Students say they’ll don stoles every year

Deepa Bharath

Muslim students at UC Irvine will wear green stoles at graduation as

a campus tradition to express their faith, a student representative

said on Monday.

Osman Umarji, president of UCI’s Muslim Student Union, said

Saturday’s graduation was peaceful and that about 20 students wore

the controversial stoles, which were seen by Jewish students on

campus as an endorsement of Islamic terrorist groups, who wear them

to justify their cause.

“Students wore it at last year’s graduation, too,” he said. “No

one even noticed it.”

The Zionist Organization of America, a pro-Israeli group based in

New York, sent a letter to UCI Chancellor Ralph Cicerone, demanding

he reconsider his decision to allow the stoles into the ceremonies,

calling them “propagandist” symbols.

In the center of this controversy was one word -- “shahada” --

which could be translated to mean either a person’s staunch faith in

Islam or in the verb form could mean to die in the name of Islam.

The university did not see the stoles as racist slurs or as an

expression of anti-Semitism, said Randy Lewis, UCI’s executive

associate dean of students.

“It is significant to realize that there were a tremendous number

of colorful displays on Saturday,” he said. “It was quite a potpourri

of festive regalia.”

Students were wearing leis, U.S. Marine Corps sashes and

medallions, Lewis said.

“One young woman was even wearing an image of the Lady of

Guadalupe,” he said. “[The stoles] were probably lost in the crowd.”

Expression of one’s faith and beliefs “has always been OK” at UCI,

Lewis said.

“The cornerstone of our position has been to protect our students’

1st Amendment rights,” he said.

But some members of the Muslim Student Union at UCI abuse the

shahada on armbands by openly rationalizing extremism and professing

their support for terrorist groups such as Hizbollah and Hamas, said

Kevin O’Grady, associate regional director of the Anti-Defamation

League’s Orange County chapter.

“They’ve worn it the same way as the Hamas has worn it,” he said.

“We have great respect for the cross as well. But when you look at a

group like the Ku Klux Klan that has subverted its meaning, it’s

placed in a different context.”

* DEEPA BHARATH covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at deepa.bharath@latimes.com.