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The Muslim Student Union of the University of California, Irvine (MSU UCI, MSU, or Muslim Student Union) is a student organization at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) in
Irvine Irvine may refer to: Places On Earth Antarctica *Irvine Glacier *Mount Irvine (Antarctica) Australia *Irvine Island *Mount Irvine, New South Wales Canada *Irvine, Alberta * Irvine Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom *Irvine, North Ayrshire, Scotla ...
, United States, and an affiliated chapter of the national Muslim Students' Association. Its self-declared mission is to create an open environment, to promote social awareness, to strengthen Islamic foundations, and to cater to the Muslim student community at UCI. In 2010, the MSU was temporarily suspended by university officials, who found that the organization had deliberately disrupted a speech given on campus by then- Israeli ambassador to the United States Michael Oren during what became known as the
Irvine 11 controversy The Irvine 11 controversy was a controversy following a protest staged by American students against a speech given by Israel's ambassador Michael Oren at University of California, Irvine (UCI). The students, and the students' union involved, the ...
.


Activities and events

The MSU holds daily congregational prayers at least three times per day as well as weekly
Friday prayer In Islam, Friday prayer or Congregational prayer ( ar, صَلَاة ٱلْجُمُعَة, ') is a prayer ('' ṣalāt'') that Muslims hold every Friday, after noon instead of the Zuhr prayer. Muslims ordinarily pray five times each day according ...
s on campus. The MSU has held Islam Awareness Weeks and quarter-long events known as "Islam Awareness Quarter: Knowing the Strangers" to educate fellow students about Islam. The MSU has participated in or hosted a number of fundraising events: in 2007, the MSU and UNICEF hosted "Invisible Children", a fundraiser and information event about the plight of Ugandan child soldiers; in 2008, it held "Fashion Fighting Famine: Darfur", a Muslim-inspired fashion-event, fundraising for the famine in
Darfur Darfur ( ; ar, دار فور, Dār Fūr, lit=Realm of the Fur) is a region of western Sudan. ''Dār'' is an Arabic word meaning "home f – the region was named Dardaju ( ar, دار داجو, Dār Dājū, links=no) while ruled by the Daju, ...
in
Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...
; in 2004, it raised $12,000 to the victims of the
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami An earthquake and a tsunami, known as the Boxing Day Tsunami and, by the scientific community, the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake, occurred at 07:58:53 local time (UTC+7) on 26 December 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of northern Suma ...
; and in 2010, it raised over $5,000 to the Haiti earthquake victims. The MSU has also raised money to the victims of
hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...
. In 2008 and 2009, the MSU was one of several campus groups that hosted the week-long "Gears of War" event that explored the Iraq war and U.S. imperialism. The event criticized UCI's support for U.S. foreign policy as well as sexism, racism, and worker exploitation. The week was co-hosted by the UCI Worker Student Alliance, Muslim Student Union, Amnesty International at UCI, Darfur Action Committee, Campaign for Consciousness, and Students for a Sensible Drug Policy. In 2015, the MSU helped fund a "food pantry" on UCI using a $2,500 grant provided by the western branch of the Muslim Students Association. The food pantry would be used to provide food to students suffering from
food insecurity Food security speaks to the availability of food in a country (or geography) and the ability of individuals within that country (geography) to access, afford, and source adequate foodstuffs. According to the United Nations' Committee on World F ...
. The idea behind the project was that "No student should ever have to worry about where their next meal is coming", according to one MSU member.


