Daniel Pipes Talk at UC Irvine

Daniel Pipes



Since I teach part-time at UC Irvine and have spoken out many times on the activities of the Muslim Student Union there, I was planning to attend Dr Pipes talk to observe and report on the reaction from the MSU. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend due to family emergency.

Today, however, I was interviewed by the David Project regarding the problems at UCI, an interview that was arranged by Reut Cohen, a recent UCI grad and former leader of Anteaters for Israel at the UCI campus. I was able to get a short briefing from her regarding last night's events. What I will say here is second-hand, and surely will be reported on Reut's blog as well (I have a link on this site). According to Reut, there were no serious disturbances. MSU members did show up in the hall, many with their mouths taped up and bearing posters. When Mr Pipes began his talk, they walked out.

What is interesting is that as the event opened, there was a pledge of allegiance. Most of the Muslims in the audience remained seated and refused to participate. Now, to be fair, I should state that someone who is not a US citizen should not be expected to recite the pledge of allegiance, though it would be a sign of respect to at least stand, as one would do when any country's national anthem is being played. However, from my own observations at last week's speech by Yvonne Ridley at UCI, most of the Muslim attendees at that event spoke native English. It is my belief that most of these young people are indeed American citizens. If that is the case, their refusal to recite the pledge of allegiance speaks volumes.

Consider on the other hand that Ms Cohen has recently enlisted in the US Army, and will begin serving her country in January. Quite a contrast, don't you think?