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The Gainesville Sun - December 18, 2007
Florida Attorney General used 'selective hearing'
By Danette Zaghari-Mask
Attorney General Bill McCollum strong-armed the University of Florida administration to retract a statement, which criticized the actions of some students on campus and encouraged more civility on campus.
The statement came after student groups like Gators for Israel and the Law School Republicans posted flyers which read: "Radical Islam Wants You Dead," to advertise a film, "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West." A justice on the Student Government Supreme Court and organizer also advertised: "This is a documentary the radical Islamic terrorists do not want you to see. Their leadership on campus has admitted tearing down posters advertising this event! It is unfortunate that certain student organization leaders and supporters identify with the small wing of radical Islam. It proves the threat is present even in Gainesville, Florida."
Islam on Campus (IOC), as the only registered Student Government-sponsored Muslim organization, did not protest the organizers' exercise of free speech; however, when the organizers falsely portrayed the Muslim leadership as radical, it raised suspicion of them as a security threat, which gave rise to a safety concern.
In response, UF administrator Patricia Telles-Irvin recommended that the students apologize and advised: "One of our roles as a learning institution is to teach our students to express themselves freely, and also in a fair and conscientious manner. In an academic setting, differences of opinions are strongly encouraged, yet such opinions must be based on accurate information when describing other members of the community."
Telles-Irvin's letter gave ammunition to a host of right-wing entertainers, such as Bill O'Reilly and Glenn Beck, who invited the president of the Law School Republicans, Christian Waugh, to tantrum about the chilling effect of Telles-Irvin's statement on his free speech. Attorney General McCollum, then, vowed to keep his subordinate attorneys pumping out legal memorandum on the alleged violation of the constitution by administrators unless the university retracted its statement. The university, indeed, hoisted a white flag to appease the ravenous attorney general, who thereafter decided to let bygones be bygones.
I'm disappointed in McCollum's selective hearing on allegations of constitutional violations. He said he would remain "gravely concerned" unless UF rescinded its statement. McCollum claimed that he initiated an investigation in this instance based on his "duty to protect the constitutional rights of all Floridians."
All Floridians?
It is a shame that McCollum did not express grave concern following the Tasering of Andrew Meyer at the University of Florida, who protested a politician's speech on campus earlier this year. In that case, UF police wrestled Meyer to the ground and Tasered him while Meyer howled in pain as the crowd looked on.
It is also a shame that McCollum did not sound the alarm to determine whether the city of Ocala violated Jeffrey Shield's First Amendment right when police allegedly wrestled him to the ground and Tasered him for refusing to drop a Quran in the dirt earlier this year.
Here, UF did not threaten sanctions; it acknowledged disapproval of the students' advertising tactics and in the same breath encouraged civil dialogue. It's the kind of etiquette lesson my 82-year-old grandmother offered on Southern gentility when she warned: "It's not what you say, dear, but how you say it."
At a university, students exercise free speech and also learn professional tools of advocacy that will serve them throughout their careers. Students who resort to scare tactics and employ deceit to marginalize another organization's participation on campus benefit from corrective guidance.
Perhaps if Andrew Meyer yelled out "Radical Islam Wants You Dead," or a deceitful diatribe about the "radical Muslim students on campus," that would have warranted a McCollum threat. Perhaps if police Tasered Jeffrey Shields for holding tight to the New Testament that would have warranted a McCollum threat.
I question whether McCollum would rally the taxpayer resources if UF criticized a Muslim student on campus who advertised: "Radical Judaism Wants You Dead," coupled with a scare campaign that radical Jewish student leaders were hard at work.
It is clear, that McCollum's enforcement of the Constitution is selective at best.
[Danette Zaghari-Mask is a University of Florida alumna and executive director of the Orlando chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR).]
http://www.gainesvillesun.com/article/20071219/OPINION03/342267569/-1/opinion
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