Muslims Hold Protest Over Canceled Event

A handful of Muslim students, angered that Orange Coast College officials canceled their Anti-Oppression, Anti-Zionist Week, tried to drum up support on campus Thursday by staging a two-hour demonstration.

While few other students joined in, the free-speech controversy has attracted a good bit of attention beyond the borders of the Costa Mesa school. ACLU attorneys have written a letter defending the Muslim students, and Anti-Defamation League officials have taken up the interests of Jewish students offended by the anti-Zionist event.

“I think that freedom of speech is a fundamental right,” said Gary Levin, assistant director of the local Anti-Defamation League. “My concern is when freedom of speech becomes hate speech and makes people feel unsafe.”

Representatives of the Orange County Muslim and Jewish communities have also met with administration officials, hoping to work out a solution.

College President Margaret Gratton said Thursday that free speech wasn’t the issue. The school pulled the plug on the four-day program because students didn’t follow the rules in setting it up, such as misleading officials about the program’s content and using college stationery that “improperly implied” that the college was sponsoring the anti-Zionist week.

“It truly is a procedural issue,” Gratton said.

But Usama Kahf, spokesman for the Muslim Student Assn., said school administrators decided to selectively enforce the usually lax rules because they were troubled by the event’s anti-Zionist tone.

Zionism was the movement that fought to establish a Jewish homeland in Palestine and works today in support of Israel.

“We’ve had many, many events over the past three years, and the school has always been very supportive,” Kahf said. “There has never been a single event that they’ve asked us for [the details]. I’d call it hypocritical.”

The event hit the administration’s radar screen when fliers titled “Anti-Opposition Week” were posted last week around campus. A similar event at Santa Clara University in May ignited controversy when Jewish and Muslim students clashed verbally over anti-Zionist lectures and fliers.

At the Orange Coast College campus Thursday, a handful of Muslim students--carrying signs and loudspeakers--tried to pressure the administration into reversing its ban by staging a two-hour walk on Fairview Road and Harbor Boulevard.

Other students manned a Muslim Student Assn. stall on the main campus walkway--called Freedom of Speech Walk. While most students passed by, at one point a student standoff, however peaceful, mirrored Middle East fault lines.

Amanda Dryden, a 20-year-old neuroscience student, told the Muslim students they were disseminating false information about the government in Israel.

“You say Israel isn’t a democracy but you’ve never been to Israel,” she said.

Dryden said she had formed a Jewish student association at the college in response to the Muslim group’s recent events and fliers, and she told them she was willing to talk.

“I’m 100% willing to do a joint group, advocating peace,” Dryden said.

But Masood Tahir, a 22-year-old business and math student and president of the Muslim Student Assn., countered that she was not interested in cooperation.

“There’s no point sitting down with someone who wants to cancel our events,” Tahir said. “They tried to cancel our event. . . . They’re the enemy.”

Irini Vallera Rickerson, an art history professor, pleaded for peace between the students, saying both sides were entitled to their opinion.

“I understand it’s difficult for people to stay calm when things are going on” in the Middle East, Rickerson said. “We should have an open dialogue between the two groups.”

David Gavar, 25, a Spanish major, said he was interested in hearing what both sides had to say.

“As an Army reserve in the medical field, [the conflict] could affect me,” Gavar said. “I could be in the Middle East [soon] and I could be taking care of my soldiers, Israelis, Palestinians. There’s always stuff on either side they’re not telling us. I just want to know the truth.”

Despite the controversy, the stall was largely ignored by students, who were more interested in lunch and studying. A nearby Hacky Sack game drew more spectators than the protest.

Nearby, Steve Weller, an 18-year-old business student, was poring over a physics book, reading about molecules to earn a transfer credit to USC.

“I haven’t paid much attention,” Weller said. “I’ve been too busy. I don’t have a side, but I totally think they should be able to protest. It’s America. That’s what we’re all about.”