NM university encounters anti-Semitism.
"The Jewish people rejected Jesus as the Messiah and had Him crucified and to this very day still deny and reject Christ thus denying God."
A passage from a KKK handbook? The mantra of some religious extremist group? A bad joke?
Think again.
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The above was taken from a Dec. 8 "Merry Christmas" e-mail sent to staff and faculty at New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas. The e-mail was sent by one of their own, a part-time technological support employee named Richard Gonzalez.
Gonzalez' unapologetic anti-Semitism came after a paragraph in which he explained the story of Christ and Christmas. Gonzalez polished off his anti-Jewish diatribe with a shot at anyone who might dare raise the possibility that not all Americans are Christian.
"In our modern politically correct mind-set, 'Happy Holidays' has replaced Christmas so as not to 'offend' anyone. MERRY CHRISTMAS," Gonzalez' e-mail says.
Highlands education professor Merryl Kravitz, who is Jewish, says she was stunned by the e-mail.
"I was appalled that in this day and age anybody would think something like this, especially at a university," Kravitz says. "We have to be more conscious of how we treat and tolerate people."
Kravitz says that by Dec. 9, the day after the e-mail was sent, both Jewish and non-Jewish members of the Highlands community came to her office door to offer their support.
"They were incensed too," Kravitz, who estimates that only about six of nearly 489 Highlands faculty and staff are Jewish, says.
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José C'de Baca was Gonzalez' boss at the Gear Up program, which works to foster enthusiasm for college among high school students, at Highlands. Gonzalez was a well qualified part-time technological support employee who worked at Highlands for only a few months until his contract ran out at the end of last year, C'de Baca says.
C'de Baca still took issue with his e-mail.
"I find that using university e-mail for any kind of purpose other than business is probably not a good use of public money," he says. "I know for a fact that both our Jewish and not-Jewish staff were offended and condemned his statement."
Gonzalez, whom C'de Baca says lives in the Las Vegas area, could not be reached for comment.
It took the school's administration five days to respond. On Dec. 13, Vice President Placido Gomez sent out a one-sentence e-mail criticizing Gonzalez' note as "offensive, inappropriate and contrary to the mission and vision of Highlands University."
The next day a more pointed e-mail from President Manny Aragon was sent by his secretary, Laura LaCour-Johnson. The e-mail supported Gomez' statement and called Gonzalez' statements "absolutely out of line."
"The statement was not only inappropriate, but offensive, insensitive and
mean spirited," Aragon's e-mail says.
Kravitz says she wasn't put off by the briefness of both e-mails but was a bit bothered that it took nearly a week for the administration to say anything.
Highlands Assistant Director of University Relations Rick Loffredo says the delayed response was simply because school administrators had not read the e-mail.
"If an e-mail does not specifically pertain to education and has a subject like 'Happy Holidays,' we probably won't read it right away," he says.
Local Jewish leader Rabbi Marvin Schwab of Temple Beth Shalom in Santa Fe says Gonzalez' e-mail is both offensive and historically ignorant; he notes that the Catholic Church has distanced itself from the age-old stereotype linking Jews to the death of Christ.
"I'd like to know what gives him the authority to preach to these people?" Schwab says. "I wonder how many Jews Richard has ever met or talked to. I'd like to know what church he attends and if this is what they teach in that church."
