College told to halt Islam-induced speech limits

[Confederate Kahanist]

http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=238341

By Bob Unruh
© 2010 WorldNetDaily


Lane CC president Mary Spilde

A community college in Oregon that abruptly and without explanation canceled a "What is Islam" class it already had approved following complaints from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in a terror financing trial, is being warned its actions violate the U.S. Constitution and the class should be reinstated.

"While CAIR is free to exercise its freedom of speech to criticize viewpoints with which it disagrees, [Lane Community College] is not free to breach a contract and censor viewpoints in the name of 'sensitivity' or political correctness," said a newly released letter from the American Center for Law and Justice.

"For a biased and questionable group such as CAIR to willfully try to interfere with a contract and attempt to stifle First Amendment rights of any potential opposition is to be entirely expected. However, for a state institution to follow suit is not!" said the letter signed by CeCe Heil, senior counsel for the ACLJ.

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The letter set a deadline of Dec. 15 for assurances to be issued by the school that the course will be reinstated and Barry Sommer will be allowed to teach or "we will discuss with our client his right to pursue litigation in federal court to seek a remedy for the violation of his rights."

WND contacted the office of Mary Spilde, president at Lane in Eugene, Ore., for comment, but did not receive a response.

The ACLJ's letter said Sommer had proposed the course, it had been approved, and in fact was being advertised by the college and Sommer, at the college's recommendation, when CAIR intervened.

That organization, in a statement from its Washington state chapter, called for LCC to replace Sommer because statements Sommer had made "were offensive to Muslims."

The result of the pressure from the activists was that Lane canceled the class and pulled it from the school's website, without explanation.


"LCC's stated commitment to tolerance and diversity is completely jeopardized when it censors an approved non-credit course at the mere behest of one biased and questionable organization," the letter said. "Students who believe that they would disagree with the viewpoints expressed in the course are free to avoid taking the course … or to take the course and express their own viewpoints during class discussion, but there is absolutely no legitimate justification for shutting the course down because someone disagrees with an opposing viewpoint," Heil wrote.

Not only did the school breach a contract with Sommer, it violated his free speech, the letter charged.

"LCC's decision to cancel Mr. Sommer's course due to CAIR's unfounded and biased criticism of Mr. Sommer flies in the face of the First Amendment's protection of academic freedom," the letter said. "LCC has trampled upon academic freedom in an attempt to quell controversy.

"It is not 'insensitive' to discuss the interplay between the teachings of the Quran, the geo-political impact that Islam has across the globe, and the ongoing threat of terrorism posed by various Muslim groups," the letter said. "Canceling Mr. Sommer's course due to CAIR's complaint conflicts with the longstanding tradition at public colleges, commanded by the First Amendment, of protecting academic freedom in order to prevent an orthodoxy – often fueled by the political correctness of the day – from being imposed upon college instructors and students. LCC should right this wrong by reinstating the course and allow interested students to register and draw their own conclusions."

"This is a textbook case of a public college improperly firing an instructor in response to public pressure," said Heil. "The school had approved the course and our client's request to teach it. Only after CAIR got involved did the school react – caving to political pressure and intimidation – firing our client and cancelling the course. The school clearly violated the First Amendment free speech rights of our client. It's disappointing that a community college that should uphold an environment of academic freedom along with diversity and acceptance has failed to do so in this case. We're demanding that the school rehire our client and reinstate the class he had been scheduled to teach. If corrective action is not taken, we're prepared to take legal action to protect the rights of our client."

Sommer previously reported the trouble began after he started interviews with media about the course.

"I did the interview [with a local television station] and evidently within a few hours of when the interview was broadcast, CAIR got wind of it and issued the press release," Sommer said. "In response they [the college] cancelled my class with no explanation."

CAIR was cited as unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism funding trial in 2008.

Also, the FBI has discontinued working with the organization over its history and agenda.