Last week, the court convicted ten UC Irvine students in heckling a speech by Michel Oren, the Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. While a lot was said about this incident, none of the stories reviewed the heckling history of UC Irvine’s Muslim Student Union (MSU). On February of 2007, the MSU heckled a lecture by Daniel Pipes, the founder and director of the Middle East Forum. In this event, members of the MSU shouted at Dr. Pipes, disrupting his lecture. In November of 2007, Dr. Pipes came back to UCI. This time there was no shouting by MSU members, but MSU members taped their mouths, held signs, and left the lecture demonstratively just as Dr. Pipes was about to start his lecture. The three events, Pipes February 2007, Pipes November 2007, and Oren 2010, can be found on Youtube. A close examination reveals the same faces. In summary, a student group at UC Irvine took it upon themselves to decide who is allowed to speak, and as in the case of Dr. Pipen and Mr. Oren, who is not allowed to speak. The First Amendment is not about the right to censor, as in the case of UC Irvine MSU, but is about freedom of speech. It was once said that Americans will disapprove of what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it. . In the case of the eleven hooligans from UC Irvine, the right of freedom of speech was not granted to their guest speakers.
Feb 07
Nov 07
Feb 10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
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