Israeli Apartheid Week

The MSU participates in the annual Israeli Apartheid Week, an international, week-long educational series, aiming to increase public understanding of the history of the Palestinians as well as the racial inequalities they experience and to build support for the BDS movement. Critics, such as the
Anti-Defamation League The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), formerly known as the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, is an international Jewish non-governmental organization based in the United States specializing in civil rights law. It was founded in late Septe ...
, have alleged that the event is anti-Semitic and that the MSU has invited anti-Semitic speakers. In May 2009, the MSU hosted a lecture series called "Israel: The Politics of Genocide", featuring presentations of former congresswomen
Cynthia McKinney Cynthia Ann McKinney (born March 17, 1955) is an American politician, academic, and conspiracy theorist. As a member of the Democratic Party, she served six terms in the United States House of Representatives. She was the first African American ...
, Islamic activist Amir Abdel Malik Ali, and British parliamentarian
George Galloway George Galloway (born 16 August 1954) is a British politician, broadcaster, and writer who is currently leader of the Workers Party of Britain, serving since 2019. Between 1987 and 2010, and then between 2012 and 2015, Galloway was a Member o ...
. It also screened the award-winning film ''
Occupation 101 ''Occupation 101: Voice of the Silenced Majority'' is a 2006 documentary film on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict directed by Sufyan Omeish and Abdallah Omeish, and narrated by Alison Weir, founder of ''If Americans Knew''. The film focuses on ...
''. Critics called upon UCI Chancellor
Michael V. Drake Michael Vincent Drake (born July 9, 1950) is an American university administrator and physician who is the 21st president of the University of California. From 2014 to June 2020, he was the 15th president of Ohio State University. From 2005 to 2 ...
to condemn both the event and the MSU but he declined to do so. However, University of California's President, Mark Yudof, who is Jewish, condemned the event in a letter published on the pro-Israel website
Scholars for Peace in the Middle East A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researcher ...
. In his opinion, "the title of the series is virulent, historically inaccurate, and offensive to Jewish people everywhere. For me to feel otherwise would be antithetical to my life and beliefs." The MSU has invited a variety of speakers to their IAW events, among them, Professor Norman Finkelstein, Holocaust survivor Hedy Epstein, founder of Students for Justice in Palestine Professor Hatem Baizan, Professor Ilan Pappé, Rabbi
Yisroel Dovid Weiss Yisroel Dovid Weiss ( he, ישראל דוד ווייס; born 1956) is an American Haredi Jew, activist, and spokesman for a minority branch of small fringe group Neturei Karta, a Haredi anti-Zionist group. Residing in Monsey, New York, he bel ...
of Neturei Karta, and Alison Weir. In 2010, Malik Ali spoke.
Roz Rothstein Roz Rothstein (born 1952–1953) is the founder and CEO of StandWithUs. She has been recognized by both '' The Forward'' and '' The Jerusalem Post'' as one of the most influential Jews in the world. Early life and education Rothstein is the daug ...
, CEO of the right-wing pro-Israel advocacy organization StandWithUs, was in the audience and, during the question-and-answer session, she asked him if he supported Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad. Malik Ali answered affirmatively. Rothstein also asked if he supported "jihad on this campus" and Ali answered: "Jihad on this campus ...? As long as it's in the form of speaking truth to power, yes." Soon after, a group of UCI faculty wrote an open letter in which they expressed concern over campus activities that foment "hatred against Jews and Israelis" and referred to statements made by the recently invited speakers. Drake condemned "the speaker's endorsement of terrorism." MSU responded in a letter to the editor in '' New University'', stating that it joined him "in condemning terrorism", that it would not tolerate "the promotion of hatred against any particular group on the basis of their race, color, ethnicity or religion", and that it did not "endorse everything that our speakers say".


Irvine 11 controversy

In 2010, students of the union staged a protest against Israeli ambassador to the United States Michael Oren's visit to campus. During Oren's speech, the students, who became known as the Irvine 11, shouted, among other things, "Michael Oren, propagating murder is not an expression of free speech." UCI found that the MSU was implicated in organizing the protest and recommended suspending the union for one year, followed by another year of probation, as well as fifty hours of university-approved community service by its members, UCI reduced the suspension on appeal to a ban for an academic quarter, 100 hours of community service, and two years of probation. Criminal charges were brought against the students and they were found guilty of misdemeanors. The verdict was upheld on appeal. The prosecution of the Irvine 11 was met with condemnation by members of the academic community, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and numerous others. Legal scholars warned about the potential chilling effect that it could produce, arguing that it was an example of selective prosecution, although Law professor Alan Dershowitz defended the prosecution as both legally sound and necessary.


