I attended. It was dull. Most of my photographs came out blurry. The photos are from me; the video clips are from around the Internet.

UCI police were well-represented. Alan Dershowitz was wrapping up his talk elsewhere in the building, though, so who knows how much security Pipes alone would have attracted.

The head of the UCI College Republicans, the head of the UCI Objectivist Club (Eric Brunner), and Reut Cohen each gave separate preambles. Cohen was introduced as working for the David Project. Another Young Republican then led the attendees (some of them) in the Pledge of Allegiance, “under god” and all.

It’s difficult to make out in this video clip, but students from the Muslim Student Union arrived wearing duct tape over their mouths. On the duct tape gags were written phrases such as “no censorship” and “free speech”. Soon after Pipes started speaking, they stood up, held up signs facing the lectern, and filed out of the room. Since the signs weren’t facing the audience, it was near-impossible to make out any of the slogans.

This cleared out about half of the room. Starting at -0:25 in the clip, notice the unaffiliated undergrads rushing in to grub better seats. Go go Anteater decorum.

The MSU released a statement and a video statement.

This clip is remarkable only for the dueling inanity.

Pipes talked only for about 35 minutes. Chancellor Drake and one of UCI’s communications officials (I think) dropped in for a few minutes, partway through. Pipes then took about 45 minutes in Q&A giving inane answers to mostly-inane student questions. Several students, including Brunner (twice) if I recall correctly, and one of his friends (who slapped him a congratulatory five after one attempt), tried vainly to get Pipes to agree with them that all of Islam, not just militant Islamism, is the enemy.

See also assorted juvenilia from Chuck DeVore and divers hands.

More throughout the day if I run across anything interesting.

Point and snicker time again. This brilliant image represents the UC Irvine College Republicans on both MySpace and Facebook.

What can I possibly say? The red, white, and black theme? The Gothic font? The grainy black-and-white stills of der Führer?

C’mon.

Now you may be thinking, “Gott in Himmel! The UCI junior GOP must be an enclave of neo-Nazism! Nobody could be that fucking clueless! Not even in Orange County!” Well, sorry to disappoint, folks, but it seems that people in Orange County really can be that fucking clueless.

Need I call attention to the irony that the UC Irvine College Republicans are co-hosting a speaking event with a Hillel- sponsored Israel-advocacy group, given that Hillel has voiced concern that Jews might not feel safe on the UCI campus?

Yes, I think I do.

See also: “California Über Alles”.

The Randies, the David Project (more on them momentarily), and UCI College Republicans are bringing Daniel Pipes to campus next week.

The David Project is a project of the Israel on Campus Coalition, which in turn is a PR effort designed to promote positive perceptions of the Israeli government on US college campuses.

On the Israel on Campus Coalition:

The group was put together by Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life and the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, which is funding several student programs and has invested a quarter of a million dollars to fund this project.

It hired Wayne Firestone, former director of the Israel office of the Anti-Defamation League, as its director.

Based in Washington, the Israel on Campus Coalition will act as an information-sharing and planning agency for more than 20 Jewish organizations on campus, and a central clearinghouse for students and professionals.

Pro-Israel professionals from the elite consulting firm, McKinsey & Company, offered pro-bono services to assess the key lessons learned from the activities of the past year and the top priorities of each organization for the coming year.

In a document the company submitted to the Israel on Campus Coalition, it stated that the primary goal for this year should be to “take back the campus” by influencing public opinion through lectures, the Internet and coalitions.

It says that to affect public opinion on the campuses, the message should be to “make the case for Israel proactively: Don’t sound defensive about Israel, or argue about specific facts — instead, reframe the debate to emphasize Israel’s long history of democracy, peace and resistance to terror.”

• Pomerance, Rachel. 2002. “Jewish Groups Coordinate Efforts to Help Students ‘Take Back Campus’”. Jewish Telegraphic Agency, August 28.

