UC Davis faculty members want charges dropped against Muslim students who disrupted speech at UC Irvine [Updated]

About 20 current and retired faculty members at UC Davis have joined a group of 100 UC Irvine faculty members in asking the Orange County district attorney to drop criminal charges against 11 Muslim students who disrupted a speech by the Israeli ambassador to the United States.

The UC Davis faculty members sent a letter to the district attorney’s office Tuesday stating that the university campus should be a “place for civil discourse and debate.”

[Corrected at 10:02 p.m.: An earlier version of this post incorrectly said the letter was sent Wednesday.]

On Feb. 4, the attorney’s office charged 11 students from UC Irvine and UC Riverside with misdemeanors for the incident, in which Israeli ambassador Michael Oren was repeatedly shouted down during a speech.

Since then, various individuals and organizations, including the Jewish Voice for Peace, have spoken against the charges, saying that the students and the Muslim Student Union had already been disciplined by the university. The organization has denied planning the protest.

The letter stated that the criminal charges will have a “chilling effect” on free speech. “To respond to such an act with criminal prosecution is excessive,” it stated.

Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas said in a statement Feb. 4 that the students were charged because of an "organized attempt to squelch the speaker." He said the students "meant to stop this speech and stop anyone else from hearing his ideas, and they did so by disrupting a lawful meeting."

The students are charged with two misdemeanor counts, including conspiracy to disrupt the speech. If convicted, each faces up to six months in jail.

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-- Nicole Santa Cruz in Orange County

Comments

[Greg Vinson]

It is shameful that the university chose to host the representative of a nation which is engaged in crimes against humanity. There is nothing civil about the occupation of Palestinian territory, the ongoing theft of land on the West Bank, or the cruel embargo against Gaza designed to push an already marginalized people to the brink of starvation. Israel's crimes are well documented, and the students who non-violently protested against a representative of that violent regime should be honored rather than punished. Obama and Susan Rice should be ashamed to have blocked an otherwise unanimous UN security council resolution condemning the state for it's continuing crimes. The rest of the world is right, it is the US and Israel that are on the wrong side of history, and nonviolent protest is a rather mild, understated response to the criminals.

[Chuck]

If anyone is to be arrested it should be the war criminals representing the Israeli government which barbarically murdered over 1,000 Palestinian civilians according to the United Nations Goldstone Report.

Arrest them all and terminate all further American aid to Israel which ultimately leads to acts of terror against Americans. They should also arrest all AIPAC members for acts of treason against America.

[Alloptionsonthetable]

The students are members -arguably the primary members- of the University. So, if they want to speak out against what they see as an injustice, as members of that community why a big deal? They were punished for what they did at the appropriate level (university). Just because Israel doesn't have a constitution doesn' t mean that "We the people" should abandon ours when an Israeli is in the room. The ignorant comments on this page are beyond the pale. Americans need to be educated and our media is failing! Write to your local cable operator and ask them for Al Jazeera! Maybe we can save their kids from such ignorant and baseless positions of hate.