We have previously reported on disruptions of pro-Israel events that occurred at UC Irvine and UCLA over the past two years. While no arrests have been made, complaints have been filed by those negatively impacted. The below article by Algemeiner brings us up to date on the progress of those two cases.
https://www.algemeiner.com/2019/01/17/mixed-reactions-after-prosecution-efforts-against-anti-israel-disruptions-at-ucla-and-uci/?utm_content=opinion1&utm_medium=daily_email&utm_campaign=email&utm_source=internal/
There is both good and bad to take out of this article. On the one hand, both universities, like so many others, have for far too long tolerated disruptive and intimidating behavior exhibited by pro-Palestinian students. On the other hand, it is a hopeful sign that those who engage in such behavior might somehow be held accountable.
A couple of points I would like to highlight:
"Within legal limits, UC police departments function like a private force, answerable to the campus administration, which, in turn, often obeys the dictates of the college’s public affairs managers. If a university wants to downplay an incident, it can exercise discretion and instruct the police forces to overlook a disruption. If the police departments do not investigate and refer a case to prosecutors, no criminal action will be taken by prosecutors.
Observers believe a built-in conflict of interest and system of unequal justice can emerge when publicity-shy media relations managers can give campus police their marching orders."
This to me is a universal problem with university campuses. The campus police answer to university administrators, and the last thing most university administrators want to see is students arrested on campus. Thus, we have what I call, "the potted plant syndrome", where campus police are placed in a position of keeping a low profile and trying to diffuse a situation rather than enforce the law and protect the rights of all to express their opinions. At UC Irvine in particular, I have observed campus police act with the utmost professionalism in heading off potential violent situations, while at other times, allowing too much free rein to pro-Palestinian activists in taking away the free speech rights of pro-Israel speakers and audience members.
Though somewhat unrelated, one of the worst examples in recent years was the performance (or non-performance of UC Berkeley campus police during the riot that ensued when conservative speaker Milo Yiannopoulos attempted to speak on campus in 2017.
Second:
"Whether or not the perpetrators at UCLA or UCI are prosecuted, it seems the reality on the ground at UC campuses has been altered. In the days after Thanksgiving 2018, this writer delivered four consecutive lectures on Israel history at California campuses: UC Davis, UC Berkeley, San Francisco State, and UCLA. Despite concerns, no interference or disruption manifested.
The UCLA event was sponsored by a coalition of groups including the same Students Supporting Israel chapter that had been harassed last May. Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, attended to kick off the live-streamed event. At UCLA, it was a new day. When campus police learned of the event, they took immediate steps to ensure it would proceed with no interference. Two UCLA PD officers were dispatched to the event itself, both highly trained and deeply conversant with the pro-Israel and Jewish communal scene. A representative of the administration joined the officers. The police and administration declared that, in the event of a disruption, perpetrators would be given one warning to immediately cease and desist. If they did not, “they will be arrested and charged.” This, coupled with the LA prosecutor’s watchful eye, combined to insulate the event from criminal disruption."
This is a positive development. The universities are now on notice that outside organizations are not willing to take this lying down. Free speech and protests are one thing, but disruptions, intimidation, and the denial of free speech to others is quite another. A university campus should not be a sanctuary for the law, no matter how many students, professors, or administrators may think it is. Those who are bullied, intimidated, disrupted, or have their free speech rights taken away have laws to resort to.
I commend the students and organizations that have said that enough is enough.
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