Council on American-Islamic Relations Protests ‘Anti-Islam’ College Speakers
One example given by CAIR is conservative writer David Horowitz.
Eugene Volokh of the Washington Post writes.
Council on American-Islamic Relations says anti-Muslim college speakers “create a hostile learning environment for Muslim and Arab-American students”
Huffington Post (Alexandra Svokos) reports that conservative firebrand David Horowitz spoke at the University of North Carolina, and said (among other things) that “the Muslim Students Association and Students for Justice in Palestine are associated with terrorist organizations” and “intend to ‘kill the Jews, to push them into the sea.’” Muslim students spoke out against those statements, and “began an online campaign called #NotSafeUNC to show how they have felt discriminated against on and around campus.” The Huffington Post article also notes that UNC is near where three Muslim family members were recently killed.
What I found noteworthy, though, was the statement from Ibrahim Hooper, the spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations:
[Anti-Muslim speakers] create a hostile learning environment for Muslim and Arab-American students, and that’s what they’re designed to do. … They’re designed to demonize Muslim and Arab students.
(Note that the quote in the Huffington Post article had “[Controversial speakers],” in brackets, but since the brackets mark alterations in a quotation, I checked with Hooper; he said that he said something like “anti-Muslim speakers” or “Islamophobic speakers,” so I have altered the alteration accordingly.)
Council on American-Islamic Relations says anti-Muslim college speakers “create a hostile learning environment for Muslim and Arab-American students” (The Washington Post)
Comments
The Council on American-Islamic Relations obviously doesn’t believe in the First Amendment. Just because speech is offensive to you or even disadvantageous does not remove first amendment protection. There is no vested right to suppress speech you don’t like. Sadly, too many colleges and universities with “free speech zones” have forgotten that the first amendment runs everywhere on campus. We must all fight to protect the rights of even people we oppose to speak, lest we lose our own right to speak.