Pro-Palestinian Disruptors Get Off Lightly (Again) at UC Irvine

This article first appeared in Eagle Rising.

Last week, the University of California at Irvine announced the findings of their 4-month long investigation into the May 10 incident when Students for Justice in Palestine disrupted yet another pro-Israel event on campus. SJP has been placed on some sort of probationary status for the next two years. They are not suspended but must abide by certain conditions as outlined in the above link.

What we do not know is what punishment, if any, has been handed out to the individual students who organized, led, and took part in the disruption, which I videotaped. Absent that, it is my view that SJP as an organization was let off the hook. They should have been banned from campus-permanently.

Keep in mind that SJP led a similar disruption of an Israeli event at UCI on May 18, 2016. For that incident they received a letter of warning.

Keep in mind that for the past two years, SJP has led disruptions of the annual I(srael)- Fest at UCI, marching out of the Cross Cultural Center and through the I-Fest displays to chant and drown out the festivities, after which they march back into the CCC, which is their de facto clubhouse. For years I have complained to UCI about allowing the Cross Cultural Center to be used as a staging area for SJP disruptions of Jewish events-to no avail.

I have also complained about the participation as observers by the National Lawyers Guild chapter at the UCI Law School at these disruptions. Why is it that an entity of the law school is assisting SJP in their disruptions?

It should also be noted that the latest (May 10) disruption was not only videotaped by Your Truly, but also witnessed by the Asst Vice Chancellor, who tried vainly to keep order before finally calling in the campus police to escort the pro-Israel audience from the scene. Yet, it took 4 months for UCI to come to a conclusion.

For years, as an adjunct teacher in the UCI Extension (until 2016), I have been warning UCI that some day there will be a tragedy on campus-a tragedy we all want to avoid. When it happens, much of the blame will fall on the weak administrators, past and present, who have been afraid to stand up to groups like SJP who do not respect the free speech rights of others.