Daniel Pipes, UCI, Free Speech and the MSU

Tonight at UCI should be interesting.  Daniel Pipes is speaking at the Pacific Ballroom D from 7 to 9 p.m.  Pipes is a senior Giuliani foreign policy adviser.  The last time he spoke on campus, members of the Muslim Student Union disrupted his speech. 

Free speech ought to mean that anyone can speak (write) their mind about issues.  It does not give free license to shout down others.  That isn’t free speech – it’s doing violence on the free speech of others. 

If Daniel Pipes wants to, for example, discuss the Republic of the Sudan’s use of Islamic Sharia law to charge a British teacher with inciting religious hatred after she allowed her students to name a teddy bear Muhammad, an offense that could subject her to 40 lashes (see: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iUYY9aFqMRYNGvVIYkw8XTkcTi0QD8T6PHKG1) then that’s his right.

If UCI’s Muslim Student Union wants to have a meeting discussing the Republic of the Sudan’s use of Islamic Sharia law and why they agree or disagree with its applications, then anyone should be free to listen without disrupting the talk. 

I expect to attend tonight’s meeting.  I will be watching to see if Mr. Pipes is allowed to speak without disruption and, if he is disrupted, what, if anything, will be done to defend his First Amendment rights in a citadel of academic freedom. 

All the best,

Chuck DeVore
State Assemblyman, 70th District
www.ChuckDeVore.com

Comments

[Rabbi Yonah]

Thanks you Assemblyman DeVore for keeping these issues in the spotlight. The MSU at UC Irvine has not demonstrated in recent memory any goodwill towards tolerance.

Besides the huge disruption of Pipes speech, which helped bring to campus last year, they have disrupted other Jewish speakers, for example, Prime Minister Olmert's brother who spoke last year.

[The Mechnical Eye]

And let's see if we can avoid the mindless antagonism both sides invite.

It benefits Daniel Pipes if the story is about undergrads wrecking his talk. It hurts him if he has to forthrightly explain what a massive foreign policy nightmare fighting World War IV has been.

DU

[Chuck DeVore]

Good points, Mechanical, regarding the benefits of undisrupted free speech.

But, since you raised the issue, do you believe that "fighting World War IV has been" a "massive foreign policy nightmare" because we counterattacked after 9/11 or do you believe that the war in Afghanistan, Iraq, and actions elsewhere have simply been ill-executed? If the former, then do you believe that it is possible for the most powerful and wealthiest nation on earth to be universally loved by simply absorbing attacks? If the latter, do you believe that the improved conditions on the ground in Iraq might someday lead to victory over Islamic extremists, at least in that theater of operations?

All the best,

Chuck DeVore
State Assemblyman, 70th District
www.ChuckDeVore.com

[Hanna]

If both sides were polite at Annapolis, can one hope for the same at UCI?

[killerjoe]

Anyone who believes that the msu will give Mr. Pipes the right to speak is a fool. Their agenda is to shut down any speach that does not agree with them. The only thing interesting about tonight, will be how quickly and how far the campus police will run away from the ball room, and how quickly the left demands that Mr. Pipes not be allowed his right to free speach.

[Dan Chmielewski]

Sorry Chuck. I missed the part where Iraq attacked us on 9/11.