(Photo from My UCIrvine)
By now, many of you are aware that there was a problem today on the UC-Irvine campus. The notorious Florida pastor Terry Jones, who made a spectacle of burning a Koran, came to UCI today and attempted to hold a rally. He and another Florida pastor, Wayne Sapp, were turned away by campus police,who secured the open flagpole area as well as adjacent areas citing a credible threat of violence.
If you are expecting inside information from this writer (who teaches part-time at UCI), you will be disappointed. I don't know much beyond what is reported below from the university and news sources. I knew from public sources that Jones was planning to show up. I made a conscious decision to stay as far away from the flagpole area as I could. I did not want to be associated with Jones in any way. I do not agree with burning Korans or having demonstrations in front of mosques. I consider it a form of incitement. Thus, I remained in my office when I wasn't teaching class. I did learn, however, that the campus had put out a campus-wide alert and updated it. Here is what has been reported.
UCI Zot alerts
"Terry Jones, the Florida pastor who made news by burning the Quran last March, announced he would be speaking in the area of the flag poles at 11:30 on Thursday, Dec. 1. Intelligence received by UCIPD indicated suspicious activity by individuals not associated with campus that raised concern about the safety of the event. As a precaution the area has been closed and no events will take place in this area. Other campus activity is continuing as normal."
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"Earlier today, we received credible information about suspicious activity that raised safety concerns about the self-announced appearance of Terry Jones, the Florida pastor who made news earlier this year by burning the Quran. Based on this information, we secured the area where he announced he would appear, and canceled surrounding events. This was a precautionary measure to protect the safety of our students and our community.
The suspicious activity involved outside individuals not associated with the university.
Our police have been working closely with campus administration and with local and federal law enforcement officials to monitor the situation. Updates will be provided when available."
Michael V. Drake, M.D.
Chancellor
Paul Henisey
Chief of Police
LA Times report today:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/12/pastor-terry-jones-uc-irvine.html
OC Weekly Report today
http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/2011/12/rev_terry_jones_rally_blocked.php
OC Register report today
http://www.ocregister.com/news/closed-329479-vasich-information.html
There you have it. You now know as much as I do. There is, however, a question that is already being hotly debated on both sides. Did UCI and the Campus Police violate Jones' constitutional right to enter a public university and exercise his right of free speech in an area of campus designated as a "Free-Speech Zone"? This is a tough call if you want to keep it within legal grounds. It can also be argued that UCI has a long history of allowing other controversial figures to speak on campus, such as Amir Abdel Malik Ali, Abdul Alim Musa, Mohamed al-Asi, and George Galloway, to name a few. In 2001, in that same area, al-Asi told an audience, "You can take a Jew out of the ghetto, but you can't take the ghetto out of the Jew." So if Terry Jones is going to be turned away from UCI, what about others who make hate-filled statements on campus? Is there a double standard?
Of course, the UCI campus police have always known that those who turn out to counter the Musas, and Galloways are not going to resort to violence. Oh yes, we had an incident not so long ago at one of our annual Israel Apartheid rallies when an anonymous caller told cops that troublemakers were coming to campus to disrupt a Muslim Student Union-sponsored speaker. The cops turned out in force as a precautionary measure. The "troublemakers" consisted of about 40 middle-aged folks with Israeli and American flags. There was no problem. The call to the campus police was a malicious hoax by a cowardly person who remains anonymous (officially).
On the other hand, it is known that there are folks out there who want Jones dead. Anywhere he goes, he is a security risk. The UCI Campus Police also know it. His appearance here or anywhere else brings a risk of violence. Their primary duty in this case was to protect, not just Jones, but the students on campus. Thus, I have to defend the police and the university in their decision to bar Jones from UCI. Jones certainly has his right of free speech. At the same time, students, teachers and everyone else at UCI have the right to go about their business in safety.
UCI has suffered a lot in recent years from bad publicity, which probably figured in Jones' decision to choose UCI as a venue. In my view, we have enough tension here without having Pastor Jones come smokin' into town.
3 comments:
Good call be the UCIPD. Safety and security are important. But, this seem to be a Kodak moment for the UCI/MSU group, as they said this to A. Molina, the OC Register reporter: "The Muslim Student Union values the right to free speech regardless of the message of the speaker, however it condemns all forms of hate speech and discrimination, including religious intolerance." Of course this statement does not hold for Israeli Ambassadors.
Squid
They really ought to release what the threat was - if they haven't. The focus should be on who threatened him and seek punishment on that person/those people.
This should be a big deal. People shouldn't be threatening people and preventing a person to speak on a univerisity campus.
And I am completely against Jones. I do not support him in any way.
I support Malik Ali being able to speak on the campus. I think the MSU look like complete idiots when they invited him to speak but I would be against people threatening him too.
Anonymous,
I agree that now it is encumbant for the campus police and administration to investigate and identify who these mysterious people were that caused the police to shut down the event. If in fact, people were planning to do harm to anyone, that must be investigated fully.
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