Some of the Muslim students who were arrested last year at the University of California, Irvine, for disrupting a speech by Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren have been subpoenaed by a grand jury, their attorney said Friday.
At least six of the 11 students arrested Feb. 8 for protesting during Oren’s speech appeared before the panel, and some were questioned by an investigator from the Orange County district attorney’s office, attorney Carol Sobel told The Associated Press.
Susan Schroeder, a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office, declined to comment.
Under state law, the district attorney has a year from the date of the arrest to file any charges, Sobel said.
The students were arrested after shouting and protesting during Oren’s speech on U.S.-Israeli security, forcing the diplomat to stop his remarks for 20 minutes. The incident was captured on video and enflamed tension between Muslim and Jewish students at the university.
The university revoked the Muslim Student Union’s charter for one year and placed it on probation for another year after launching its own investigation. In September, the school softened the sanctions and restored the group’s charter on Dec. 31, but added a year of probation and 100 hours of community service.
“As far as the university is concerned, the MSU has completed the discipline that was meted out by our on-campus process and any further grand jury or charges from the DA’s office is all handled out of there,” said Cathy Lawhon, a university spokeswoman.
Hadeer Soliman, a spokeswoman for the Muslim Student Union, referred questions to Sobel.
The discourse between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel students at UC Irvine has been particularly vitriolic in recent years and has been influenced by outside organizations as well.
The New York-based Zionist Organization of America issued a letter last year after Oren’s speech asking potential students and donors to boycott the campus — a position criticized by several Jewish student groups on campus.
The Muslim Student Union drew national attention in 2004 when more than two dozen students wore green stoles to their graduation. They said the stoles symbolized their faith, but others said the clothing represented allegiance to the militant group Hamas and was meant to intimidate Jewish students.
The Zionist Organization of America also complained to federal civil rights investigators about alleged anti-Semitic speeches by speakers invited to campus and complained to the university that the MSU was conducting fundraising for a group called Viva Palestina at a campus event.
The ZOA alleged the money was supporting terrorist activities.
The federal civil rights investigation concluded in 2007 that while some Muslim student activities could be offensive to Jewish students and that the speeches and marches were based on opposition to Israeli policies, not the national origin of Jewish students.
The ZOA appealed, but Lawhon said nothing ever came of it.
The university found that MSU violated campus policy by raising funds for Viva Palestina without notifying the dean of students, but the group was already suspended and no additional action was taken, Lawhon said.