Countywide : UCI Group Hits FBI, Military Recruiting

A group of about 50 UC Irvine students demonstrated Monday to protest against FBI and military recruiters on campus.

Chanting “UCI discriminates” and wearing lilac-colored armbands to symbolize unity, the students said they were concerned that the student council has not put pressure on the university to keep FBI and military recruiters off the campus.

Rally organizers said the FBI and the military ban employment of lesbians, gays and bisexuals. The university, they pointed out, has a policy that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and should therefore ban groups that discriminate.

“I’m mad as hell that people can preach their bigotry here on campus,” said Eric Merkt, one of the speakers at the rally and a senior majoring in English and philosophy. “What kind of integrity does a university, which allows discriminatory groups on campus, have? Is this a place of tolerance or intolerance?”

The rally was sponsored by an ad hoc committee of students who are upset over the student council delay in taking a vote on an anti-discrimination bill. If approved, the bill would enable the Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Student Union and the student council to file a formal complaint with the university’s office of affirmative action.

“I haven’t seen students as seriously concerned about an issue as I have seen students here,” said Robert F. Gentry, the associate dean of students, who attended the rally. “I’m here because I’m openly gay and I too have suffered discrimination.”

Gentry, who is also the mayor of Laguna Beach, said the FBI and the military have recruited on campus for at least the 22 years he has been at UCI.

The bill has been on the student council agenda for the last three meetings, but it is yet to be voted on.

The council has not taken a vote because there haven’t been enough council members present at the meetings to “truly represent the students,” said Ernie Prukner, a student council representative.

However, those in favor of the bill say the council is using filibuster tactics to delay voting on the bill.

“Part of the problem is that some of the people on the campus are voting their religious views and not representing the students,” said Daniel Tsang, one of the rally organizers and a political science lecturer and social science bibliographer. “The voting council is composed of conservatives. They’re stonewalling (the bill) and they’re not letting the issue come to vote.”