Irvine Community and Jewish Groups React to Muslim Student Union Suspension
The University of California, Irvine (UCI) is the second youngest campus in the California state university system. UCI has made its mark among prestigious American universities, steadily rising in the U.S. News & World Report ratings of “America’s Best Colleges.” Following the al-Qaeda terror attacks on September 11, 2001, however, the prestigious and relatively subdued Orange County campus began drawing attention and earning a reputation as a breeding ground for anti-American, anti-Israel, and anti-Semitic sentiment.
At UCI, certain registered student groups, while claiming to exercise rights to free speech, have violated state and university policy. This is particularly true of the Muslim Student Union (MSU), which is part of the national network of the Muslim Students Association (MSA). The organization, more than any other campus group, is known for its seditious rhetoric and hostile, militant activities. Several students and faculty have reported feeling intimidated or even frightened in the presence of MSU members. Such victims have often chosen to remain silent rather than oppose campus organizations whose confrontational tactics and agendas were, over recent years, increasingly tolerated by the university administration and community. As a result of its members’ belligerent and sometimes violent behavior, Irvine’s MSU has rendered itself among the most severely hostile Muslim student organizations in North America.
That is why UCI’s latest move, which was initially publicized by the Jewish Federation of Orange County, has attracted particular interest. UCI’s administration made an unprecedented decision to suspend the MSU for a full year. The decision was made after a school investigation found that the organization planned disruptions during a February speech by Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren. The decision to suspend the group was not so much about the fact that the MSU disrupted a speech, but that the group later lied about its intentions and actions.
The suspension, if appeals by the Muslim Student Union are unsuccessful, will take effect during the 2010-2011 school term. The chapter will also be required to complete 50 hours of community service before it is able to file appropriate paperwork to have the organization reinstated. If the group is successful in that procedure, it will, however, face a year of disciplinary probation following reinstatement.
In a letter dated May 27, 2010, Senior Executive Director of Student Housing Lisa Cornish detailed the findings of the school investigation. The 14 pages detail that the MSU violated four separate school policies involving dishonesty, obstructing disciplinary procedures, disorderly conduct, and “participation in a disturbance of the peace of unlawful assembly.” These violations transpired during a talk given by Michael Oren on February 8. His remarks were interrupted at least 10 different times by students, including those who repeated the tiresome canard of an Israeli genocide and who shouted accusations that Oren was a murderer and a war criminal. Oren briefly suspended his talk, resuming it only after school officials tried to restore order and repeatedly advised the audience that the outbursts violated student conduct codes.
Prior to the disturbance of the event, UCI officials were notified that there was an organized plan to disrupt the speech. The Investigative Project on Terrorism cited emails in which an MSU official wrote:
“We’ve already discussed the different options in the GA (general assembly) meeting and we took a vote,” a February 4 email to the MSU board said. “So now that we have voted on one method of action, we all go through this together, insha’Allah ta’ala together as one MSU … one Ummah.”
Officers from the MSU denied that their protest at the Oren event was an organized effort, stating that actions were carried out by individuals and were not on behalf of the MSU. In particular, MSU President Mohamed Abdelgany wrote the following:
I would first like to say that all of my actions on Monday were done out of my own individual accord and were not on behalf of the Muslim Student Union or any other organization at UC Irvine.
The spokesperson for the MSU, Hadeer Soliman, went on the record with the Los Angeles Times stating that the disruption “was not put on by the MSU, but rather by students acting on their own.” Soliman made the same claim in an editorial written for UCI’s official school paper. Screenshots of MSU emails are available on the Investigative Project for Terrorism website.
UCI’s investigation concluded that “the disruptions were planned, orchestrated and coordinated by the Muslim Student Union.” Furthermore, a spokesperson for the university, Cathy Lawhon, also noted that the members of panel which conducted the inquiry “have had no prior issues with the group.” Cornish’s letter also cites the February 3 MSU meeting in which a stated goal was to send Oren a message “that he knows that he can’t just go to a campus and say whatever he wants” by “push[ing] the envelope.”
The MSU issued a statement that the group plans to appeal the university’s recommendation of suspension. The group maintains that the students who disrupted Oren “acted in their personal capacity.”
