Deirdre Newman
After weeks of brewing tensions between Muslim and Jewish students,
graduation ceremonies at UC Irvine went smoothly Saturday. Muslim
students followed through with a plan to wear green stoles marked
with Arabic writing during the commencement, a move that roiled some
Jewish groups.
"It's been a perfect day," said Osman Umarji president of the
Muslim Student Union at UC Irvine. "Everyone's been able to enjoy the
graduation without any problems at all. No one's made an issue of
[the stoles]. ... There was plenty of positive feedback. A lot of
people seemed to notice and said they support the Muslim students'
rights to wear these symbols of religious freedom."
About 20 students wore the stoles to the seven graduations
scattered throughout the campus, Umarji said, adding that the student
union received many supportive e-mails in the past few days, Umarji
added.
The students' plan to wear the stoles sparked an outcry from
national and campus Jewish groups, who questioned UC Irvine
administrators' decision to allow the students to wear the accessory
garb.
Some Jewish students said that the stoles showed support for
terrorism because the Arabic word on them, "shahada", could be
interpreted to show support for suicide attacks and the militant
group Hamas.
Jewish students chose not to protest at the graduation ceremonies
because commencement is supposed to be a time for celebration, not to
make a political statement, said Merav Ceren, president of campus
group Anteaters for Israel.
"We have no problem with them declaring their faith -- we wish
they would do it more often," Ceren said. "These organizations spend
too much time talking about how they dislike Jewish and Zionist
students. It's really unfortunate that you don't see more events that
are more pro-Arab and pro-Islam. The Arabic culture is so great."
The tension last week was the latest in a month of hostility
between Jews and Muslims on campus, students said.
A symbolic wall built by Arab students on campus to depict
Israel's security barrier, which is being built to fend off
Palestinian suicide bombers, was burned last month.
Campus police are investigating the torching as a hate crime.
Jewish students denounced the vandalism but felt they were suspected
of the crime.
Scott Cornelius, dispatcher with the campus police department,
confirmed that no friction had occurred as of Saturday afternoon. The
class of 2004 at UC Irvine boasts about 5,900 students, made up of
