Los Angeles, CA – A University of California, Irvine, disciplinary committee ruled that a Muslim student group should be suspended for at least a year because of a protest that disrupted a talk by Israel’s ambassador and led to the arrest of 11 students, according to documents released Monday.
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The letter from a student affairs disciplinary committee to Muslim Student Union leaders said the group was guilty of disorderly conduct, obstructing university activities, furnishing false information and other violations of campus policy.
University spokeswoman Cathy Lawhon said the committee’s decision will be a binding recommendation to the campus’ office of student affairs if a planned appeal by the group does not succeed.
MSU attorney Reem Salahi said the committee relied on evidence relied that was “inadequate and problematic” but declined to outline the group’s challenge in detail. She said the decision, if sustained, would leave Muslim students without an organization representing their interests.
“It really does have very lasting constitutional implications,” she said. “It’s a chilling effect for Muslims on campus and their right to associate.”
Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren was repeatedly interrupted and called “murderer” and “war criminal” by pro-Palestinian students as he was giving a talk on the Middle East peace process in February.
Eleven students were cited on charges of disrupting a public event after they were requested to refrain from heckling but did not.
The Orange County district attorney’s office did not return a phone message seeking the status of its investigation into those students.
The MSU condemned the ambassador’s appearance but insisted it did not organize the protests.
The disciplinary committee, however, said a review of online message group conversations and minutes from an MSU meeting revealed that the group did engineer the protests and instructed participants to lie about its involvement.
The group’s preparations allegedly included scripting statements for protesters to make during the event and instructing participants to cheer at disruptions.
“Be VERY LOUD, firm and strong … but remain composed and under control. Do not let your emotions get the best of you. Remember that this is a planned/calculated response and not a venting session,” the committee quoted organizers as telling participants in meeting minutes.
The committee also ruled that the group should be put on disciplinary probation for a year following its suspension, which ends in August 2011, and that members collectively complete 50 hours of community service.
The letter, dated May 27, was released following a Freedom of Information Act request by the Jewish Federation Orange County.
Video of the disruption Feb. 9 2010
I liked the video. Does this surprise anyone?
If you walk by a dog and it barks at you, do you get mad at the dog? You realize that it’s a dog….
They need to be expelled from the school! It’s not enough to suspend their right to organize as a student group or to fail their final exams, they must be expelled.
Will one of us do some research to find out who to call at the university and several of the Jewish donors to call upon for the school to expel these students?
I have been waiting for the outcome. I am happy. But I think they should have been expelled – not suspended. Hopefully no school will accept them as transfer students.
They break the law, they pay the price.
Such Muslim and leftist groups are attempting to intimidate Jews and supporters of Israel on most American campuses.
They even do this at a Jewish school like Brandeis and the leftist leaders there look the other way.
jewishdailyreport.wordpress.com
Support Israel and the Jewish people.
Wow. They’re not even smart enough to be embarrassed by their own behavior. They should have kicked out everyone who was cheering for the first protester right away. At least they flunked the final exam for whatever course they were taking that led them to be there.
Where was security during the demonstration? The demonstrators should have been physically removed from the auditorium when they disrupted Michael Oren’s address!