A Critical Call To Action: Stand With Free Speech, Stand Up Against Abuse of our Universities, Liberties, and Values

In a carefully orchestrated action, over 75 Muslim students and their sympathizers repeatedly jeered and screamed raucously to silence Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren during his speech at UC Irvine (UCI) on Monday, Feb. 8. Eleven of the most disruptive Muslim students were arrested. The UCI administration is now considering what punitive actions to take. Watch the video of the event at: www.youtube.com/watch.

The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) and Muslim student groups have launched a campaign to defend the disruptive students, claiming that their right to free speech has been violated. It was not. From the outset, they were invited to stay and ask questions during the Q and A, but they chose disruption over education, embarrassing themselves and the university. Now, in a mockery of American values, they claim that free speech is the freedom to silence others. It is not.

Free speech is at great risk, and we need your help.

It should be noted that StandWithUs is very proud of the Anteaters for Israel student group for their leadership on behalf of free speech at UC Irvine. We feel it is our responsibility to support their efforts.

Write to UCI's administration and let them know:

You support their taking firm steps to sanction these raucous students and to prevent similar future occurrences.
That such incidents must not be tolerated. Free speech is not the freedom to silence others.
Enough is enough. This event is a microcosm of what we have seen at UCI in the past and at far too many other campuses. It is time for responsible adults to say no to this thug-like intolerance, ignorance, and hate and restore reason and informed debate at our institutions of higher learning.

* The university must demand respect for civil discourse during events.
* The university must enforce freedom of speech.
* The university must resist efforts at intimidation designed to prevent the free exchange of ideas.
* The university must suspend or expel the students who were arrested.
* The university should suspend university funding of the Muslim Student Union while investigating the role it played in planning the demonstration. The president of the MSU was one of those arrested.
* The university should demand that the students involved issue a public apology to Ambassador Oren, the State of Israel, the administration, the departments, the student organizations that co-sponsored the event, and to community members who came to learn from Ambassador Oren.
* The university should require the offending students to undergo special training in civil discourse and the principle of free speech and to take a course that presents the Arab-Israeli conflict with all points of view.
* The university should take firm, clearly articulated steps to ensure that this does not happen again at future events.

UCI is in a critical position as a result of this unfortunate incident. It has captured worldwide attention. UCI has the opportunity and the responsibility to serve as a role model for other university administrations plagued with similar extremist efforts to silence dissenting views. UCI must take the lead in restoring a reasonable climate on our campuses.

As part of your action, please also review the StandWithUs video of this event again at www.youtube.com/watch and make sure that you forward it to all your friends. Encourage them to become involved with us, and Stand Up for Free Speech.
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ACTION: Please send a copy of the letter below (or write your own) to the addresses below.

Don't leave this action to others. Imagine if everyone thought that others would take action. Please take five minutes and do this yourself. Now is not the time to be passive on this issue. Your activism can and will make a difference. We need you now.

Please write to:
Chancellor Drake
chancellor (at) uci.edu
949.824.5011 (You may call and leave a message.)

Office of the Dean of Students (who is determining the punishment)
deanstu (at) uci.edu
949.824.5181

Mark G. Yudof
President of the University of California
president (at) ucop.edu