Students seek to halt pro-Palestinian conference
By The Associated Press
10.10.02
Editor's note: Attorney Deborah Schlussel said Oct. 10 that earlier that day Circuit Judge Melinda Morris denied her request for a temporary order barring the conference. Morris ruled the two Jewish students who filed the lawsuit lacked standing, or qualification, to seek to block the event, Schlussel said. She said she was deciding whether to appeal Morris' ruling.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Saying a conference at the University of Michigan promoting divestment in Israel is a danger to students' safety, a lawyer was expected to seek a restraining order to halt the event.
Deborah Schlussel represents two students who sued the university over the conference earlier this week.
She was expected to ask Washtenaw Circuit Judge Melinda Morris to hold a hearing tomorrow to halt the conference.
People scheduled to speak this weekend at the Second National Student Conference on the Palestinian Solidarity Movement advocate violence and are not protected by constitutional guarantees of free speech, Schlussel told the Detroit Free Press.
Schlussel filed a lawsuit — on behalf of the leaders of the Michigan Student Zionists — on Oct. 8 against the school's president and Board of Regents trying to halt the event.
Students Allied for Freedom and Equality is hosting the conference, which runs Oct. 12 through Oct. 14. The group is calling on universities nationwide to divest any interests they have with companies doing business with Israel, saying that Israel treats Arabs the same way apartheid South Africa treated blacks.
According to the suit, the speaker drawing the most concern is Sami Al-Arian, who is facing dismissal by the University of South Florida after appearing on Fox News Channel's "The O'Reilly Factor" shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks. On the show, he was questioned about alleged links to terrorists and asked about a speech a decade ago in which he advocated "death to Israel."
USF has filed a lawsuit asking a Florida court to determine whether firing Al-Arian would violate his free-speech rights.
Meanwhile, Fadi Kiblawi, co-founder of SAFE and a Michigan senior from St. Louis, said the Michigan lawsuit is a "laughable attempt to stifle debate, which strikes at the core of American values and First Amendment rights."
Marvin Krislov, the university's general counsel, said yesterday there was no legal basis for the lawsuit.
"An attempt to impose a gag order violates the most fundamental precepts of the First Amendment," he said. "The University of Michigan has carefully and thoughtfully considered the concerns expressed about this conference, and we have elected to stand by the principles of openness, tolerance and robust debate that are central to our educational mission."
SAFE spokesman Eric Reichenberger has said the group is not anti-Semitic and that it has some Jewish members.
Other speakers include Adam Shapiro, a New York City Jew who spent a night in Yasser Arafat's headquarters in April to support the Palestinian leader when the compound was under siege by Israeli forces.
Reichenberger said 250 people have registered for the conference, and SAFE expects more to attend.
Students in the university's pro-Israel groups plan rallies over the weekend to protest the conference.