6/26/25 Reposted from cair.com
(LOS ANGELES, CA – 6/26/2025) – The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today announced the designation of the University of California, Irvine (UCI) as a hostile campus for its pattern of discriminatory treatment toward Palestinian, Arab, Muslim, and allied students and faculty.
This designation comes in response to UCI’s militarized crackdown on peaceful anti-genocide protests, the suspension and criminal prosecution of students and faculty, and its long-standing pattern of suppressing pro-Palestinian advocacy and academic freedom.
In May 2024, UCI’s militarized police response to the university’s Gaza Solidarity Encampment led to the arrest of 50 students, faculty, and community members peacefully protesting Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza. Two UCI professors, Dr. Tiffany Willoughby-Herard and Dr. Brook Haley, a teaching assistant, and 26 students were among those arrested.
A few months later, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office (OCDA) announced it would file criminal charges against the 50 protesters arrested. In response, CAIR’s Los Angeles office (CAIR-LA) hosted a press conference calling on the OCDA to drop the charges against the peaceful protesters.
In October 2024, the Muslim Legal Fund of America filed a Title VI complaint alleging that UCI retaliated against Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim students and faculty with discriminatory treatment. Five students who were indefinitely suspended without due process also filed a lawsuit against UCI, charging university leadership with blocking their academic pursuits for simply exercising their right to free speech by speaking in support of Palestinian human rights.
UCI administration also failed to protect pro-Palestinian students who were publicly doxed on campus for their opposition to Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza, and UCI’s chancellor faced formal rebuke for failing to acknowledge Palestinian civilian deaths in a campuswide statement.
In a statement, CAIR Research and Advocacy Specialist Dr. Maryam Hasan said:
“From criminal charges to indefinite suspensions and violent police crackdowns, UC Irvine has become a national symbol of how universities punish students who dare to speak up for Palestine and against genocide. By allowing bias, brutality, and harassment to go unchecked, UCI has shown it is not a safe place for anti-genocide students and faculty.”
In a statement, CAIR-LA Legal Director Amr Shabaik, Esq., said:
“UCI’s campaign of intimidation toward students and faculty advocating for Palestinian human rights reveals its intent to silence and criminalize anyone who expresses viewpoints that university leadership disagrees with. From militarized police crackdowns to criminal prosecutions of peaceful protesters, the UCI administration has created a hostile environment in which Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim students face retaliation simply for exercising their right to speak out against Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza.
“UCI’s actions align with the widespread assault on academic freedom and the silencing of pro-Palestinian activism that we have seen at local universities, such as UCLA and Pomona, as well as numerous universities across the nation. We will continue to hold these institutions accountable for their blatant disregard for students’ and faculty’s rights and safety on campus.”
UCI has a long history of bias against pro-Palestinian views, including the prosecution of a group of students known as the “Irvine 11” for peacefully protesting a speech on campus by the Israeli ambassador to the U.S. in 2010.
UCI joins a growing list of campuses identified by CAIR as hostile environments for those advocating for Palestinian human rights. Last year, CAIR also designated UC Los Angeles and Pomona College as “institutions of particular concern” for creating a hostile campus environment for Palestinian, Muslim, Arab, and Jewish students, staff, and faculty opposing the genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza.
Click here to view the full list of CAIR-designated hostile campuses.
CAIR urges students, faculty, and community members to nominate institutions that suppress free speech and academic freedoms using the Hostile Campus reporting tool.
CAIR’s mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
