Originally published in the Kingsman on March 21, 2011.
Several organizations, including but not limited to the Islamic Society (ISO), the Muslim Student Association (MSA) and the Palestinian Club, met with the Dean and Vice President of Student Affairs Milga Morales in her Boylan office on Friday, March 18 at 12:15 p.m. in regards to the speech that David Horowitz delivered the week before.
Approximately 40 students, not all of them Muslim, gathered inside the Vice President’s office in hopes of finding a way to resolve their issues with the controversial “hate speech” that Horowitz delivered on Thursday, March 10. Morales was joined by China Sajadian, the International Education Program Director of the One Voice Movement, who was there to attempt to view some possible solutions and discuss them with the student body.
“We’re in a position where we can talk with each other, and pretty much achieve not only your own educational mission, which is to be successful and graduate from Brooklyn College, but also the mission of the college, which is to create a community where we can have freedom of expression, a sharing of ideas and communication amongst people that may be different, but have many things in common,” Morales set the ground for the conversation by stating.
David Horowitz was invited to the campus by Yosef Sobel, a student who had asked Associate Professor of Business Mitchell Langbert to reserve a room for the event after no other club on campus would sponsor this man’s appearance. On Langbert’s personal blog, he posted a thank-you letter to Horowitz that said, “Your work is critical to the nation’s future. Without you, the incipient totalitarianism in America’s universities would avoid the light of publicity.” One attendee of the meeting had asked what repercussions this professor would face for allowing an individual on campus that brutalized his audience with inflammatory remarks, but his concern was never addressed.
“I’m so surprised that a professor invited him, and I’m surprised that administration did not do a background check on what he was going to say. The things he said about Jewish students on campus feeling threatened by their Muslim classmates – if that’s not whipping up fear and hatred, then I don’t know what it is,” Sarah Pumar, one of the attendees of the meeting, said. “I hope there were some Jewish students that stood up to that because I really don’t see what it is that the Muslim student groups or Muslim students in general have been doing to contribute to that nonsensical idea [of racism.]”
Arifa Zaidi, joined by her brother Mohammad, pointed out many of the claims that Horowitz had made and picked them apart. One such statement was that non-Muslims were shunned from entering mosques and made to be felt as if they were enemies, while Zaidi illustrated an example of an atheist friend that she had brought to a mosque who was welcomed warmly by those inside. Another such claim was that mosques are a breeding ground for anti-Semitic speech, which Zaidi said, as a mosque-goer her entire life, was a complete fabrication and had no factual basis whatsoever, to the nods of many of her peers in the room.
“The atmosphere he created was very hostile. He was attacking Muslims in particular, and imposing this view that Muslims hate and want to attack Jews. It’s completely bogus and not at all in line with what the Qur’an teaches. Many times a student would speak out against him, and he would say, ‘No, you’re only speaking out against me because you are ignorant.’ Whereas, when he was actually trying to educate the students in the room, he was actually educating them with false notions,” Zaidi said during the discussion. “I’m offended, and I feel like Brooklyn College didn’t hold true to its mission statement, which to create an atmosphere that promotes academia and the inclusion of everyone, and living harmoniously with everyone at the college.”
Zaidi also voiced her objections to the choice of speaker in an e-mail to the administration of Brooklyn College, which has been reproduced in this newspaper. Also attached to the e-mail were a compilation of articles that showed why Horowitz was not a good choice because of his previous speeches.
“I did not go to this event because I did not support it. I know that Hillel also did not support it in general. Were there Jewish students there that agreed with what he was saying? Yes, there were. I was personally sickened by what he had to say,” Marcos Askenazi, a member of Tanger Hillel, said. “Sometimes people come to campus and create an atmosphere that doesn’t necessarily exist or they exaggerate an underlying problem. We really do need to work together to create a sense of civility on campus.”
Vice President Morales stressed that she did not want anyone yelling or hurting anyone else. She also said that freedom of expression is a huge concern while allowing guests to speak on campus, and she felt that some kind of screening process would deny an individual the right to free speech. Several people in the room did not agree with the latter statement and claimed that many of the speakers they – the Palestinian Club and others – had invited, including former Brooklyn College students, were in fact “heavily suggested” to not appear and concessions were made.
