The suspension of a Muslim student group at UC Irvine was upheld by university officials, but the recommended yearlong ban was reduced to one academic quarter, a move that could allow the group to begin participating in campus activities in January.
The Muslim Student Union was appealing the campus ban that was handed down earlier this summer after a protest by several students during a February speech by Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren.
The group has maintained that it did not organize the protest, though several of its officers and members participated in the protest, in which Oren was repeatedly interrupted as he spoke.
In maintaining the suspension, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Manuel Gomez focused mostly on the participation of members of the organization in the protest rather than a lengthy set of e-mails that was used as evidence in the initial investigation by the university’s director of student housing.
The e-mails, which the school said it obtained anonymously, showed that the Muslim Student Union “planned, orchestrated and coordinated” the protest, school administrators had said in the previous suspension letter.
“The public actions of [blacked out] give the appearance of MSU sponsorship to these serious violations of campus policies and First Amendment protections,” Gomez wrote this week in his letter to the group. “And because the violations occurred on campus … the perception of MSU endorsement is especially difficult to overcome.”
Read the full story at the Los Angeles Times.
Like The College Fix on Facebook / Follow us on Twitter
Please join the conversation about our stories on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, MeWe, Rumble, Gab, Minds and Gettr.