17 King Hall Faculty Call for D.A. to Drop Charges Against Students

Seventeen UC Davis School of Law faculty have signed on to a letter to Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas calling on him to drop charges against 11 UC Irvine students who disrupted a speech by Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren at UCI last year.  A group of 100 UCI faculty, including seven law faculty, have also submitted a letter to Rackauckas, who announced last week he would pursue criminal charges. 

"Responding to these non-violent student protests by way of criminal prosecution will have a chilling effect on the students, staff, and faculty of the University of California, and place the principles of free speech and freedom of expression at risk," the letter states.  It is signed by Professors Raha Jorjani, Mario Biagioli, Andrea Bjorklund, Anupam Chander, Holly S. Cooper, J. Angelo DeSantis, Bill Ong Hing, Lisa Ikemoto, Peter Lee, Evelyn A. Lewis, Millard Murphy, Amagda Perez, Rex R. Perschbacher, Cruz Reynoso, Leticia Saucedo, James F. Smith, and Carter White.