BDS “violates the idea of international understanding.”
4. Develop comprehensive educational programs that promote understanding and respect for all cultures and histories, including seminars and workshops addressing global politics’s complexities and their impact on local communities. Student groups such as Students for Justice in Palestine that explicitly forbid such dialogue in their constitution should only receive student or taxpayer funding once they take corrective action.
We have the power and the responsibility to restore an environment of respect, dialogue, and understanding.
Thank you for being so committed to the well-being of the University of California’s employees. With your help, it can still be a beacon in the darkness. Let there be light.
Genius
I spent 20 hours in planes and airports this week. Thankfully I heeded this brilliant travel advice from Dickie Bush:
7 lessons on airports & flying:
1. When in an airport, never sit and never scroll. Take a walk, do some stretching, stay moving, etc. Once you’re on the plane, you’re about to sit and scroll for multiple hours in a row.
2. Never buy the WiFi. It’s the only time you haven’t had internet access in the last month. Use time to think/write/read/let your mind wander.
3. Economy class is like a public bus in the sky. It’s worth upgrading, not for what you get but for what you don’t have to deal with. It’s also proven that you cannot think big picture about your business unless you’re in business class.
4. Never check a bag. There are zero incentives for the service crew to 1) take care of your bag and 2) make sure it gets to its destination. Carry-on only.
5. Make a note on your phone called “airplane journal.” Write a quick entry any time you’re in the air. Talk about life, where you’re going, who you’re seeing, and how you’re feeling. You’ll look back in 10 years thrilled you logged all your travels.
6. TSA Pre is a laughably underpriced service — $100 will save you dozens of hours every year for five years. I cannot believe some people don’t have this. If you still take your shoes off at the airport… nvm. Bonus tip from B.K.: just get Global Entry instead; it comes with TSA pre-check.
7. Download your favorite albums & most impactful podcasts to Spotify. Listen to the albums in order as the artist intended. Relisten to the podcasts, and you’ll pick up on some ideas you missed the first time.
8. One more B.K. bonus: Most airlines allow you free text messaging using apps like iMessage or WhatsApp. Here’s the tip: WhatsApp has an AI chat feature that effectively lets you ask questions about the world while it crawls the web for you. It doesn’t always work, but it often saves me $8–10, at least when I ignore Dickie’s second piece of advice.
Image
I saw the following coin-art image online and immediately recognized what it was. But could ChatGPT do the same? Gulp… yes it can:
Conversation
Could physics serve as our best guide to metaphysics? What fundamental metaphysics is best motivated by quantum mechanics? And what’s the deal with the age-old feud between philosophers and physicists?
Here to shed light on all these questions and more is none other than David Z. Albert, professor of philosophy and director of the MA program in The Philosophical Foundations of Physics at Columbia University in New York. David is a prominent American philosopher and physicist widely recognized for his contributions to the philosophy of quantum mechanics and the foundations of physics. He has published four popular books and numerous articles on quantum mechanics.
In our stimulating conversation, we talked about his controversial PhD proposal, the truth about quantum mechanics, Einstein’s affection for Ernst Mach, and who would win in a fight: a physicist or a philosopher?
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