On the David Project:

The ICC has a single “affiliate member”: the David Project. The David Project is led by Charles Jacobs, who is a co-founder of CAMERA, the pro-Israel media watchdog group; the founder of the American Anti-Slavery Group, which calls itself “America’s leading human rights group dedicated to abolishing modern day slavery worldwide”; and, along with Richard Perle, Charles Krauthammer and Bill Kristol, among others, a member of the board of advisers of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.

The ICC’s website lists a number of “regional ICCs” that receive “strategic advice and guidance” from the Washington headquarters. The regional ICC representative in New York is none other than Rachel Fish, the director of the David Project’s New York office. Jacobs was tight-lipped in a recent interview: He refused to provide details about his financial backers, referring only to unnamed “individuals and foundations”; and he declined to elaborate on the extent to which the David Project receives tactical advice from professional pro-Israel lobbyists and operatives allied with the ICC.

• Sherman, Scott. 2005. “The Mideast Comes to Columbia”. The Nation, April 4.

New slogans have appeared on the University Center bridge.

The Paulites at UCI have been chalking Ron Paul slogans on sidewalks all over campus. This is by no means a representative sample.

Jesus loves Ron Paul, evidently.

Freedom! Forever! Fuck, yeah!

V is for winning! In case you didn’t hear, the Paulite crew have been appropriating anarchist manifesto V for Vendetta for their personality cult’s fundraising. This makes no sense.

The University Center bridge has a couple of anti-Ron slogans. To this one, someone later chalked on “… the competition”.

This is my favorite.

The Muslim Student Union at UC Irvine brought Yvonne Ridley to campus this week:

When award-winning British journalist Yvonne Ridley was captured by the Taliban in 2001, the last thing she expected was to convert to Islam two years later. After promising to read the Qur’an following her release, Ridley stayed true to her word and found that, contrary to the actions of the Taliban toward women, the Qur’an was in fact what she later described as a “Magna Carta for women”.

Yvonne Ridley, though, evidently doesn’t think that the Taliban were all that bad.

Go buy a T-shirt.

When strapped for blog material, point at the crazy. The UCI campus newspaper in this week’s edition printed an editorial that, disappointingly, sings the praises of creepy libertarian presidential candidate Ron Paul.

This isn’t an op-ed. It’s an editorial, approved by the New University editorial board. Watch out, the Kool-Aid looks like it’s going around.

I found this flyer at the UC Irvine bus stop.

In case you aren’t catching the creepy vibe, skim the Wikipedia article about Walsch through to the bit about “indigo children”, and look at this interview:

NDW: They’re an antenna for the highest energy, at any time and under any circumstance. So, naturally they’re impatient when their thick-headed parents are trying to keep them out of harm’s way. There is no harm, when you follow Divine wisdom. It’s just that most human people can’t feel the magic carpet.

Ick.

The scamps were busy over the weekend.

Christian proselytizing is a weekly feature of the UC Irvine campus. Here, several Muslim students debate the reliability and transmission of religious texts with a determined, middle-aged evangelical. The student in the white T-shirt, and the student behind him in the red T-shirt, were bystanders, I think. Thursday afternoon.

These two posters were placed on opposite sides of a wide outdoor walkway on the UC Irvine campus.

I’ve posted photographs of the MSU’s “Israel: Apartheid Resurrected” wall on Flickr. The issue has been a hot topic on the local blogs I’ve linked under the “UC Irvine” category in the sidebar, as well as on some Jewish blogs, some Palestinian blogs, and some stridently conservative blogs off campus.

• May 18 Islamic head blasts U.S. ties to Israel (Michael Miller, Daily Pilot)

  “Imam Muhammad al-Asi, the leader of the Islamic Center in Washington, D.C., launched the Muslim Student Union’s annual week of seminars, “Israel: Apartheid Resurrected,” with a speech by the campus administration building. Addressing a crowd of about 100 students and frequently shouting into the microphone, al-Asi condemned both Israel’s treatment of Palestine and the United States’ support for its top ally in the region.”

