Eighteen months ago, 11 students at UCI disrupted a speech by the Israeli ambassador.

And taxpayers are still paying for it.

Now, it looks like we’re going to pay for many more months.

Unless the District Attorney adjusts priorities, a trial is expected to start next month involving a collection of misdemeanor charges. The trial is expected to be lengthy and costly.

Sure, the students were rude. Accordingly, the university suspended the Muslim Student Union for nearly three months, put the group on probation for two years and ordered 100 hours of community service.

Case closed? Nope.

In convening a grand jury and charging the students, the district attorney handed them a megaphone to continue public discussion of their political agenda.

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History teaches us lessons. Sometimes.

If you’re of a certain age or watch much television, you may recall the infamous trial of the Chicago Seven.

In that case, a grand jury convened and a bunch of young activists were charged with disrupting the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

Sound familiar?

But instead of meekly going to court, the Chicago Seven turned the trial into a political platform and used the courtroom for a running diatribe against the Vietnam War.

One defendant wound up in chains in the courtroom. Two defendants, Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin, arrived in court dressed as judges. When ordered to remove their robes, they had on police uniforms.

How did that case work out for the prosecution?

An appellate court reversed convictions.

Those were the days. Times have changed.

•••

Considering what many universities have weathered over the years, the protest at UCI on Feb. 8, 2010, was mild.

A video shows the Israeli ambassador starting to speak. A student jumps up and starts shouting. While police officers stand by, there are cheers, applause and some boos. After a few sentences, the student picks his way through a narrow line of chairs and legs and is peacefully escorted away by a police officer.

There are no long diatribes, no punches, no protesters going limp, no officers dragging suspects. Playing to the crowd – and cameras – this process is repeated until 11 students have gone through what is clearly an orchestrated event.

It’s disingenuous for the protesters to argue that they didn’t expect to be arrested, pay a fine, maybe spend a night in jail. If no one was arrested, the demonstration would only have been a media blip.

The demonstrators could just as easily have made their point with banners, fliers and speeches outside the room in which the Israeli ambassador spoke. But getting arrested and leveraging the repercussions is textbook on how to conduct non-violent protest.

Maybe the D.A. didn’t read that textbook.

•••

Each defendant is charged with one misdemeanor count of conspiracy to disturb a meeting and one misdemeanor count of disturbing the meeting. The defendants face up to six months in jail on each count.

Given our cash-strapped state, the clogged court system and a bounty of truly bad guys, I called the D.A.’s office to find out why we’re spending all this money prosecuting the Irvine 11. I was told a judicial gag order prevents anyone from talking about the case.

Fortunately, District Attorney Tony Rackauckas’ record speaks for itself. He is experienced, smart and capable enough to know that prosecuting a gaggle of young adults also means transforming 11 students into 11 judicial martyrs.

Already battling Toyota for faulty vehicles, the district attorney also understands that with the Irvine 11 he’s setting the stage for more media attention.

There’s even a special Irvine 11 link on the D.A.’s Internet Media Center page. There, you can review dozens of pages of filings and exhibits.

Along with numerous stories in local media – yes, including this one – the Irvine 11 story has been covered in Forbes, The San Francisco Examiner, The New York Times and a host of specialty publications.

While the defendants and their attorneys also come under the court’s gag order, the spokeswoman for the Irvine 11 doesn’t. Myra Bangee, coordinator for Stand with the Eleven, tells me she expects the trial to begin Aug. 15.

How long will the trial last?

Bangee estimates a year.

•••

“It’s such a waste of taxpayers’ money,” Bangee says. “All this time and energy … .”

Her voice trails off as we try to figure out the court costs. Bangee estimates the cost already is in the six figures. And that’s before trial.

She calls the expense a misappropriation of public resources. And she has company.

Among the groups asking Rackauckas to drop the charges are about 100 UCI faculty, a collection of UC Davis law professors, a group of UC Riverside professors, the Asian Law Caucus and the University of California Jewish Studies Faculty.

It’s too simple just to declare that everyone should be punished if they commit a crime. No one, not even Rackauckas, can do everything given our overburdened judicial system.

Part of the job of an elected official is to set priorities. I pored through some of the D.A.’s cases. Armed robberies, gang rapes, murders. Scary stuff.

With thousands in our jails, I wondered what’s the Irvine 11 up to these days?

Bangee first explains that eight were UCI students and three were from Riverside. She says several have completed master’s degrees, six are now attending medical school and at least one is planning for law school.

“They’re kind of moving on.”

Perhaps it’s time we all do.

David Whiting’s column appears News One on Fridays, Sundays, Wednesdays and Life/Outdoors Tuesdays.

Contact the writer: dwhiting@ocregister.com.