Complaints and harassment by Zionist groups

MSU has been the target of harassment and a number of complaints filed by Zionist groups. In 2004, the right-wing Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) alleged that Muslim students at UCI who wore green stoles at their graduation ceremony were inciting terrorism against Jews and Israel. Fox News host Bill O'Reilly stated that the students were "signifying their support for the terrorist group Hamas and for suicide bombers". The text on the stoles read: "There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger" and "God, increase my knowledge". The same year, ZOA filed a complaint with the
Education Department An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...
's
Office for Civil Rights The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is a sub-agency of the U.S. Department of Education that is primarily focused on enforcing civil rights laws prohibiting schools from engaging in discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex ...
(OCR) alleging that Jewish students were harassed and subjected to a hostile environment at UCI. The charges pertaining to the MSU was that it had sponsored an annual "Zionist Awareness Week" which, according to ZOA, featured anti-Semitic speakers, campus magazine articles, marches, and the erection of a temporary wall to symbolize the wall, or barrier, Israel has built in the West Bank. ZOA also claimed that a Jewish student had been pushed at an event sponsored by the MSU in 2006. Following a three-year-long investigation, the OCR failed to substantiate any of the ZOA's 13 allegations and the MSU was cleared of any wrong-doing. The investigation concluded that the speeches were about opposition to Israeli policies and not to the religious or national affiliation of Jewish students. A local group associated with David Horowitz's
David Horowitz Freedom Center The David Horowitz Freedom Center, formerly the Center for the Study of Popular Culture (CSPC), is a conservative anti-Islam foundation founded in 1988 by political activist David Horowitz and his long-time collaborator Peter Collier. It was ...
, dissatisfied with the result of the investigation, released their own report lambasting the MSU. ZOA appealed the OCR's decision to dismiss their complaint and a new investigation was initiated in 2008. One of the allegations were that the MSU had distributed flyers allegedly falsely attributing an anti-Israel statement to South Africa's former President
Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist who served as the President of South Africa, first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1 ...
and that it thus "disseminat dfalse information that inflames hatred for Jews and Israel." After five years of deliberations, the OCR again dismissed the complaint in 2013 emphasizing that discrimination laws "restrict the exercise of expressive activities or speech that are protected under the First Amendment of the US Constitution," especially not "in the university environment where academic freedom fosters the robust exchange of ideas." ZOA's other complains were that the university discriminated against Jewish students by enforcing a no-camera rule for MSU-sponsored speakers and that UCI had failed to stop students from using the University trademark on t-shirts that read "UC Intifada: How you can help Palestine." These complaints were also dismissed. During the MSU's Israeli Apartheid Week in 2007, a local self-proclaimed Zionist dressed up in a turban with his face covered, holding signs reading "Death to Infidels. Death to Israel". He claimed to have been spat on and to have received death threats, but later admitted to the police that he "embellished a bit" and said that spit from MSU students' mouths had landed on him when he argued with them. After an event held in 2009, co-sponsored by the MSU and other student groups, featuring
George Galloway George Galloway (born 16 August 1954) is a British politician, broadcaster, and writer who is currently leader of the Workers Party of Britain, serving since 2019. Between 1987 and 2010, and then between 2012 and 2015, Galloway was a Member o ...
during which funds were raised to his charity Viva Palestina, ZOA filed a complaint alleging that the funds were raised for Hamas. The university launched an investigation and Democratic Representative Brad Sherman joined in on the charges, writing that he believed that the investigation would confirm that the MSU had "solicited funds for a terrorist organization" and that it should be banned from campus. The allegations were unfounded and the MSU was cleared of any wrongdoing.; In 2016, the David Horowitz Freedom Center hung posters targeting members of MSU and Students for Justice in Palestine on campus. UCI denounced the campaign for creating an unsafe and intimidating environment for students. Horowitz maintained that his campaign was intended to prevent "on-campus BDS resolutions to boycott Israel's economy." Horowitz has previously claimed that MSU supports terrorism and is a part of Hamas.


See also

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List of organizations that have endorsed the BDS movement List of organizations that support the BDS movement include organizations that either has supported the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement or has endorsed comprehensive boycotts of Israel. Comprehensive is here defined as a boycott ...
*
Student activities and traditions at UC Irvine The University of California, Irvine has a number of student activities and traditions. Shared governance UCI has separate student governments representing undergraduate and graduate students. The Associated Students of the University of Californi ...


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External links

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Anti-Defamation League report on the MSU

California Campuses Gain a Reputation as Hotbeds of Anti-Israel Rhetoric


Video


Irvine 11's protest against Michael Oren

Death to Apartheid with Amir Abdel Malik Ali @ UCI (Part 2)
{{University of California, Irvine Student political organizations in the United States Islamic organizations based in the United States Islamic political organizations Anti-Zionism in the United States University of California, Irvine Student organizations in California Student organizations established in 2001 Student protests in California Education scandals