Facing growing criticism, Brandeis University said Tuesday that it had reversed course and would not award an honorary degree to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a campaigner for women’s rights and a fierce critic of Islam, who has called the religion “a destructive, nihilistic cult of death.”

“We cannot overlook that certain of her past statements are inconsistent with Brandeis University’s core values,” the university said in a statement released eight days after it had announced that Ms. Hirsi Ali and four other people would be honored at its commencement on May 18.

The university said that the president of Brandeis, Frederick M. Lawrence, discussed the matter with Ms. Hirsi Ali on Tuesday, and that she “is welcome to join us on campus in the future to engage in a dialogue.” Universities consider it important to make a distinction between inviting a speaker who may air unpopular or provocative views that the institution does not endorse, and awarding an honorary degree, which is more akin to affirming the body of a recipient’s work....

In its statement, Brandeis said, “For all concerned, we regret that we were not aware of” Ms. Hirsi Ali’s record of anti-Islam statements, though those comments have been fairly widely publicized.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/09/us/br ... s&emc=rss#

...the Council on American-Islamic Relations sent a letter to Dr. Lawrence, referring to Ms. Hirsi Ali as a “notorious Islamophobe.”
“She is one of the worst of the worst of the Islam haters in America, not only in America but worldwide,”

chairman bill wrote:Someone is worried that the university will become a target, if they continue down the road of awarding this honorary degree. What they should say is, "we would love to honour this woman, however, we have a responsibility to our staff & students, and fear a violent backlash from religious extremists if we bestow this honorary degree."

chairman bill wrote:I don't know, but I can't imagine they weren't actually aware of her thoughts about Islam, when they first thought of the honorary degree. Next, "We have decided not to award an honorary doctorate in humanitarian studies to Mr Pol Pot, after some surprising facts about his past activities came to light. Oh, and he's dead."

Cthulhu's Trilby wrote:

...the Council on American-Islamic Relations sent a letter to Dr. Lawrence, referring to Ms. Hirsi Ali as a “notorious Islamophobe.”
“She is one of the worst of the worst of the Islam haters in America, not only in America but worldwide,”

Word. The way she goes around slaughtering innocent folk for their beliefs. "One of the worst?" *THE* worst.

Shrunk wrote:Now, let's see what the worst of the worst Ayaan Hirsi Ali haters have to say....

(Theo) Van Gogh was murdered by Mohammed Bouyeri as he was cycling to work on 2 November 2004 at about 9 o'clock in the morning.... The killer shot van Gogh eight times with an HS2000 handgun. Initially from his bicycle, Bouyeri fired several bullets at Van Gogh, who was hit, as were two bystanders. Wounded, Van Gogh ran to the other side of the road and fell to the ground on the cycle lane. According to eyewitnesses, Van Gogh's last words were: "Mercy, mercy! We can talk about it, can't we?" Bouyeri then walked up to Van Gogh, who was still lying down, and calmly shot him several more times at close range. Bouyeri then cut Van Gogh’s throat, and tried to decapitate him with a large knife, after which he stabbed the knife deep into Van Gogh's chest, reaching his spinal cord. He then attached a note to the body with a smaller knife. Van Gogh died on the spot. The two knives were left implanted. The note was addressed and contained a death threat to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who was subsequently forced to go into hiding....

In addition to condemnation, the announcement has prompted Prof. Susan Lanser (ENG) to call not only for the award to be rescinded, but for a public apology issued by Lawrence to the greater Brandeis community. In an email to the Justice, Lanser wrote that she believes Hirsi Ali “is not worthy of a doctorate of humane letters from a university that claims to be committed to justice, respect, diversity and truth to its innermost parts.”

She added that her outspoken views on Islam “foment an intolerance that is wholly antithetical to Brandeisian values.”

Students have also expressed concern about the University’s selection. Alina Cheema ’15, co-president of the Muslim Students Association, said in an interview with the Justice that she and the MSA perceive Hirsi Ali’s receiving a degree as alarming.

“[Hirs Ali] is well-known for her [anti-Islamic] beliefs … and this is a slap in the face by the administration. Are they saying that we don’t belong on this campus?” Cheema said. “How can the University claim to be so focused on social justice when they award a degree to someone with such radical views?”

If we would guide by the light of reason, we must let our minds be bold.

Those who won our independence believed that the final end of the state was to make men free to develop their faculties, and that in its government the deliberative forces should prevail over the arbitrary. They valued liberty both as an end and as a means. They believed liberty to be the secret of happiness and courage to be the secret of liberty. They believed that freedom to think as you will and to speak as you think are means indispensable to the discovery and spread of political truth; that without free speech and assembly discussion would be futile; that with them, discussion affords ordinarily adequate protection against the dissemination of noxious doctrine; that the greatest menace to freedom is an inert people; that public discussion is a political duty; and that this should be a fundamental principle of the American government.

Those who won our independence by revolution were not cowards. They did not fear political change. They did not exalt order at the cost of liberty. To courageous, self-reliant men, with confidence in the power of free and fearless reasoning applied through the processes of popular government, no danger flowing from speech can be deemed clear and present, unless the incidence of the evil apprehended is so imminent that it may befall before there is opportunity for full discussion. If there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence.

orpheus wrote:

Students have also expressed concern about the University’s selection. Alina Cheema ’15, co-president of the Muslim Students Association, said in an interview with the Justice that she and the MSA perceive Hirsi Ali’s receiving a degree as alarming.

Oeditor wrote:

orpheus wrote:

Students have also expressed concern about the University’s selection. Alina Cheema ’15, co-president of the Muslim Students Association, said in an interview with the Justice that she and the MSA perceive Hirsi Ali’s receiving a degree as alarming.

15? University? Must be a child prodigy. Prodigiously what, though?

HomerJay wrote:

Oeditor wrote:

orpheus wrote:

Students have also expressed concern about the University’s selection. Alina Cheema ’15, co-president of the Muslim Students Association, said in an interview with the Justice that she and the MSA perceive Hirsi Ali’s receiving a degree as alarming.

15? University? Must be a child prodigy. Prodigiously what, though?

Doesn't the '15 mean class of (20)15? Hence the apostrophe?

orpheus wrote:

HomerJay wrote:Doesn't the '15 mean class of (20)15? Hence the apostrophe?

Yes, that's right. Although I initially thought "class of 1915" and for a few minutes was trying to work out how someone who graduated almost a century ago was giving an interview now. I suppose that confirms my status as an old fart.