Charges Against Muslim Students Prompt Debate Over Free Speech

February 9, 2011

Author: Jennifer Medina

Source: The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/10/education/10irvine.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=charges%20against%20muslim%20students%20prompt%20debate%20over%20free%20speech&st=cse

When administrators at the University of California, Irvine, decided to suspend the Muslim Student Union for a quarter over the disruption of a speech last year by the Israeli ambassador to the United States, most thought the latest controversy on campus had ended.

District Attorney Tony Rackauckas of Orange County, however, disagreed — and filed misdemeanor criminal charges last week against the 11 student protesters, accusing them of disturbing a public meeting and engaging in a conspiracy to do so. 

The charges have not only reignited campus debate about the event but have also prompted a feisty argument about the role of free speech on a college campus, in this case one whose politics can seem as complicated as peace negotiations in the Middle East.