UC-Irvine Suspension of Muslim Student Union Reduced to One Quarter

"One person's hate speech is another person's education."


Today, UC-Irvine administrators have announced that the suspension of the Muslim Student Union for one year has been upheld but reduced to one quarter, which will expire December 31. In addition, there will be a two-year probation coupled with one hundred hours of community service imposed on the organization. (Hopefully, that will not include the MSU's annual Israel Apartheid Week.) Individual disciplinary measures are protected by state university privacy rules. The original suspension, which was appealed was a result of the disruption of the speech by Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren at UCI on February 8 that caused an outcry both in the US and Israel.



http://www.ocregister.com/news/union-265026-muslim-student.html


"This has been a difficult decision," said UCI Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Manuel Gomez in a statement. "But in the end, this process demonstrates the University of California, Irvine's commitment to values, principles and tolerance. Although this has been a challenging experience for all involved, I am confident that we will continue to move forward as a stronger, more respectful university community."




Interestingly, Gomez, who was supposed to make the final decision, retired effective the end of August. Whether he made the decision as he walked out the door or left it to someone else is not yet known to this writer. My questions would be whether this was a negotiated settlement and who at UCI made the actual decision.

*Late update: According to the below LA Times article, it appears Gomez made the final decision.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0904-uci-muslims-20100904,0,656430.story

Here is the university's offical announcement from the Dean of Students:

Subject: Decision Regarding MSU Appeal
From: "Rameen Talesh, Office of the Dean of Students"
Date: Fri, September 3, 2010 6:00 pm
To: All Campus Employees, Campus Faculty, Campus Staff:;
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The Muslim Student Union (MSU) at UC Irvine received notice this week
of the outcome of the appeals process following disciplinary measures
imposed last spring resulting from the group's disruption of a campus
speaker and other violations of the campus code of conduct.

The MSU had appealed the decision, recommended after an in-depth
adjudication process undertaken by the Office of Student Affairs that
found that the group's actions surrounding the February 8, 2010 speech
on campus by Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren had violated campus code
of conduct policies.

After an additional two-month process that included meetings with
officers of the MSU as well as the careful review of new evidence,
Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Manuel Gomez affirmed that the MSU
violated the campus code of conduct, and imposed the following
sanctions:

The organization is suspended through December 31, 2010 and must
complete a collective 100 hours of community service at which time
they can request reinstatement. Following this, the organization will
be placed on probation for two years. The organization's leaders will
meet monthly with the Director of Student Conduct for one year.

This process has been exhaustive and detailed. The sanctions described
above reflect the need for appropriate discipline following the
violations of campus policy, while recognizing the role of the
University in educating students in and outside of the classroom.

The sanctions described herein apply to the organization as a whole,
and do not address disciplinary processes for individuals in this
incident. Under federal law the University is prohibited from
releasing information on individual student disciplinary matters.

"This has been a difficult decision," said Gomez. "But in the end,
this process demonstrates the University of California Irvine's
commitment to values, principles and tolerance. Although this has
been a challenging experience for all involved, I am confident that we
will continue to move forward as a stronger, more respectful
university community."
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By the way, has anyone heard about the decision on those criminal charges? Maybe it's time for Orange County DA Tony Rackauskas to issue an update on that. Just a thought.