Brandeis rescinds offer of honorary degree to Islam critic

[alp227]

Source: Boston Globe

Facing public pressure, Brandeis University has canceled plans to award an honorary degree to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, an outspoken critic of Islam and advocate for women’s rights.

The Waltham university announced Tuesday night it had rescinded its offer to the Somali-born activist, a week after announcing she would receive the honor at next month’s graduation ceremony.

“She is a compelling public figure and advocate for women’s rights, and we respect and appreciate her work to protect and defend the rights of women and girls throughout the world,” the university said in a statement. “That said, we cannot overlook certain of her past statements that are inconsistent with Brandeis University’s core values. For all concerned, we regret that we were not aware of these statements earlier.”

In a 2007 interview with Reason magazine, Hirsi Ali was quoted as saying that Islam needed to be defeated.

Read more: http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/04/09/brandeis-university-rescinds-planned-honorary-degree-outspoken-critic-islam/Y2GtwcKhLS9i9Cz9OIpuMP/story.html

[cosmicone]

1. Why should there be public pressure against it?

Those 700+ million oppressed women who are forced to wear veils or head scarves, some treated to genital mutilation and treated like second class citizens or as property of males needed a voice and Ayaan Hirsi Ali provided it.

This is talibanization of Brandeis no less. Sad.

[alp227]

2. Talibanization? Ironic term, since Brandeis is a nonsectarian Jewish university.

"Brandeis was founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian Jewish community-sponsored coeducational institution on the site of the former Middlesex University. The university is named for Louis Brandeis (1856–1941), the first Jewish Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States." --Wikipedia

[cosmicone]

12. I know what Brandeis is

I was commenting on the talibanesque pressure to silence opposition to Islam.

[7962]

3. If she'd been critical of any other religion, it probably wouldnt have mattered.

There's a movie about all that you describe and many colleges have been pressured not to show it. And not because the movie is spreading any falsehoods, but because they dont like it showing what goes on.
Yes, I'm sure I'll get slapped for my first sentence, but sometimes the truth hurts.

[MicaelS]

4. I would take her over Brandeis.

“I assumed that Brandeis intended to honor me for my work as a defender of the rights of women against abuses that are often religious in origin,” she wrote. “For over a decade, I have spoken out against such practices as female genital mutilation, so-called “honor killings,” and applications of Sharia Law that justify such forms of domestic abuse as wife beating or child beating. Part of my work has been to question the role of Islam in legitimizing such abhorrent practices.”

[closeupready]

5. She is an operative for political conservatism:

>>Dutch Member of Parliament Ayaan Hirsi Ali has announced she will leave parliament, after Minister of Immigration and Integration Rita Verdonk announced that Hirsi Ali never obtained Dutch citizenship.

In a press conference an emotional Ayaan Hirsi Ali announced that she will leave parliament and move to the United States to work with the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute in September after reaching a deal with US authorities concerning her security. Originally she was to have moved to the USA in May of 2007. In national paliament she will be replaced by Amsterdam government member Laetitia Griffith starting June 1.

The direct reason for Hirsi Ali's departure, is that Minister for Immigration and Integration and fellow party-member, Rita Verdonk has announced that Hirsi Ali never obtained Dutch citizenship, because she lied in her application for refugee status in the Netherlands. She claimed to be a refugee directly from war-torn Somalia and to have only narrowly escaped the threat of forced marriage. In fact, she had held a refugee status in Kenya at the time. She changed her name and date of birth.<<

http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Ayaan_Hirsi_Ali_leaves_Dutch_Parliament

But of course, these kinds of shenanigans don't matter, if you're a conservative.

[Blue_In_AK]

6. I agree.

From what I have seen of her, she is what we used to call a "mixed bag."

[alp227]

8. Heh. she appears to be an "illegal immigrant" technically...

but as long as she's got the right political credentials (being outspoken against IZZLAAAAM) the right wing will give her a pass, y'know "amnesty" there.

[closeupready]

9. Yep. A very predictable situation (and exploitable, which is what she's likely doing,

since she doesn't seem to possess a good understanding of what the word 'ethics' means).

[iandhr]

18. Not if she is also pro-gay

[cosmicone]

14. What has that got to do with her message?

If someone is advocating a pro-choice position, would you care if that person has committed shoplifting?

Or .. if someone is for LGBT rights, would it matter if that person is an undocumented migrant?

It is the message that counts.

[Nye Bevan]

7. I imagine inviting a critic of Catholicism or evangelical protestantism would have been fine.

The moral is, if you want critics of your religion to shut up, take out fatwas, blow things up, and murder people.

[closeupready]

10. Yesterday, you wondered why a juror (#6, IIRC) stated what he/she stated

about you. This post may shed some light on the mystery.

[Nye Bevan]

15. Oh, that was kind of tongue-in-cheek.

Believe it or not, my goal on DU is not to be universally liked. If it was, I wouldn't go around openly supporting capitalism, free trade, the candidacy of Hillary Clinton, and the Citizens United decision, and opining that there was indeed sufficient reasonable doubt to acquit George Zimmerman. With that in mind, it's nice to see the DU community voting 7-0 to let my posts stand.

[azurnoir]

11. Brandeis should consider Waris Diri to replace Ali

In 1997, Waris abandoned her modeling career to focus on her work against female circumcision. That same year, she was appointed UN Special Ambassador for the Elimination of Female Genital Mutilation.[13][14] In 2002, she founded the Desert Flower Foundation in Vienna, Austria, an organization aimed at raising awareness regarding the dangers surrounding FGM. Waris followed that in January 2009 with the establishment of the PPR Foundation for Women’s Dignity and Rights’, an organization she founded along with French tycoon François-Henri Pinault (CEO of PPR) and his wife, Hollywood actress Salma Hayek.[15] Waris has also started the Desert Dawn Foundation, which raises money for schools and clinics in her native Somalia,[2] and supports the Zeitz Foundation, an organization focused on sustainable development and conservation.

Waris has received many prizes and awards for her humanitarian work and books including:[2]

Woman of the Year Award (2000) by Glamour magazine.[16]
Corine Award (2002) of the umbrella association of the German bookselling trade.[17]
Women's World Award (2004) from former President of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev.[18]
Bishop Óscar Romero Award (2005) by the Catholic Church.
Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur (2007) from former President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy.[19]
Prix des Générations (2007) by the World Demographic Association.[20]
Martin Buber Gold Medal from the Euriade Foundation (2008),[21] founded by Werner Janssen in 1981.
Gold medal of the President of the Republic of Italy (2010) for her achievements as a human rights activist.[22]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waris_Dirie

[nyabingi]

13. Ali may mean well...

...but she erred when she allowed herself to be used by Islamophobic neo-cons - her advocacy for women lost out because she got lumped in the same basket as people like Michael Savage. If people like David Horowitz are saying good things about you, then you know something is seriously wrong.

[seveneyes]

16. "Islam needed to be defeated"

The Islam that forces women to cover themselves, forbids them to drive, kills them out of "honor" and all the other abuse of women and minorities does need to be defeated. No sane human would disagree.

[alp227]

17. But you don't see this happening in America. That's a conundrum with honoring Hirsi Ali.

It can be argued that her message incites hatred of American Muslims despite being for the most part honest.