“SUNY Oswego tries to ban Muslim speaker for” (yes, that’s really the headline), from SUNY’s Daily Orange, with thanks to Ali Dashti:
Controversy surrounding a Muslim man’s suspected connection to terrorists almost prevented funding for the keynote speaker’s upcoming lecture on racism.
Abu Yousuf will speak Saturday at the State University of New York at Oswego, but the university’s Muslim Student Association, which is sponsoring the event, did not obtain the funding easily.
Some members of SUNY Oswego’s Student Association were concerned about claims in an Internet article claiming Yousuf has ties to Al-Muhajiroun, an extremist Islam group that has been linked to terrorist activity in other countries.
Fahad Samad, president of SUNY Oswego’s Muslim Student Association, said the claims are false.
“Those are straight-forward lies,” Samad said. “Those are accusations.”
The Muslim Student Association defended Yousuf at the SUNY Oswego Student Association meeting Tuesday, and after some debate, the SA eventually gave the organization $800 to bring Yousuf to campus, said Alan Hershkowitz, a SUNY Oswego junior and SA senator.
Hershkowitz acknowledged there was initial confusion surrounding the speaker’s identity.
“There was some stuff on the Internet about him, but we weren’t sure if it was the same person. Abu Yousuf is a common name,” he said.
SA passed the funding request because the allegation could not be verified, Hershkowitz said.
OK, which is it? Is the allegation that Abu Yousuf is connected to Al-Muhajiroun a “lie,” as Samad says, or is this a case of possible mistaken identity, as Hershkowitz says? It is worth nothing that the original WND article that linked Abu Yousuf with Al-Muhajiroun portrays him as volunteering information about the connection, and also saying that he spoke regularly for the MSA: “Yousuf explained that he speaks at many colleges throughout the New York area, and that most of his speeches are arranged by the MSA.” What steps did SUNY really take, if any, to find out whether or not they were dealing with the same person?