Orange County DA Criminalizes Dissent: Charges Irvine Protesters

The Orange County District Attorney has brought misdemeanor conspiracy charges against eleven of the Irvine Students who protested the speech of Michael Oren last spring.  Campus officials already imposed penalties on students and suspended the Muslim Students Association for a year.  The Orange County District Attorney is seeking to impose legal penalties on top of university penalties and has indicated that he has filed the charges because the students of an “organized attempt to squelch the speaker."

Further information on the actual charges can be found here.

Information on some responses can be found here.
There are two petitions being circulated against the effort to criminalize the student's actions.  If you are a member of the UCIrvine community you can find one here.  If you are outside the UCIrvine Community you can find one here.

These petitions were drawn up before the actual charges but you can still sign them.

Update: 100 UCI Professors Have Signed a Petition and Issued A Statement Calling for the District Attorney to Drop the Charges.  You can read it HERE.