The case that has recently attracted national attention in regards to free-speech rights has come to an end. According to The Los Angeles Times, seven students from UC Irvine and three from UC Riverside have been found guilty of two misdemeanors to conspire and then disrupt a February 2010 speech at UC Irvine by the Israeli ambassador to the United States. A jury in Orange County deliberated for over two days.
One of the case's main debates related to opposing views as to who was being censored during the speech. The prosecutor claimed that Ambassador Michael Oren was "shut down" by students interrupting his speech who took turns shouting phrases that were allegedly planned. The defense argued that the students were being singled out and that they were only displaying typical behavior seen at other college protests. During trial, the defense stated that a guilty verdict could squash student activism and the free exchange of ideas at colleges throughout the nation.
Another issue was whether this particular incident needed to be prosecuted at a criminal level. Some students were disciplined by University administrators through the suspension of the campus Muslim Student Union for an academic quarter. Pending the fulfillment of 40 hours of community service, the charges against one defendant have been tentatively dismissed. The dean of UC Irvine's Law School stated that university sanctions were enough for the students for something so minor and that criminal sanctions go too far.
Although there are varying points of view on the guilty jury verdict, it does raise some valid questions about freedom of speech laws.
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