CALIFORNIA, U.S., March 18, 2018 (DCF USA): After sustained engagement with the Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity (OEOD), the University of California has issued a letter to Dharma Civilization Foundation, expressing both regret for any misunderstanding as well as continued interest in working with the Hindu community to establish Chairs at UCI. The letter begins:
“t the current moment, the process initiated by DCF with UCI, from 2012 onwards has successfully resulted in the creation of the Jain and Sikh Chairs at UCI, whereas the Hindu Chairs stand rejected, even today. In December 2015, certain UCI Faculty from the School of Humanities initiated a petition, calling into question the Hindu communities’ motives, and engaged in an orchestrated campaign of slander designed to delegitimize both Dharma Civilization Foundation, and Dean Georges Van Dan Abbeele, and in the process, ensured that the efforts of gift giving by the Hindu Community to the UCI were shut down without any semblance of constructive dialog or engagement. The overwhelming message that the Faculty members behind the public petitions, and highly prejudicial open letter delivered is that the Hindus alone are not welcome to participate at the academic table. Ironically, they did so, in the name of academic freedom, while not advancing the cause of civil discourse. DCF welcomes the letter from UCI, and the opportunity for constructive, professional and meaningful engagement with UCI Administration, Faculty and Students that it seems to invite.