Sunday, October 10, 2010

A Chronology of Events at UC-Irvine



Hat tip to Miggie and Scholars for Peace in the Middle East

My colleague, Leila Beckwith, Professor Emeritus at UCLA, has written an account of anti-Semitic activity at UC-Irvine for Scholars for Peace in the Middle East. It gives a fine account of the mess that has been going on at UC-Irvine the last few years.

http://www.spme.net/cgi-bin/articles.cgi?ID=7206

The recent suspension of the Muslim Student Union at UCI in no way means that this sad spectacle has reached an end. The suspension has been reduced to one quarter, and it appears that the MSU has now been re-organized (at least for this quarter) as Alkalima-Muslim Students at UC-Irvine.

What a great reputation for a university to have. What is really sad is that 99% of the students at UCI do not deserve this reputation. It is a classic example of how a few troublemakers ruin things for everyone.

4 comments:

  1. Rather than suspending an organization, I recommend a substantial security presence at events likely to involve organized disruption, with individuals dispassionately charged for observed acts, without regard to ideological motive. Properly done, this removes a lot of opportunity to claim martyrdom for allegedly disfavored beliefs.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Professor Beckwith has done a fine job of synthesizing the actions of the MSU at UCI. In addition, she has pointed out the ineptitude of the UCI administration in their handling of the obvious anti-Semitism of the MSU.
    Another questions: Is Alkalima an official registered group on the UCI campus? Does Alkalima collect funding from the UCI Student Association? Does the Alkalima list of members match the MSU list from last year? And, is the UCI administration too stupid to see through this rouse? So much for a semester suspension for the MSU.

    Squid

    ReplyDelete
  3. Squid, why do any of those minutiae really matter? Either a crime has been committed, or it has not. Either a civil tort exists, or it does not. The rest is just caterwauling about your personal preferences.

    ReplyDelete
  4. We are talking, Siarlys, about the credibility of a university when students violate the norms of behavior and bring discredit to said university.

    ReplyDelete