Janis Joplin once sang, “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.” But for a group of 11 students at the University of California at Irvine (UCI) who were arrested for interrupting a campus speaker, freedom of speech is more than just a phrase – it is a right they feel has been violated.
Last week, Michael Oren, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, gave a guest lecture at the college. “USA Today” reports that every few minutes during Oren’s speech, students would stand up and shout critical statements concerning Israel. Oren was frequently forced to stop his speech to ask the students for his right to proceed. Ultimately, the 11 students were arrested for disobeying university rules.
The students who interrupted Oren are strong opponents of Israel and believed that they must draw attention to the Palestinian cause. Although they managed to consistently disrupt a campus lecture, they contend that their actions should be a protected form of speech.
Every student has the right to voice his or her opinion in a respectful manner; but while these students were expressing their views, they were also suppressing Oren’s voice. Regardless of the topic he was discussing, Oren had the right to the floor and should have been able to give his speech without the unruly shouts and insults.
The students arrested are college-educated individuals. It would behoove them to have done their homework before causing a commotion that resulted in their arrests. UCI is a public educational institution and is government-funded. Therefore, the First Amendment applies to the school. But the First Amendment right to freedom of speech is not absolute. Government officials (like public university administrators) can impose reasonable time, place and manner restrictions on speech. In this case, a school policy prohibiting the vocal interruption of a guest lecturer is an entirely reasonable restriction.