This is good to see, but Indiana University doesn’t show any indication of having awakened from the intellectual miasma that afflicts it and virtually all universities today. Note that the dean says in al-Arian’s favor that he recently organized a global conference on “Islamophobia.” Will Indiana University ever feature a speaker who challenges the entire “Islamophobia” narrative as the propaganda fiction that it is, and calls attention to the grim reality of jihad violence and Sharia oppression of women? Not on your life.
An update on this story. “Exclusive: IPT Story on Al-Arian Panel Prompts Indiana University Dean’s Apology,” by Steven Emerson, IPT News, December 27, 2022:
An Indiana University (IU) dean admits its School of Philanthropy “failed in our due diligence” when it invited deported Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) board member Sami Al-Arian to participate in a program about the war on terrorism and its impact on Muslim charities.
The Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) reported on the panel discussion Dec. 20, detailing Al-Arian’s prominent history of PIJ involvement and his antisemitic speech, prompting readers to complain to IU President Pamela Whitten. Amir Pasic, dean of the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, wrote back to apologize.
“Though he had been recommended to those developing this session due to his academic work and recent efforts organizing a global conference on Islamophobia,” Pasic wrote, “we failed in our due diligence to consider his past comments and actions prior to extending an invitation to him. As a result, we have further strengthened our protocols.”
Pasic issued a similar statement to the IPT, but did not answer questions about who recommended Al-Arian or what changes have been made.
The IPT since has discovered several people on IU’s Muslim Philanthropy Initiative’s advisory board whose organizations have been investigated for terror financing, or have been supportive of Al-Arian for years.
Pasic did not respond Tuesday to follow-up questions about those board members.
In his email to Whitten, Daniel Trigoboff, a New York psychologist, noted Al-Arian’s “despicable track record of associating with a recognized terrorist group, Palestinian Islamic Jihad.” He also cited Al-Arian’s antisemitic statements, including calling Jews “monkeys and pigs.”
“Yet Indiana University collaborated in offering this unrepentant antisemitic supporter of terrorism a platform, and IU faculty participated in praising him as having something to offer IU webinar participants,” Trigoboff wrote. “In reality he had nothing to offer except hate mongering and deceit, the lingua Franca of the antisemitic supporter of terrorism.”
In his response, Pasic said he “share[s] these concerns and offer my sincere apology for the decision to include Sami Al-Arian on this panel, and for the impact his participation had on our community.”
“We pride ourselves — as a school, campus, and university — for our commitment to being an inclusive community. In this case, we fell short in living up to our values in this regard.”
This “was a better response than I typically get,” Trigoboff said.
Other letters he has written to universities have triggered “reflexive responses and excuses about free speech,” Trigoboff said. “I thought this was a positive and constructive first step,” but lacked specifics about what steps will be taken to prevent a similar mistake.
Al-Arian ran a charity called the Islamic Committee for Palestine. Its programs routinely featured PIJ officials and supported its actions. In a 1991 event captured on videotape, Al-Arian listens passively as his charity is described as “the active arm of the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine.”
The IU program was co-sponsored by the Muslim Legal Fund of America (MLFA) and IU’s Muslim Philanthropy Initiative and McKinney School of Law….
࿗Infidel࿘ says
What’s wrong w/ Indiana these days? First this, then a drag show in an Indianapolis school library… That too is a GOP run state, why aren’t they doing what Florida and Tennessee are doing?
James Lincoln says
Puzzles me too, Infidel.
Not that long ago, the emphasis was on Hoosiers basketball.
gravenimage says
Indiana University dean says ‘we failed in our due diligence’ in hosting jihad leader as featured speaker
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Well, that’s good–but I don’t know that they won’t do it again, especially if no one complains.