JUDGE: TRAMPLING HAMAS AND HEZBOLLAH FLAGS IS FREE SPEECH

Trampling Hamas and Hizbullah Flags Is Free Speech, Judge Rules - Bob Egelko (San Francisco Chronicle)
U.S. Magistrate Wayne Brazil ruled last week in Oakland that it's an unconstitutional restriction on speech when California State University's policy is used to investigate or discipline students, such as the College Republicans whose members stomped on Hamas and Hizbullah flags, each with Allah written on them in Arabic, during an anti-terrorism rally at San Francisco State on October 2006.

Brazil said he would issue a preliminary injunction barring the university from enforcing its civility standard in any disciplinary proceeding.

He said the university can continue to enforce another rule prohibiting intimidation or harassment - but can use the rule to punish students only for threatening someone's health or safety, and not merely for offensive statements or conduct.

FOLLOW UP: HYPOCRISY EXPOSED AT SAN FRAN. STATE UNIV.

SAN FRANCISCO STATE HAS BANNED STEPPING ON THE FLAGS OF HAMAS AND HEZBOLLAH AS HATE SPEECH. IN A POST YESTERDAY, I QUESTIONED WHETHER THE SCHOOL WOULD HAVE THE SAME REACTION TO SIMILAR (OR WORSE) TREATMENT OF THE ISRAELI FLAG. AS JAMES TARANTO OF THE WALL STREET JOURNAL POINTS OUT, WE HAVE OUT ANSWER:

One obvious question is whether SFSU would act similarly if someone mistreated an Israeli flag, which also incorporates a religious symbol, on campus. That has happened at least in the neighborhood, as the Associated Press reported in April 2002:

In San Francisco, close to 500 pro-Palestine demonstrators took to the streets near San Francisco State University for several hours, yelling chants, burning paper Israeli flags and even grabbing an Israeli flag out of the hands of a passing motorist who lofted it from her sunroof.

INSULTING ALLAH NOW A CRIME AT SAN FRAN. STATE UNIV.

Insulting Allah Now a Crime at SFSU (LGF)
At San Francisco State University, you can do anything you want to a US [Ed. or Israeli] flag or a Christian religious symbol: burn it, deface it, submerge it in bodily fluids. It's all good. But step on paper copies of Hamas and Hizballah flags, and you're in a world of hurt. Not because they're flags, though. Because they contain the world "Allah."

This story starts with an "anti-terrorism rally" held last October on campus by the College Republicans. To emphasize their point, students stomped on Hezbollah and Hamas flags. According to the college paper, the Golden Gate (X)Press, members of Students Against War and the International Socialist Organization showed up to call the Republicans "racists," while the president of the General Union of Palestinian Students accused the Repubs of spreading false information about Muslims.

In November, the Associated Students board passed a unanimous resolution, which the (X)Press reported, denounced the California Republicans for "hateful religious intolerance" and criticized those who "pre-meditated the stomping of the flags knowing it would offend some people and possibly incite violence."

Now you know that there are students who are opposed to desecrating flags on campus — that is, if the flags represent terrorist organizations.

But wait — there's more. A student filed a complaint with the Office of Student Programs and Leadership Development. OSPLD Director Joey Greenwell wrote to the College Republicans informing them that his office had completed an investigation of the complaint and forwarded the report to the Student Organization Hearing Panel, which will adjudicate the charge. At issue is the charge that College Republicans had walked on "a banner with the world 'Allah' written in Arabic script" — it turns out Allah's name is incorporated into Hamas and Hezbollah flags — and "allegations of attempts to incite violence and create a hostile environment," as well as "actions of incivility."

At an unnamed date, the student panel could decide to issue a warning to, suspend or expel the GOP club from campus. ...

The university's response? Spokesperson Ellen Griffin told me, "The university stands behind this process."

And: "I don't believe the complaint is about the desecration of the flag. I believe that the complaint is the desecration of Allah."

SEE EARLIER STORY: SAN FRANCISCO STATE UNIV.: "ALLAH AKBAR!!!"