Remember, remember the Irvine 11

Students have always pushed the limit when questioning authority, and they usually get away with it. But sometimes, as with the Irvine 11, they get knocked down.

Israel's ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, delivered a speech at the University of California, Irvine in February 2010 that drew national attention. About halfway through his address, a student stood before the 500 others seated in the room, shouted a message at Oren and made his way to the aisle, knowing there would certainly be an officer there waiting for him.

Oren continued his speech only to be interrupted again. And again. And again. That evening, Oren would be interrupted a total of 10 times by 11 different students. The group came to be known as the Irvine 11.

The protesters were all escorted out of the hall and arrested. UC Irvine administrators later alleged the university's Muslim Student Union planned the protest, prompting the university to suspend the organization for the remainder of that semester and place it on probation through December 2012. Nearly a year later, the Orange County district attorney charged each of the protesters with two misdemeanors — disturbing a meeting and conspiring to do so. On Friday, a jury found 10 of the 11 students guilty on both charges and sentenced each to three years of probation and 56 hours of community service.

College campuses have historically been the epicenter of the American social and political conscience. From the civil rights movement to the Vietnam War to the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear, college campuses have hosted the robust debates and free flow of ideas that are vital components of the American identity. Regardless of whether you agree with their approach, the Irvine 11 were simply expressing their views much like many protesters before them.

Personally, I would have taken an alternate route. Indeed, when Oren spoke at this university in October 2010, I sat quietly and listened to him during his speech and then joined other students in protest outside afterward. The Irvine 11 chose a different approach, but it was still a peaceful protest that shouldn't have resulted in criminal convictions.

Protesters commonly flirt with unacceptable behavior, but authorities rarely pursue disciplinary action. When Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) yelled "You lie!" during President Barack Obama's health-care speech to Congress, he was only asked to apologize. When two individuals interrupted Obama's commencement address at Notre Dame, they were simply escorted out. This selective enforcement undermines our judicial system and is unfair to the Irvine 11. UC Irvine's sanctions on the Muslim Student Union were a sufficient consequence.

I deeply respect the courage of the Irvine 11 — they embody the passion and the voice that drive student activism. Martin Luther King Jr. told us "the greatness of America is the right to protest for right." The conviction of those 11 students is a conviction of the entire student voice. It is a conviction of the very freedom of dissent and intellectual liberty that defines our universities.

So we as students are now tasked with reclaiming our impunity to demonstrate. This is not a matter of which side you stand on or which cause you champion. This is a matter of principle. As long as you are motivated by your beliefs, you should be allowed to stand and make your voice heard — even if your methods are a bit unorthodox.

Osama Eshera is a junior bioengineering major. He can be reached at eshera@umdbk.com.