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Friday, March 5, 2010

Did a UC-Irvine Teacher Send an E-mail to Students Urging Them to Help Support Protests?


Below is an e-mail I received from a UC-Irvine teacher. The teacher reportedly received it from an offended Jewish student in a UCI class, who, in turn, purportedly received it from the teacher in regards to the October 2nd protest by the Muslim Student Union and Black Student Union, of which I have written. The e-mail is purportedly part of a mass e-mail sent to all the teacher's students. The text is below. Keep in mind that I have deleted both teachers' names, and the student's name though I am aware of all three names, as well as the department involved.
--------------------------------------------------------------------


Subject: [Fwd: [Defend UCI] Fwd: Speak Out Tuesday!!!]
From: (Deleted)
Date: Mon, March 1, 2010 7:49 pm
To: (deleted)@classes.uci.edu
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>"Hi!
>
>This Tuesday is going to be a campus speak out regarding recent events at
>UCI and UCSD. The event organizers are putting this together as quickly as
>possible and we need help. Do you mind sending this out to as many
>departments and students and faculty you can?
>
>I appreciate all your help. Below is the information."
>
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> (From attached link)
>Date:
>Tuesday, March 2, 2010
>Time:
>1:00pm - 2:00pm
>Location:
>Terrace Tops, Student Center, UC Irvine
>
>
>The Irvine Eleven Speak Out, Racial unrest at UCSD, Workers Rights!
>
>
>Come hear straight from the students who were arrested and many more
>speakers. In the past few weeks we have seen students from various
>backgrounds unite on one issue: Justice. It is time to show the rest of
>the campus community the importance of standing for justice in order to
>bring about a university that better represents the morals and ethics we
>as individuals strive for.
>
>Speakers include:
>Arrested Irvine 11 students.
>Jim Lafferty: Director of National Lawyer's Guild
>Representative from Black Student Union to discuss ongoing situation at UCSD
>Representative from organizers of the March 4th strike in order to fight
>tuition hikes and attacks against workers
>
>More TBA....

The Facebook link http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=331869654839 said
Website: www.irvine11.com
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52aXasRvdAc

On February 8th, Micheal Oren spoke at UCI. During his speech Oren was
interrupted by 11 protesters who had every right to speak out. Now
they are charged with disrupting the peace and being targeted by
hostile university administrators. They have a lawyer on their side
but the UCI students might face suspension or expulsion. Please help
voice support by joining the group.

Contact UCI Chancellor Michael Drake NOW to declare that it is unjust
to arrest these students. Supporters of the arrests are contacting
administration in large numbers, and your support is needed
desperately!

Ask to speak with Chancellor Drake or leave a message at: (949) 824 –
5011 and email him at: chancellor@uci.edu

Ask to speak to the Dean of Students office, who are handling the case
at: (949) 824-5181 and email them at: deanstu@uci.edu

Here are some important points to bring up:

· It was unjust to arrest students for simply having the courage to
stand up and speak out against a man responsible for propagating the
deaths of thousands of innocent people.

· Michael Oren is a representative of a state that is condemned by
more UN Human Rights Council resolutions than all other countries in
the world and he should not be honored at UC Irvine.

· As concerned community members, we will not support an educational
institution that threatens to punish its’ students with suspension and
expulsion for standing up for their principles.

Thank you for your support and jazakum Allahu khairan.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Last night I e-mailed the teacher in question asking that person to confirm or deny the e-mail. I have not as yet received a response.

Here is the point. This brings to mind the controversy of 2009 when UCSB teacher William Robinson was e-mailing his students messages condemning Israel. A couple of students took offense and complained. There was a resulting firestorm. Eventually, the university decided that Robinson was exercising his First Amendment rights.

So too is this particular teacher. My point is that this is possibly another example of university teachers pushing their own political point of view down students' throats.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

If the teacher does confirm that he/she wrote the letter, you should make his/her name public.

It always cracks me up when MSU or anti-Zionists bring up UN resolutions when they choose to ignore resultion 181 exists. Their selective bias in UN resolutions makes their case pretty weak.