• May 18 FBI actions at UCI questioned (Marla Jo Fisher, Orange County Register)

  “The incident occurred Monday night in view of campus police and dozens of Muslim student spectators, who were helping to disassemble a large wooden representation of the wall that Israelis have built in occupied Palestine. “There was a confrontation, if you will,” said UCI Police Chief Paul Henisey, who is investigating the incident to determine if any crime was committed. The students “demanded to know why this person was following them, then the person left,” he said.”

• May 19 Report: FBI agent bumped Irvine Muslim with car (Associated Press)

  “The University of California, Irvine, is investigating whether an FBI agent bumped a Muslim student with his car near the site of an anti-Israel protest. Yasser Ahmed, 21, said he noticed he was being followed by a car with blackened windows as he drove a 24-foot moving van on campus Monday night to pick up an exhibit sponsored by the Muslim Student Union.”

• May 19 Tensions rise again at UC Irvine (H. G. Reza, Los Angeles Times)

  “UC Irvine’s chief of police said Friday that his officers were investigating a complaint that an FBI agent doing surveillance assaulted a Muslim student with his unmarked car near the site of an anti-Israel demonstration.”

• May 20 FBI: Agent was investigating vehicle when confronted by student (Associated Press)

  “An FBI agent confronted by a Muslim student at the University of California, Irvine, earlier this month was trying to get a closer look at a “suspicious” truck at the time, federal authorities said Sunday. The agent had followed the truck to the campus from a separate location as part of an investigation that was unrelated to the school or student activities, bureau spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said.”

• May 21 FBI denies investigating UCI (Ron Campbell, Orange County Register)

  “The FBI said Sunday that the investigation that brought an agent onto the UCI campus Monday had nothing to do with the campus or with student activities. … FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said the agent followed a “suspicious” truck onto campus. She said the truck “had the signage painted over and no visible license plates.”"

• May 30 Unfair treatment is alleged (Michael Miller, Daily Pilot)

  “Three members of UC Irvine’s College Republicans have filed a complaint with the campus administration, saying that officials unfairly moved their group two weeks ago to make room for a Muslim Student Union event.”

• May 31 Religious tolerance on display (Marla Jo Fisher, Orange County Register)

  ” About 300 faculty and students held hands in a giant circle at UCI’s Aldrich Park on Wednesday, demonstrating their commitment to religious tolerance. The lunchtime campus rally, organized by the president of the faculty Academic Senate, is an unusual measure taken in the wake of allegations that administrators have ignored anti-Semitism on campus.”

• May 31 UCI chief meets with Jewish groups (Jorge Barrientos, Orange County Register)

  “UC Irvine Chancellor Michael V. Drake told several hundred concerned Jewish community members Wednesday night to join in on discussions and work together against what he calls isolated incidents of anti-Jewish speech by outsiders on campus. Drake answered questions during a 90-minute town hall meeting at Shir Ha-Ma’alot in Irvine addressing concerns about what the Jewish community calls ongoing anti-Israel and anti-Semitic activity on UCI’s campus.”

• May 31 Political events converge at UCI (Michael Miller and Heidi Schultheis, Daily Pilot)

  “Three self-proclaimed former terrorists visited the Bren Events Center on Wednesday night to urge students to condemn Islamic fundamentalism, comparing America’s modern enemies to the Nazis and calling on Muslims to take a stand against human rights abuses in the Middle East. … The speakers at the Bren center repeatedly denounced Islam and terrorism — often combining the two — and said they favored any belief system that respected differences.”

• June 03 UC Irvine finds it’s embroiled in Mideast debate (Dan Laidman, Copley News Service)

  “For several years, the flash point of this conflict in Southern California has been UC Irvine, a dubious distinction that was again highlighted last week when the university’s chancellor met with representatives of the Orange County Jewish community at their request in the wake of escalating rhetoric from both sides.”

This Wednesday, May 30, the University of California, Irvine administration will try to form a human chain around the big park in the center of campus. Another closeup of the poster.

The administration engages in damage control. Closeup of a poster on the University of California, Irvine campus, 2007 May 25.