Double Standards at Pace University

Raquel Lacomba Walker wrote a good piece on her website, about the crisis at Pace, Hitler's Germany and the Academic Bill of Rights:
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One cannot deny that radical Islam exists. The best example would be 9/11, but there are many others. Proponents of radical Islam are a small, yet loud, faction of the Muslim community who want to destroy America and Western civilization. In recent years, radical Islamists brutally attacked thousands of innocent civilians of all stripes and colors from Africa to London to New York City. Nothing stands in their way including their own lives via suicide bombers. I think we can all agree that destructive acts upon innocent civilians are always wrong and immoral.

Let me be perfectly clear, the aforementioned comments are not anti-Muslim. Are there dangerous radicals in all ethnic/religious groups? Of course there is, but in the present day, it is radical Islam that is threatening Western civilization the most. That is why it is so important for Americans of all stripes and colors to understand how radical Islam began, and how it is currently and consistently being promulgated to the detriment of our very lives and the future of democracy as we know it.

Political correctness has unfortunately trumped access to information concerning radical Islam. Here’s one example. Michael Abdurakhmanov is a student at Pace University in New York City and President of Hillel, a Jewish campus club. He wanted to view the documentary film, Obsession, on campus, as part of a week-long tribute to Judaism. Obsession describes how radical Islam is spurned, how it has grown, and where it is today. As a courtesy, Mr. Addurankhmanov contacted the President of the Muslim Students Association (MSA) to make her aware of the planned event, just in case the MSA wanted to send a representative to see what the film was about. That’s when all hell broke loose.

Turns out the MSA had big problems with screening Obsession because they claimed it was “insulting” and “offensive” to the Muslim community, although they had not seen the movie, nor does the film target peaceful Muslims, but radical ones alone. After school administrators hauled Mr. Abdurankhmanov into a “mediation” to discuss the dilemma, MSA representatives cursed and screamed, and school administrators let Mr. Abdurankhmanov take a verbal beating and prevented him from ever making his point. Ultimately, the mock court deemed Hillel’s actions inappropriate, with a hint of ramifications if he screens the film anyway, and a threat that the police would be called to charge Mr. Abdurankhmanov and Hillel for hate crimes.

In a gentlemanly manner, Mr. Abdurankhmanov agreed to postpone the viewing of Obsession, in light of some recent hate crimes against Muslims at Pace, but has vowed to continue the fight (God bless him) to screen the film at a later date.

The problem here is that while the viewing of Obsession might make the MSA feel uncomfortable, that does not mean that it cannot be viewed by another group that does not, and in this case, it is rather brave and important that Hillel take the lead in exposing fanatics that are serious about taking over the world and America’s way of life, whether unsuspecting groups become offended or not.

I bet it was the politically correct crowd that kept their mouths closed as Hitler was collecting Jews for extermination. There will always be hatred and bigotry in the world. Keeping it mum in some misguided effort to be politically correct is not helping anyone. The Hillel community is free to occupy space as a club at Pace just as MSA is, but when one club starts dictating the other’s events, their respective rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of speech are being trampled, and their whole purpose to begin with becomes meaningless.

This is a perfect example of why a formal Academic Bill of Rights is the only sure way for college campuses to retain its high standards of equal rights under the law. With the Academic Bill of Rights students do not have to rely on "administrators" and "mediators" to make de-facto rules upon campus organizations, instead all sides can rely on the same uniformed document, one that guarantees rights without discrimination and without bullying tactics.