In her letter, Cornish said MSU members invoked their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in response to her questions. Cornish also noted that there were several occasions during the Oren event in which MSU members were warned to stop.
One picture worth i=one thousand words-
http://weaselzippers.us/2010/06/23/arabic-childrens-choir-sing-when-we-die-as-martyrs/#comment-196266
Our universities are another front in the global war on terror. There, protected by free speech and oppressive politically correct faculty, administration, and well funded muslim students, we watch a cultural, social, political, and ethical meltdown. Look around the world and you can see what is happening in those countries who are ahead of us in allowing massive inflows of muslims. The Netherlands, UK, and Sweden come to mind in Europe. So what is happening? A systematic degree of intimidation at all levels intended to cow the society to grant special accommodations to muslims at the expense of the rest of us and under the threat of violence in most instances.Accomodations by the way which America has NEVER granted any other ethnic or religious group in our history!! Their goal is to overwhelm our society and take over from within. That could never happen you say!! Well again take a hard look at the UK, Netherlands and Sweden and see for yourself what these people are up to.
This is troubling because the left in America is a usefual idiot for these goons and also because our friendly and welcoming nature won’t allow us to believe the worse in people. Well their little party of student led terror, intimidation and jihad on campus at least is being uncovered slowly but surely. However time, money and radical ideology will win this struggle unless and until Americans wake up to the terrorist around them. Whether it is muslims building mosques at the site of 911, demanding sharia law in Dearborn, sponsoring honor killings in Texas, or terrorizing speakers at UC Irvine, they need to be challenged, unmasked, and ostracized. America is waking up. These two bit mini terrorists are just as evil and sinister in their own way as the demented fools that blow up school buses and murder innocents in the middle east.
Why is anyone surprised in the atmosphere of the Obama administration that OCR has not found a way to apply civil rights laws to the Jewish student population on college campuses. It might upset the Moslem population that the government of the US considers Jews people entitled to protection under law.
sarcasm tag ON:
By order of President Obama and Helen Thomas:
These Jews should just shut up and go home.
sarc off.
One does not need to be a Jew to detest the thugs who whine about their own free speech while denying it to others.
Ask the MSU to condemn so-called “honor killings” and the murder of Muslims (and others) by Muslims in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India and they mutter trite nothings at best, often blaming the victims. Mention Israel in any context and they start frothing at the mouth.
There is something sick and feral about them. They do not belong on any Western university campus. They belong on FBI watch lists and in prisons or mental hospitals.
Dear Reut Cohen,
All what I can say is, that moslems, since very very long time trepassed the critical green line and not only in the UCI but worldwide. I am wondering what solutions should, the jewish and christian communities develop in order to face this increasing dangerous evolution of the islamic fanatism.
Kudos to those who pressured the university into taking the obviously correct steps, which they surely would never have on their own.
I agree. That was a good fight, and decency ultimately won this one battle. That does not mean lasting victory over organized bullying. This is only one token of successful push-back. Many more will be needed. There is no victory of freedom of expression over tyranny until the islamic militants have fully discredited themselves in the mind of the public. The only effective way to deal with bullies is to confront them, because their only option is to back off when they recognize that their tactic is ineffective, because the public has finally shed its timidity. Universities are supposed to lead, but we don’t have to wait for them to wake up. Cheers for the ZOA and the whistle blowers.
So who gets to decide what constitutes “community service” in this case?
Could that be assisting in the clitorectomy clinic, handing out free mandatory burkas to poor Muslim women, maybe volunteering to teach Muslim pre-schoolers how to properly strap on a diaper bomb?
It is fairly disgusting that UC-Irvine took so long to slap down this anti-Semitic organization. Were the shoe on the other foot, and the various Jewish organizations accused, I’ve no doubt that the university would have acted quickly.
When will the American People wake up to the growing cancer that organizations such as the MSA and it’s bratty child the MSU and other organizations such as CAIR represent?
The only real solution to Islamofascist Muslims is to banish them from University and College campuses if they are American citizens. If they are not American citizens REMOVE them from the country.
