Several civil-rights groups and lawyers’ associations have urged top officials at the University of California at Irvine to drop plans to suspend the campus’s Muslim Student Union over the interruption of a speech by Israel’s ambassador to the United States. Campus officials decided to suspend the Muslim Student Union in June, after concluding that it had violated several campus policies, but the student organization has appealed the decision. In a letter sent to campus officials on Thursday, the Asian Law Caucus, Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, National Lawyers Guild, and other groups argue that the Muslim Student Union is being punished much more severely than other student organizations that had interrupted speeches in the past. Moreover, the letter says, the proposed suspension “would deprive hundreds of current and future Muslim students of their fundamental First Amendment right to association.” University officials have been urged to take action against the Muslim Student Union by several Jewish groups, including the Zionist Organization of America.
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17 Responses to UC-Irvine Urged Not to Suspend Muslim Student Union
jack_433 - July 23, 2010 at 3:40 pm
BULL! When are we going to get back to being a Nation of Laws. Break the laws, break the rules, pay the price. If this were a Christian group doing the same to a Muslim speaker they would be suspended within hours. HOW MUCH MORE OF THIS HYPOCRISY MUST WE ENDURE?
abelragen - July 23, 2010 at 3:42 pm
Is this organization completely open to non-Muslims? Does it allow non-Muslims to take leadership positions? I ask only because the courts have just allowed another branch of the University of California to impose such rules on a Christian group. If the same rules apply, couldn’t members of Jewish and Zionist groups and their allies simply join the group and attempt to change its policies?
lslerner - July 23, 2010 at 3:44 pm
I don’t know about the comparison of the Moslems’ disruption with other disruptions that have occurred, but I’ve seen the video and it was about as nasty and persistent as can be. Suspension seems an entirely reasonable response; a university must take strong measures to ensure that it remains a place for free and civilized speech par excellence.If Moslem students wish to associate, they can easily form a new organization whose by-laws don’t allow for uncivilized actions against other persons trying to exercise their free-speech rights.
mmeisens - July 23, 2010 at 3:52 pm
If any Christians or Jews would have acted as the Muslims did and have, they would have been suspended and/or ejected right away. By the way, none of the liberal wimps would have come to their defense on some principle of “rights”. What we have here is a repeat of all our past mistakes from before 9/11. We are giving evil rights which we would not give to anyone because they threaten to kill us and they are more than willing to carry out their threat. The MSU should not only be banned; it should never have been allowed to organize.
greenhills73 - July 23, 2010 at 3:52 pm
First Amendment/Free Speech has been used to justify every sort of vile behavior, rudeness, childishness, violence, pornography, incivility, you name it…it’s very disheartening. I say suspend the group immediately.
profmomof1 - July 23, 2010 at 3:52 pm
So in other words, UC-Irvine is being urged to drop all standards for acceptable student behavior. Don’t like the poltical ideas, viewpoints, or religion of another group’s invited speaker? Hey, just scream and shout them down, prevent them from being able to speak. Let’s just forget all about that thing about free speech or universities being places for serious thought, dialogue, or discussion.
wmartin46 - July 23, 2010 at 4:11 pm
Here’s the video:http://www.ocregister.com/video/?videoId=65670603001&play=nowHaving been in a number of protests/riots in the early ’70s, this was not remotely violent, although if these folks are inclined to go this far, not telling what they are capable of.> Muslim Student Union is being punished much more severely > than other student organizations that had interrupted > speeches in the pastThis article does not give much detail about why these “leftish” civil rights groups seem to think that the Muslim Group is being treated more harshly than other groups. (Are there any other incidents to review to determine parity on the part of the U. Administration?)Here is a link to the (redacted) letter that was sent to the Muslim Student Union about the incident review process:http://files.onset.freedom.com/ocregister/Oren_Decision_Document.pdfOne interesting comment (from an MSU member), that can be found in this document, is:”The role of the MSU is to foster a better understanding of Islam”.Well .. if this “performance” is close to the mission of the MSU, it would seem that “suspension” is not harsh enough a penalty.There is also nothing about any kind of charges being brought against the students as individuals. It would seem that University-level sanctions of some sort should be considered. Why shouldn’t these sorts of incidents, be included on a student’s record, if he/she is escorted from a public setting for disruption?
eslservices - July 23, 2010 at 4:12 pm
I wonder why the Christian here (notice here-meaning not all Christians) have such a chip on their shoulders. You are the majority and have the power in this country. The students were protesting murder. Haven’t anti-abortion advocates taken the same actions as shouting down the pro-choice people. Of course they have. Haven’t the pro-Israel groups shouted down Palistinians (if they are allowed in the country.) In fact the uncivility has become common among all groups. Christians have nothing to complain about.
7738373863 - July 23, 2010 at 4:35 pm
In my opinion, suspending the organization because of the actions of its members on one occasion goes too far. Should those who demonstrated and interrupted the ambassador’s speech be punished in accordance with the student honor/conduct code? Absolutely. But unless it can be demonstrated that all members of this organization demonstrated or that the organization itself has committed hate speech on its website or in documents in articulating its position vis-a-vis Israel, there are no grounds for moving against the organization.