“The mission statement is the direction we want to go. Are we there yet? Probably not, and that’s why we’re here today talking about this,” Morales said. “This has not stopped us from coming together. If any person stopped us from having this conversation, then they deterred us, but they didn’t deter me, and they didn’t deter anyone in this room. You’re here in spite of what was said, and we will continue to move forward.”
The students who attended the event said that they felt like the security guards that were brought in because of the “high-profile” speaker were not for their protection, but for Horowitz. They said that the security surrounded them and made many of them so uncomfortable that they eventually ended up walking out.
“I was there, and I thought about the students that would have Professor Langbert and him sitting down there in that audience and not objecting reflects his own views. What about the Muslims in his class? I would feel threatened,” Sara Said, a 24-year-old graduate student, said with an impassioned voice. “And I seriously did feel threatened. I had to leave because I was afraid that they were just gonna carry on with making us look like the boogeyman.”
One Muslim student who wished to remain anonymous conveyed her feelings about the event by beginning with the words, “As a Muslim, I faced a lot of hatred outside of school, so I always felt like school should be my safe area. I have never, never…” but she was cut off by the tears that began to flood her eyes, and she did not speak again until the meeting was adjourned.
The same student later went on to say, “School is supposed to be a place where I feel comfortable because of the freedom of religion. Some of the students that were at the event clapping are some of the same people that are in my classes. I don’t feel safe or protected anymore.”
“I think the problem is that we don’t want other people coming to our school and saying that we’re racist or that we’re horrible or that we’re evil or that we’re terrorists. We don’t want that; I think it’s a very basic request from us that we don’t want Horowitz or anyone else coming onto our campus and saying that we terrorize our fellow students because we don’t,” Usman Khan said. “All we want for you to do, our instructors and our professors, is to speak out against it. We’d love to see you guys respond positively to us, and say that this man was a racist and that what he said was wrong, and next time if you do invite him, that he will not speak in that way.”
Khan’s words were met with smiles and nods of agreement by many of the others attending this meeting. He went on further to make it clear that he had no problem with people like Horowitz coming on campus, but he did have a problem with the things he was saying. He stated that he would not be upset if Horowitz came back again, as long as he did not launch into a tirade of hateful comments against the students of Brooklyn College.
“I think everyone here can agree that Horowitz coming to speak here has contributed to an atmosphere of anti-Arab and anti-Muslim sentiment across the campus. I’m not Arab, and I’m not Muslim, but I’m deeply offended by the things that David Horowitz said, demonizing the religion in such a perverse way. I’m not even religious, but the things he said were absolutely disgusting,” Pumar said. “I don’t think the Muslim community should be defending themselves in the sense that they’re not terrorists because that should be understood. You can’t just characterize an entire community of people. That association should not be made, especially in the academic realm.”
Sajadian listed some possible resolutions of this problem as being: a screening of speakers, a formal apology given from the administration, a space for students from different backgrounds to talk with each other, taking action against the faculty member that invited Horowitz or an event concerning Islamophobia. The latter suggestion is already being implemented, with an event called “Misconceptions of Islam” being hosted on Thursday, March 24 at 5:00 p.m. in the Occidental Lounge of the Student Center.
“The college administration can’t be for or against [any speaker] because otherwise, we’d be denying somebody their freedom of speech. Do we want to have activities and programs that have a positive tone or invite conversation where the students are free to express themselves? I think I can say yes, that is what we want,” Morales stated.
Morales also said that President Gould would be sending a response to the many e-mails that concerned students had sent her about this incident. Many of the students in the office reacted very negatively to this, saying that they wanted an apology that everyone could see, and they did not want this situation to just be “swept under the rug.”
“I feel that Muslims in general are neglected in a certain way because not only are our speakers profiled and asked to give a bio – and we’re the only groups that are subject to that – but we get e-mails about saving Haiti and now the tsunami in Japan, but there was a flood in Pakistan that was totally ignored,” Abdelrahim Abdel, a student active in several clubs, said. “The administration tends to ignore our group of individuals. We are subjected to bad treatment. We’re not given the chance to grow or progress because we’re constantly put down in many different ways, whether direct or indirect.”
The meeting was ended by most of the students filing out to attend a required part of their religion, Jumu’ah, the Friday prayer. An official solution to the problem has not yet been reached.
