Irvine 11 protester, Osama Shabaik, who had been asked to speak at the upcoming TEDxUC Irvine conference was dropped from the event by its organizers Saturday, February 18. While the event is being held at UC Irvine, the decision was not one made by the UC Irvine administration, but rather UCI students who are organizing the event. After initially being dropped, a few concerned students emailed the organizers expressing their disappointment in the decision and noted that the organizers failed to uphold TED talks values, which propose to believe “in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives, and ultimately, the world,” and claim to be “a global community... welcoming people from every discipline and culture.”

In response to initial pressure, the organizers have said they will revisit the issue and discuss whether or not Osama will be allowed to speak.

To help make their decision easier we are increasing the pressure and are asking everyone to email the TEDx organizers expressing their disappointment with the decision, the organizers’ failure to uphold TED values, and to demand Osama Shabaik be reinstated as a speaker.