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Friday June 29, 2007

Under pressure, U.C. moves move-in day off High Holy Days

by joe eskenazi
staff writer

When Don Gilbert got a call from his sister informing him that her daughter had to choose between moving into the dorms at U.C. Davis or attending High Holy Day services, he knew whom to call: Himself.

The Sacramento lawyer and lobbyist, who previously worked on behalf of the Anti-Defamation League and San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, treated the matter like just another day on the job.

And, after eight months of just another day on the job, his efforts paid off. Earlier this month the U.C. system announced that it will no longer schedule move-in days on the Jewish High Holy Days.

“We didn’t want accommodation for Jewish students. We wanted no conflict” in the first place, said the San Francisco-born Gilbert.

“Making these kids choose between the highest of holy days and moving into your dorm on the first day is not right, and it’s not necessary. We considered this to be a pretty small request.”

Small or no, it turned out not to be an easy request to accommodate. So Gilbert spoke to state legislators, and 18 of them, including Mark Leno and Carole Migden, wrote a letter to University of California President Robert Dynes in May.

That letter struck a chord with the U.C. and, less than a month after it was written, the university system and the legislators had an accord.

Starting in 2011, move-in day will never be scheduled on the High Holy Days unless it is “unworkable” to avoid doing so. If such a situation occurs, the U.C. ensured that Jewish students will be given a time to move into the dorms along with no fewer than a quarter of their classmates, and no activities will be scheduled until every student is moved into the dorms.

The U.C. claimed that its calendars were already set in stone through 2011. Next year Yom Kippur will indeed come during move-in day, but Gilbert is confident the aforementioned safeguards in the agreement will accommodate Jewish students.

Before the agreement “Jewish students were being shined on, to be blunt. But now Jewish students will never have to move in, even during this interim period between now and 2011, without fewer than a quarter of their classmates. And Jewish students won’t miss any dorm activities,” said Gilbert.

“And that’s really important. That’s the compromise.”

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