State Legislator Chuck Devore is calling for the UC – Irvine Muslim Student Union to be banned from campus.
His statement follows the arrest of eleven UCI students for disrupting a speaking event by Michael Oren, the Israeli Ambassador to the United States. While the MSU defends the eleven students arrested at Oren’s speech, one of whom is the organization’s President, the group does not claim responsibility for their actions.
The eleven protestors who disrupted Oren’s speech clearly violated a reasonable campus regulation that prohibits genuine disruptions of invited speakers. The right to invite and hear speakers of ones own choosing is an essential component of Academic Freedom that the Center and its partners have long defended.
However, banning the Muslim Student Union from campus for the incident serves to silence the MSU’s viewpoint rather than merely hold students accountable for their actions—a far different situation. The free exchange of ideas relies on all students being free to express their views and beliefs, no matter how strongly Assemblyman Devore feels about them.
The University of California – Irvine is currently investigating disciplinary action against the MSU. While it looks like the organization will be allowed to stay on campus we hope they resist outside pressure silence the marketplace of ideas and punish a student organization for its views.