22270752 - July 23, 2010 at 7:17 pm
I’m not particularly a fan of Isreal, but I have to agree with wmartin46 above. After watching the video clip in the link he provided and observed the behavior of these dysfunctional protesters, I think they gave up all credibiltiy to their claim “to foster a better understanding of Islam.” Looking back at news clips over the past few years, I might not be surprised at this sort of behavior on a street corner somewhere, but would hope for a more reasoned dialog at an institution of higher education. Perhaps UCI isn’t the school it professes to be. I think suspension is appropriate for this (or any) group behaving like this.
22079340 - July 23, 2010 at 10:58 pm
Suspend students who sought to “interrupt the Israeli ambassador?” How about Israel’s minions silencing any discussion of Israel’s behavior in the US? In this great democracy of ours, US citizens can viciously criticize the President of the United States and the US Congress; howeever, no criticism of the Israeli Prime Minister or Knesset is allowed. It’s not liberal wimps, but wimps of all stripes who are afraid to call Israeli oppression, oppression; Israeli racism, racism; Israeli colonialism, colonialism–even when doing so operates against US interests, about which Israeli leaders continue deomnstrate they could care less. Then again, if US “leaders” aren’t willing to stand up for the interests of our nation, why should Israel?Give me a break. It’s time to acknowledge and challenge Israeli apartheid as students challenged apartheid in the American South and South Africa. Many of those students paid the price–even having been killed– for doing so; however, without their willigness to stand up, where would this nation and world be?
tusgb - July 24, 2010 at 10:28 am
I just watched the video. What incredibly rude behavior. It’s up to the Muslim commmunity to convince its members not to behave so badly. Why? Because such bad behavior accomplishes nothing other than to alienate the rest of society. If the group wants to win the hearts and minds of non-Muslims, that’s certainly not the way to go about accomplishing that objective. Because the student group obviously hasn’t been conveying the right message to its members — which is — not to behave badly at events such as that one — UCI is completely within its rights in suspending the entire organization.
honore - July 25, 2010 at 8:35 am
“America is over”…Rufus WainwrightNothing left but the politically correct press releases…so sad.
awegweiser - July 26, 2010 at 1:41 pm
#12 tusgb is right on correct.The behavior shown on the video cannot be tolerated.Had a group like this done the same in one of the several nations dominated by an Islamic government, their punishment would have somewhat more severe than in California.I do not deny anyone the right to follow their faith whatever it may be, including none, as long as it does not intrude on me. I would not much care to have somebody howling over a louspeaker near my home 5 times a day nor an ultra orthodox Jew throwing stones at my car for driving on the sabbath.Perhaps, as a condition of remaining on campus, UCI should require the entire membership of the Muslim Student Union to attend classes on democracy and the Constitution. This should include the rights, privileges and what is not appropriate – starting with the classic “fire in a theatre” and how to protest what one does not agree with in a civilized manner and not disrupt a speaker even if you object to his or her position.Personally, I dislike the way Israel has behaved in Gaza, the “settlers” and other issues but I will hear the speaker out or simply leave.In this vein, if a woman chooses of HER OWN FREE WILL to wear a heavy black garment from head to toe in 110F weather – sure – BUT not if only her eyes are visible and she peers at the world and traffic through a mesh screen. What if I were to enter a bank, or courthouse or public transport wearing a ski mask out of respect for my god of the slopes – obvious reasons.
dmishkin - July 26, 2010 at 3:36 pm
The American Israel Polictical Action Committee has been able to influence American politics in ways the benefits neither the US or Israel. It is intereting that freedom of speech issues always seem to be dismemebrs on the shoals of anger directed at any criticism of Israel. With the recent Goldstone report, which accused both Israel and Hammas of committing war crimes, and almost no media reports on the harsh life of Palestinians under despotic Israel rule, Israeli arrogant righteousness in trying to surpress all criticism from any source speaks to their poltical and moral bankrupcy.
dank48 - July 30, 2010 at 11:55 am
What’s interesting is that the calls for tolerance of belief are all one-way. The United States (Britain, France, Germany, . . .) should exercise wall-to-wall tolerance of Islam, whatever its teachings may be. Sure. I think one protester in NYC got it exactly right. Her placard read, “You can build a mosque at Ground Zero when we can build a church or synagogue in Mecca.” We’ve put up with this double standard from certain countries, supposedly our allies, for all too long. It’s time for leaders of the Islamic world to join the rest of the world in the twenty-first century. In my limited experience, that’s where most American Muslims seem to be. It’s the political and religious “leaders” who are fourteen hundred years behind.
honore - August 2, 2010 at 10:24 am
dank48, your comment is excellent and drives home a point that is sadly being covered up by your bought and sold by petro-dollars politicians.I HAVE lived in the muslim world on several occasions over the last 20yrs and I have become very aware of the growing contempt and hatred that muslim “leaders” promote to their followers. This is only growing in dimension and will be an increasingly dangerous physical reality for the western world. Look at Malmo, Sweden (go to YouTube for this) for the militancy and hatred that is displayed by muslims against their Swedish hosts who have allowed limp, flaccid politically-correct immigration policies to DESTROY several of their cities that are now INFESTED with anti-European, anti-Western, anti-christian zealots collecting their monthly SWEDISH pensions, food coupons AND state-paid housing. It’s like that saying… “be careful of what you wish for (or allow blindly), cause you just might get it”.