At UCLA, kippa-wearing regent fights anti-Israel bigotry
Son of Israelis Abraham Oved promotes tolerance across the board and sees no reason to hide his Zionism
Blatant and subtle forms of anti-Semitism are heating up on American college campuses for over a decade. But for the past two years, a Jewish-Israeli voice for tolerance has begun a counter-effort at the meetings of the UC Regents, the governing body of the University of California.
“When I first stepped onto UCLA’s campus, I came from a community where I didn’t meet a lot of critics of Israel,” says Student Regent Abraham “Avi” Oved.
Oved describes himself as a “Jewish Israeli American” from the heavily Jewish San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County.
“I was interacting with political ideologies who wanted to politicize my identity and make a controversy about it,” he says.
Now, at age 23, the student regent completes his tenure at the end of this month and graduates June 9 from UCLA with a bachelor’s degree in economics and global studies.
His two-year appointment to the UC’s governing leadership, which he landed amid stiff statewide competition, has not been without controversy.
In some ways, that tension has helped publicly underscore a platform to improve and protect students from what some consider growing intolerance within this system of leading public universities, which includes UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, Irvine and six other campuses throughout the Golden State.
“The Jewish community at UCLA is incredibly strong. Don’t let the headlines fool you,” Oved says. “I was just at the right place at the right time when this issue came up, shedding light on anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism and a lot of other ‘isms’ that deserve attention and response.”
Although Oved’s appointment drew attention on campus and in the media, it did not hinder his achievements, which include helping pass new anti-bias policy.
“I actually have not paid to close attention to what detractors say because that is just a waste of my time. I haven’t really looked into or read into it,” Oved says. “I have earned the respect of a lot of people who doubted my ability to serve in this capacity and proved my ability to work across communities and across issues and I feel so happy and fulfilled with my term.”
In fact, Oved’s call for tolerance became an important part of his tenure. Although his role concludes June 31, that does not mean the end of his influence. The regents recently adopted a policy statement on Principles Against Intolerance that includes language specifically addressing anti-Semitism on campus.
“The Statement of Principles against intolerance is the UC anti-bias, bigotry and discrimination policy,” Oved says.
‘The Jewish community at UCLA is incredibly strong. Don’t let the headlines fool you’
“Anti-Semitism, anti-Semitic forms of anti-Zionism and other forms of discrimination have no place at the University of California,” the policy statement reads. “Most members of the University community agree with this conclusion and would agree further that the University should strive to create an equal learning environment for all students.”
The efforts of the spreading Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement have not gone unnoticed by Oved.
“The BDS movement is a thinly-veiled attempt to target and scapegoat Israel for the consequences of conflict,” he says. “We should not be afraid of criticism of Israel and its government’s policies, but we cannot allow for movements to wrongly rewrite history and facts and further employ anti-Semitic tropes to the only Jewish state.”
In his two-year term as regent, first as a non-voting regent designate in training shadowing his future position, and then as a voting student regent, Oved’s outward symbolism distinguished him publicly. Oved does not consider himself devoutly observant, but his Star of David necklace, the iconic “I heart Israel” sticker on his laptop and his UCLA logo kippa were overt expressions of his pride in his Jewish heritage.
As he explains, “It goes along the same vein as the Magen David that I wear — its very visible about my Jewish identity. I felt like it was very important for me to highlight.”
Oved sought to publicly express his sentiments for others. “It’s okay to wear a kippa. It’s okay to have an ‘I love Israel’ sticker on your computer,” he says.
After an attack on a Jewish woman in Europe, for instance, Oved’s official statement at a Regents’ meeting described his mother’s suggestion to perhaps remove his necklace. Instead, he proudly insisted on displaying his necklace as a call for tolerance for all students in their great diversity, Jewish, Arab, and from every other nation.
“If I’m the first Jewish person someone is going to meet I want to be the best representation of a Jewish Israeli American and the values of my community. And I want people to take away positive aspects of interacting with Jewish people, Israel, Zionism,” Oved says. “I want it to be a positive takeaway for them to influence the culture around us for the better.”
Oved’s personal background naturally plays a critical influence on his outlook. His father is Iraqi; Oved cites rising anti-Semitism in Iraq as the impetus behind his father’s family immigrated to pre-state Israel in the 1930s. Oved grew up in a Hebrew-speaking home with two older sisters in Encino, California with frequent trips to Israel most summers. His Tel Avivi mother raised him as a single parent.
“Since preschool my mom has been very involved,” says Oved.
She attended his first and last meetings as a regent, and his first vote.
‘It’s okay to wear a kippa. It’s okay to have an I love Israel sticker on your computer’
“She’s the one who really raised me and emphasized a higher education. So she was really involved in my schooling,” Oved says. “All my teachers knew her and the same for the Regents.”
As part of his student regent platform, Oved has gained support for adding a student advisor to the university’s governing board. The regents legislate policy for the renowned public research institution’s more than 238,000 students across 10 campuses.
Oved’s plan has since won approval to operate on a pilot basis in July, 2017. “I’m fleshing out the policy and the application of it,” Oved says.
Another goal of Oved’s term was addressing middle income affordability. A state middle-class scholarship is relatively new. Begun in 2014, it is being fully implemented in 2017.
“Basically what we are trying to do is bring all the UC campuses to a baseline of support for middle income students and look at the data to see if middle income students are being squeezed out,” Oved says.
After graduation and a family vacation in Asia, Oved plans to join a Democratic political consulting firm.
LA-based SKDKnickerbocker covers “everything from campaign strategy to rebranding organizations and institutions,” Oved says. “It’s a great spectrum of work.”
He also seeks to earn a law degree.
“I just need to find a school to accept me,” he says.
Although Oved attended his last official meetings as a voting member of the UC Regents from May 10 to 12, he plans to continue his involvement as the system implements the pilot student advisor program. He also continues to serve as a voluntary member of UCLA’s Hillel Board of Directors, where he has served since January.
During his studies, Oved also completed a leadership internship at Hillel, which he joined when he first arrived on campus, as well as another internship at AIPAC.
Oved hopes his days as student regent promote lasting change toward improving a more tolerant campus climate.
“I am honored that I had the privilege of answering the call of my community in this position and this platform,” Oved says. “I hope we have made a collective impact and that it will create a constructive conversation moving forward.”
‘I am honored that I had the privilege of answering the call of my community’
This tone of idealism, cautious optimism, and working towards the collective good could be found in Oved’s statement after a tragic campus shooting took the life of university professor William S. Klug on Wednesday, June 1.
Oved expressed sorrow over the tragedy, but also appreciation for widespread acts of selflessness coming from across the student body.
“Yesterday, darkness hovered over UCLA and our community,” the statement reads, “…but through that darkness, there was an impenetrable force of love and light that radiated from each Bruin… I’m so incredibly grateful for and proud of our community’s character and integrity, and know for certain that our resiliency is what will carry us through.”
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