My wife and I have walked around UC Irvine for over 2 decades as a nightly exercise. One Saturday night last year we were, as usual, walking on the “ring road” which is the main pedestrian road around the campus. Near the humanities building, a group of about 10 Islamics, whose women were dressed in head scarfs and long robes, were having some kind of party or celebration on the side of the path itself, which is aproximately 50 feet wide at that point. As we approached, several male members of the party arrayed themselves directly in our path. I assumed this wasn’t on purpose and smiled at them as we came up. As we came close enough to see their faces clearly, it was apparent that they were staring at us with some of the most palpable hatred my wife and I have ever experienced. We hurried away and cut our walk short. Since then we avoid anything that looks like a gathering of these folk.
My question is this: where did these people come from in general? Palestine? Egypt? Syria? Iraq? Who’s paying their way to an education here? Some years back, UCI rebuilt the main plaza and emplaced a statue of what appears to be a Muslim praying in the direction of Mecca. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but right after that, a large number of middle eastern Islamics appeared, and quotes from the Quran began being posted weekly on the campus bridges.
I don’t begrudge anyone an education, but I think some accountability is in order for why my wife and I are being accosted by hostile fundamentalists on California state property.
