The people of Orange County aren’t buying the argument of 100 UC Irvine faculty members that not giving the Muslim students a pass here would damage the “healing process” on campus.
And by “healing,” they mean, “shut up.”
Again, what if the shoe were on the other foot, and another student group had conspired in the exact same way against a member of a fashionable left-wing cause? And for that matter, they insult the intelligence of their students — or relegate them to a state of arrested emotional development through their low standards — by acting as though they are too mentally fragile to see these students held responsible for their actions.
Here is the introduction, followed by excerpts from those letters to the editor. “Muslim students are not the victims here,” compiled by Betty Talbert for the Orange County Register, February 12 (thanks to Twostellas):
Editor’s note: This week the Register received 46 letters in favor of bringing criminal charges against the UCI Muslim Students and other students who protested against Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren, Feb. 8, 2010 at a UCI event. Only two letters favored not bringing the charges. To weigh in on this issue or any other one send a letter to letters@ocregister.com. The Register encourages all views and perspectives. See the letters supporting the students sent to us by the Council on American Islamic Relations and posted on Feb. 4, “UCI Muslim protesters must not be singled out.”
They’re not being singled out. It’s only, well, inclusive to hold them to the same standard as anyone else.
First letter:
The UCI Muslim Student Union students are a very disciplined, radical group dedicated to changing public opinion by creating hatred toward Israel and the Jews through the importation on campus of the world’s most vile hate mongers like Amir Abdel Malik-Ali during “hate week” using our First Amendment rights to spew their poison.
Foreign Islamists dedicated to our destruction, are suspected as the source of funding for the speakers. According to a Sept. 22, 2009 letter from the Zionist Organization of America to the Chief Campus Council of UCI Diane Fields Geocaris, MSU has violated UCI rules and regulations with impunity and the organization has been protected by the political correctness mentality of the University administration.
On May 22, 2008 Pajamas Media reported that Shariah Law was attempted to be enforced on campus when its reporter was told by Dean of Student Services Sally Peterson that no one could photograph any Muslim female on campus. Later, a person taking campus pictures of a procession, including Muslim females was reportedly attacked by four MSU members.
According to the Zionist Organization of America memo it also appears money was raised during the week of May 21, 2009 by MSU speaker George Galloway that eventually found its way to Hamas, a U.S. listed Terrorist organization. The University took no action.
With more than 500 people in attendance, the UCI administration could not ignore the planned attack on Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren Feb. 8, 2010 to prevent him from speaking. As usual, the MSU lied about their careful planning and staging of the disturbance, but their e-mails to each other proved their guilt….
Another:
The sympathy expressed for the “Irvine 11” would be understandable if their disruption of Ambassador Michael Oren’s speech were truly a spontaneous and isolated incident … It was neither. I wonder why no action was taken when this same organization defied university rules by holding a fundraising event for George Galloway, a known Hamas supporter. The preparation for receiving donations was obvious. Anyone who follows George Galloway knows exactly where that money went.
I applaud the actions of District Attorney Tony Rackauckas and urge the O.C. Grand Jury to investigate this matter.
And another:
I was appalled at UC Irvine Law School Dean Erwin Chemerinsky’s opinion piece Feb. 9 saying that the District Attorney’s office should not pursue criminal charges against UCI Muslim Students Union members [“Don’t prosecute UCI hecklers,” Orange Grove].
Chemerinsky acknowledged that, “The school’s Muslim Student Union orchestrated a concerted effort to disrupt the speech, ” and “the students behavior is wrong and deserves punishment.” He then offers the most perverse objections to the DA defending the First Amendment rights of the speaker and the public. He says they should not be prosecuted because of “scarce resources” that “criminal prosecution makes the students into martyrs” and, the worst objection, “criminal prosecution should be a last resort and used only when there are injuries or destruction of property of serious threat of harm.”
There are many others at the link above.