The Simon Wiesenthal Center welcomed the decision by the administration of the University of California Irvine to suspend the Muslim Student Union (MSU) for their disruption of a speech byIsraeli Ambassador to the U.S., Michael Oren, earlier this year. The decision came following an independent judicial report that found that the MSU had planned their action well in advance, aviolation of UCI’s Principle of Community.
“This is victory against the haters who seek to stifle those who wish to voice their views and who aim to create an open dialogue to solve the ongoing Mideast crisis,”
The Wiesenthal Center's Campus Outreach division has been in the forefront of fighting anti-Semitism and anti-Israel activity on UC campuses and other universities across North America andEurope. Following the Ambassador Oren speech, Rabbi Hier reached out to UCI Chancellor Michael Drake and other officials to urge that Jewish students could voice their opinions without fear ofthreat and intimidation.
As a result of the Wiesenthal Center’s ongoing communication with the school, Chancellor Drake and other UCI senior officials will visit the Center’s Museum of Tolerance in the late summer andparticipate in the Tools for Tolerance® seminars designed for professionals. Earlier this year, officials from UC Davis, which has also seen an uptick of anti-Semitic incidents, visited theMuseum and participated in a similar program.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is anNGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).
For more information, please contact the Center's Public Relations Department, 310-553-9036, join the Center on Facebook, www.facebook.com/simonwiesenthalcenter, or follow @simonwiesenthal for news updatessent direct to your Twitter page or mobile device.