A group of 10 American students who interrupted a speech from an Israeli ambassador last year at the University of California have been sentenced with community service and probation in a ruling that is raising concerns of discouraging students from speaking their minds, according to Maclean’s magazine.
The students repeatedly shouted hostile messages at Israeli ambassador to the United States Michael Oren. One of these messages was, “It’s a shame this university has sponsored a mass murderer like yourself,” according to Maclean’s.
Ten of the 11 students were found guilty of disturbing a public meeting and conspiracy, and they were sentenced to 56 hours of community service and fined $270. They were also given three years of probation, Maclean’s reported.
Patrick Bonne, a biology major at Carleton University, said he sees the ruling as an abuse of freedom of speech.
“I heartily disagree with the ruling,” Bonne said. “I question the legitimacy of the accusations and whether they're simply bending the meaning of the First Amendment to meet their needs.”
Chelsea Hopper, a criminology major at Carleton, said he believes the ruling was fair, and the students had no right to interrupt the speech.
"There is a clear difference between offering your own opinion and preventing someone from offering theirs,” Hopper said. “I think the students who participated in this preplanned act need to realize that there are more appropriate ways to voice their opinions that don't involve degrading another person’s ideas and personal views.”
Connor MacFadyen, another Carleton student, called the defence from the students hypocritical.
“If they're attempting to suggest that punishing the students is removing their right to free speech, then how can [the students] justify their perceived authority to censor Oren's same right? Sentencing the students isn't an attempt to deter future activists from expressing their views on campus, it's an attempt to deter students from expressing those views in a corrupting way.”