11 students from the university's Muslim Student Union were arrested for shouting and protesting throughout Oren's speech on the topic of U.S.-Israeli security. Oren was forced to hold his speech for 20 minutes as a result of the disruption.
The grand jury exercised its right for a subpoena just weeks before the year long statute was up, as the incident took place on February 8th, 2010.
At the time of the event, the University immediately took disciplinary action against the Muslim Student Union, revoking their charter for one year, as well as placing the organization under one year of probation following it's own investigation.
''As far as the university is concerned, the MSU has completed the discipline that was meted out by our on-campus process and any further grand jury or charges from the DA's office is all handled out of there,'' said university spokeswoman, Cathy Lawhon. While the actual reasoning behind the subpoenas remains unclear, it does appear that the District Attorney is acting with exceptional caution, perhaps, as is being speculated by some sources, excessive caution due to the Muslim heritage of the students in question.
One question stands out: would any other organization be subpoenaed by a grand jury for similar actions? Is this justified?
