STAFF EDIT: Free speech or small crime

Ten University of California, Irvine students were recently scheduled to appear in court after they disrupted Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren’s speech on U.S.-Israel relations last year at an on-campus event.

The students, faced with misdemeanor charges of conspiracy to disturb a meeting and disturbing a meeting, interrupted Oren’s speech for around 20 minutes, shouting things like “you are a war criminal” and “propagating murder is not an expression of free speech.”

The university has already reviewed the case and suspended the Muslim Student Union’s charter for one quarter and placed them on probation for two years, although many of the students who participated in the protest recently graduated.

Much debate remains over the validity of the charges. The students maintain that it was within their First Amendment rights to protest, and that charges are only being pressed due to their religion.

While claims that they are being singled out because they are Muslim are slightly ludicrous, pressing formal charges seems equally as ridiculous. The students should be protected under the First Amendment, as it is their prerogative to express their opinion. However, because they are students at an established institution, they must adhere to the university’s code of conduct. Since Oren’s speech was an event organized and hosted by the university, it is the university’s job to enforce the code of conduct at the event.

Suspending the Muslim Student Union’s charter and placing them on probation seems like too harsh a punishment for the crimes committed. In fact, a similar incident took place at Boston University’s own Jacob Sleeper Auditorium two years ago when Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor emeritus Noam Chomsky delivered a speech about the Israeli apartheid debate.

Students from BU’s Students for Israel took over the question and answer session and disrupted Chomsky throughout his talk. Although police were present during the event, the students were not stopped and received no punishment or reprimand for their behavior.

The incident at UC Irvine is only receiving as much attention as it has because it is such a politically charged issue. If students had interrupted someone like Snooki while she was delivering a speech, it is highly doubtful that they would have even been reprimanded, let alone charged with a crime.

As citizens, the students had a right to express their opinions through protest. However, by being enrolled at the university, they entered into an agreement to obey the university’s code, and as such need to remain within it in order to escape punishment altogether.