Peace, not protest, for grads at UCI ceremony

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

those who graduated this weekend and those who will graduate this

summer, Chancellor Ralph Cicerone said.

The green stoles were just one of the many adornments on the gowns

of the School of Social Ecology graduates, who graduated in the

university’s Aldrich Park. Many wore flower leis around their necks

and some, like Darlene Gan, had more flowers bursting from their

caps.

Under gloomy gray skies, they and their jubilant friends and

relatives whooped it up at the ceremony in Aldrich Park with loud

cheers, catcalls and screechy horns.

Cicerone presided over the festivities. The featured speaker,

California Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer, gave a speech peppered with

references to movie characters like Frodo from “The Lord of the

Rings” trilogy and Rafiki from “The Lion King.”

“When Frodo whines to Gandalf about how hard everything is,

Gandalf replies, ‘So it is for those who see such times ... All we

have to decide is what to do with the time we’re given,’” Lockyer

said. “All these hobbits, wizards, ghost lions and others -- some

might think of them as mindless entertainment. But they’re really

training tapes gearing you to take responsibility for your society

and your own potential.”

Student speaker Dolores Guintu described the school as close-knit

and lauded the faculty as being enthusiastic and supportive.

“People ask me, ‘What is social ecology?’” Guintu said. “To me,

social ecology is family and sharing memories with all of you. It is

seeing Dr. Sharon Stern -- not only is she beautiful, but her amazing

passion for water quality is absolutely contagious.”

After the ceremony, the students had hug fests with their friends

and relatives. Kim Nguyen, 21, made a colorful spring flower bouquet

for her friend, Thi Nguyen, who was graduating. She said she was awed

by the large crowd that filled up Aldrich Park to honor the

graduates.

“Its kind of overwhelming,” Nguyen said. “I didn’t know where my

friends were because I was late because I was making [the bouquet].”

Gan, 22, said she was thrilled that 12 family members came to

celebrate this benchmark in her life.

“That’s what made it special to me,” Gan said.

Yeu Te, 22, said he couldn’t believe the past four years had gone

by so fast.

“It’s like I just graduated from high school,” Te said. “I feel so

old now.”

Te said he was going to hibernate for a while to catch up on all

the sleep he had missed over the past four years.

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers Costa Mesa. She may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at [email protected].