Osama Shabaik, one of the “Irvine 11,” is still listed online as a speaker for an upcoming TEDxUCIrvine conference planned for March 3, but a change.org petition in circulation is asking for his reinstatement. The UCI graduate and Muslim Student Union activist, who was the first to protestor to speak out during Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren’s speech on the campus back on February 8, 2010, says that a student organizer phoned him on Saturday notifying that the invitation he had been initially extended was being taken back.
“I was given reasons as to how my talk didn’t necessarily fit into what a TED talk was,” Shabaik tells the Weekly. “What that means, I still don’t understand.”
Read more about the story on my latest OC Weekly Navel Gazing Blog post:
http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/2012/02/osama_shabaik_irvine_11.php#more
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