Labor Dispute

I am a supporter of members of Local 11 of the Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees Union in their desire to negotiate a contract with USC that ensures the preservation of their jobs. Even so I was shocked and taken aback to read that I was supposedly to be the keynote speaker at a demonstration calling on USC supporters to halt their donations to USC (July 22).

I was all the more upset by the inference that since I am vice president of the Southern California Board of Rabbis, the board has endorsed this call for action against USC. No such decision has ever been taken by the board, and as its social action chair I am certain that no such action has ever even been contemplated.

Such a strategy is contrary to my convictions regarding how best to influence institutions to change their behavior. I believe that the best way to influence organizations with which we differ is to become a significant supporter and thereby develop the clout to effect change. If anything, I would urge USC supporters to increase their giving, get involved with social issues that affect the university and its extended community, and then use the added influence that significant giving provides to encourage the institution to make whatever changes best serve the values for which it stands.

RABBI STEVEN

CARR REUBEN PhD

Pacific Palisades