Our colleges and universitities are politically correct pusillanimous panderers to these Neo-Nazis. The reason is MONEY. Time for academe to become PRO American and Anti-Fascist/Nazi.
My question is what punishment did the individual students (if they were students) incur for their blatant disregard for the first amendment?
Those individual students should have been expelled for one year and if they were not students, then those individuals should be barred from the campus for one year.
It is all well and good to punish the organization, but you really need to punish the individuals. Otherwise the exact same people can just start up a new organization called the Union of Muslim Students.
…Irvine’s MSU has rendered itself among the most severely hostile Muslim student organizations in North America.
From my read, university administration at UCI has been way too compliant for way too long towards these loudmouthed jerks.
It seems the MSA/MSU is active at UCSD as well, though less so than at UCI.
If you are in need of signs of intelligent life in the universe…
Reid and McConnell lead letter to Obama defending Israel in flotilla incident
It’s obviously a case of racial profiling. Are we supposed to believe it’s merely a coincidence that everyone in the Muslim Student Association is Muslim?
We have a President who boldly states he “…will stand with Islam against the West”. That makes him a Muslim in my book. I don’t think you can be a Muslim and an Infidel (meaning… anything but a Muslim) at the same time. Until the American people change Presidents, I’m afraid we’re going to continue to be repeatedly offended, and most likely abused, by the many religious fanatic Muslims we’ve allowed into our country. I, for one, intend to fight these perverted and sanctimoneous creeps.
I’ve taught in the same high school for the past ten years. This last year I had to interrupt and publicly discuss some very anti-Jewish commentary. I have never had to discuss such issues before in this school. Most of the perpetrators are either African American males or males and females from our large and growing Muslim community. It is not all of these students, but some. And more disturbing is that it comes from students that aren’t necessarily the brightest students in school. This tells me that from home or their place of worship or the entertainment they absorb, these students are picking up some very negative information. It also tells me that someone is softening them up to accept some very negative stereotypes. I’ve already spoken with counselors about this phenomenon, but this is a fairly affluent diverse school. It worries me about what students are being fed as fact from places like Dearborn MI or New York City in regards to these issues. The undercurrent is dangerous.
I keep wondering when we’re going to see a case of honor killing, of parents murdering their college-aged teenagers for bringing disgrace, embarrassment and dishonor on the family escutcheon, both for their activities on campus and then their subsequent lying to cover up. But nope — evidently Muslim parents think *this* is what honorable behavior consists of.
Is there a pool that will take bets on whether the appeal by the Muslim gang succeeds? Failing that, any pool that will take bets on how effectively this suspension will be enforced the moment Helen Thomas’s attention wanders away? Bah, if the “It was individual members doing their own thing,” bunk was true, you can bet MSU would have expelled those so accused.
But don’t the non-Muslim student unions at universities in Islamocratic countries disrupt meetings, too?
Bombs, burglaries, threats and other terroristic activity are forthcoming. The left thinks of the Muslims like it does black ghetto dwellers, victims and pets. The Muslims will prove themselves just as vicious, far more hateful, far more organized, and a lot closer to home. Meetings will simply be convened in the nearest mosque rather than campus offices.
If only this standard was applied to the liberals who shouted down and disrupted visiting speaker (and Presidential candidate) Ronald Reagan at my undergrad in 1980.
How quickly they use the rights others have fought for to appeal and fight the censure, with all the laws available to them by a generous Country. but refuse to recognize that one right of free speech to the other side that disagrees with them. Allow a foothold to be taken and we will face the turmoil in France and the Netherlands. They have one goal-our distruction. Some of us will not be so easy to overcome.
The university’s gesture is an empty one – they have learned a great tactic, which they will surely use throughout their suspension:
Persons can “randomly” act out during events, and the MSU can innocently proclaim that it was an “isolated, unsolicited incident by individuals.” They have also learned to ensure that “paper trails” are erased.
Rest assured, this action will do nothing to stop the seditious behaviour of these mongrels
Thank God that someone understands just how dangerous and evil the actions of the Student Muslim Association are. These “students” are employing the tactics of Adolph Hitler and his Brownshirts, it is imperative that such tactics not go unchallenged, and are not seen to be effective!