In response to the disruption of Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren at the University of California Irvine on Feb. 8, AJC wrote this letter to the editors of the Orange County Register and Los Angeles Times (READ STORY):

AJC is outraged that a speech by Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, was disrupted Monday evening, February 8, by students at University of California at Irvine, and we encourage the university to act.

Eleven students, most of them enrolled at the UCI were arrested (and released) for disrupting the speech. We hope the university leadership uses this as a “teachable moment.”

UCI has had a long history of anti-Israel activity. There is a very active Muslim Student Union which has sponsored vehemently anti-Semitic events and speakers for many years. AJC has noted to UCI leadership in the past that while academic freedom allows the bringing of controversial speakers to campus, the leadership must do more to use its own free speech rights to denounce hatred.

But the disruption of a speech is an even more serious transgression, one which gets to the heart of academic inquiry. These eleven students interfered with the capacity of their classmates to learn.  If they wanted to make their point, they could have distributed leaflets, asked tough questions, maybe even walked out in unison as a protest.

The administration must make sure this type of tactic is not used again. It must, therefore, penalize these students in a way that demonstrates that, regardless of how committed students feel on a particular issue, their passion does not give them license to disrupt others from learning. UCI leadership needs to underscore that while it welcomes students with whatever views, it will not tolerate anti-academic bullies.    

Miki Sholkoff 
AJC OC Board President                                                 

Rabbi Marc Dworkin
Director, Orange County