How to Prevent A Guest Speaker: Play the Victim Card

As I think back of reported instances of bigoted violence against Muslims on American college campuses, I am hard pressed to come up with even a single one. I can however, think of more than a few instances of the reverse. From the Holocaust memorial destruction at UC Irvine by Hamas-supporting (as shown by their solidarity bands) MSA members, to the jihadist car crashing at UNC Chapel Hill. All the while, we see Muslim student groups, coordinated through national offices, bring in some of the most hateful and foulmouthed speakers in the nation to try and sway students towards their particular, unreasonable political position. The MSA and Students For Justice in Palestine, as national organizations have made a concerted effort to bankroll speaking tours of rabid anti-semites, and have helped contribute in a significant way to the rise in on-campus anti-semitism.

Never is a critical word said about this. In fact, as I can attest to from person experience, should somebody be so bold as to call a Muslim interest group’s actions into question, or worse yet protest peacefully outside of their event, they come under threat. And, at least in my case, not from the group themselves, but from the school. Speaking out against what is clearly wrong is considered, in the eyes of some, as cultural insensitivity or even racism. Semantics aside, the alarming point is that issues a level-headed complaint leads to vilification and persecution. And, short of major instances of physical violence or property damage, the Islamic groups on campus are left alone, never subject to scrutiny.

On very rare occasion, there is a group of students with enough sense to be sickened by the clear one-sided nature of the rhetoric being presented on campus, and they come together to alter this. These students find a speaker who, on matters ranging from Islam to Israel, is educated and doesn’t have the same casual relationship with the truth that some of MSA and SJP speakers do. Whether as part of Islamofascism Awareness Week or as an independently organized event, such groups seek out speakers like Robert Spencer, David Horowitz, Nonie Darwish, and reformed terrorist Walid Shoebat.

When available, Walid Shoebat is one of the most in demand speakers available. Why? Because he went from being a violent terrorist to an Islamic apostate that now vocally defends the state of Israel, and speaks harsh but true words regarding the Palestinian militant groups Israel is expected to negotiate with. And so the Conservative Union at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee tried to bring him to campus. Afraid that their organizations might gain support were the truth to come out, the heads of the local MSA and PSO wrote a letter to the school, seeking to have his invitation to speak revoked:

November 20, 2007
To the UWM Administration:

Firstly we’d like to begin by expressing our appreciation for the UWM Administration’s constant support for diversity, cultural awareness, and tolerance. The Muslim Student Association amongst many others enjoyed such privileges in its 30 plus years of existence at UWM.

However, it has been brought to our attention that an event entitled “Why I Left Jihad” is scheduled to take place at UWM on December 4th at 7:30PM in the Union Wisconsin Room. The speaker of the event is Walid Shoebat, a well known addict of hate-speech. His writing and speeches have deliberately rotated around inciting Americans with fear of Muslims and Arabs, associating them with terrorism. The ramifications of allowing such hate-mongers to spread hate has been clearly driven in the physical attacks on Muslims, Arabs, or anyone with Middle-Eastern appearance following the events of September 11 th.

The Muslims at UWM feel that their safety will be in danger if the above mentioned event takes place on the UWM campus. We ask the UWM Administration to cancel the event due to these circumstances for the safety and comfort of the students. We take such an event as a direct attack on us and will hope the university will ask the sponsoring organizations to discontinue the program. You can reach us at our office at xxxxx if you have any further questions or to schedule a meeting to discuss this further.

We appreciate any efforts in this case.

Sincerely,
Mohamed ElSayed
President
Muslim Student Association

Lina Abdulkarim
President
Palestinian Student Organization

They claim not only that Shoebat is a bigot (untrue) but that it may insight violence that threaten Muslim and Middle Eastern students. Again, given American educational history, that is a non-issue. If IAW didn’t lead to violence against peaceful Muslim students, then there is no reason to believe that one apostate condemning violence and terror will himself spark more violence and terror. But it didn’t matter to the school administration. They listened to these outrageous claims, and added a $1700 security fee that was out of budget for the club.

Rep. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater in a letter to UWM Chancellor Carlos Santiago , asked for “immediate action in preventing administrators at UW-Milwaukee from using an excessive security fee as a tool in discouraging the scheduled speech of Walid Shoebat.” That is probably the one thing that saved the Conservative Union’s planned event. The school has relented, and promised to refund the security fee. So Shoebat gets his speaking fee and the event will go on at the originally planned cost. It was a loss for the MSA and the PSO, but the fact that their original cry of threat worked so well is what is alarming. One cannot always count on having political muscle to pressure schools against such obscene actions, especially as it pertains to private schools. So this raises a new red flag, because it means that events can so easily come under threat as a consequence of hyperbolic statements by those opposed to it.

Potentially dangerous precedent aside, I would encourage all of those in or around the Milwaukee to attend the speech if possible. The free lecture, which is open to the general public, will take place at the UW-Milwaukee Union at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 4.

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