At UC Irvine, MSU and SJP Protest I-Fest

This past week, after the Muslim Student Association held their week of anti-Israel events at UC Irvine the previous week, Anteaters for Israel celebrated Israel's birthday with their annual I-Fest, which featured tables on the campus' Ring Road on Tuesday and Thursday basically promoting Israel. Predictably, the MSU and Students for Justice in Palestine turned out both days to hold demonstrations.

While last week one female from Anteaters for Israel held up a hand-drawn poster that read, "This is anti-Semitism week", which caused some female MSU members to complain at the Anteaters for Israel table, what the MSU/SJP did Tuesday and Thursday was much more aggressive. Both days, they paraded past the I-Fest tables with their "End apartheid" banner. Today, 20 or so spread out across Ring Road with posters and the aforementioned forcing annoyed students to walk around them as they shouted "Free free Palestine", "No Justice no peace", and other chants. One Jewish student told me that when he filmed the protest with his cell phone, an SJP student came up and told him he was not allowed to film without permission.

Right.

One thing that needs to be pointed out here. This protest today came marching out of the Cross Cultural Center, which is adjacent to the Ring Road area where I-Fest was set up. When they were finished, they marched right back into the CCC. In effect, the CCC is not only the de facto clubhouse for the MSU, it is their staging area. It was to the CCC that the MSU adjourned after the 2010 disruption of the Israeli ambassador's speech for their debriefing.

So here is my point. How is it that the CCC allows its facility to be used as a staging area for one group to launch a protest against another group on campus (Jewish students)? What kind of inclusion is that?

Another point. Only at the very end of the MSU/SJP protest did the campus police show up. I know it is their desire to keep a low profile, but in any event involving the Israeli-Palestinian issue, somebody-at least one officer-needs to be present. The potential for volatility is too great.

I am getting the impression over the past two weeks that the UCIPD is drifting back to the days when they were allowing the MSU to have their way on campus.

Stay tuned.