Posted on 04/10/2015 9:11:38 PM PDT by grundle
The perpetrator was a liberal activist and decorated campus Muslim leader who said American Sniper promoted violence.
Is the University of Michigan a hostile place for Muslim studentsor just a hostile place for freethinkers?
Zeinab Khalil, a recent UM graduate, Muslim, and progressive activist who won numerous distinctions during her time on campus, including an award named for Martin Luther King, Jr., thinks its the former. A UM groups decision to screen the film American Sniper offended the sensibilities of some Muslims, including Khalil, who claimed on Twitter that the campus is already a hostile place for Arab/Muslim students. In one tweet posted on April 9th, she despaired:
Spent 4 yrs at @umich doing anti-oppressive work; admins used me to educate campus. this is what i get in return as exhausted/exploited alum.
In a sense, shes right. UM has indeed proven to be a hostile place for at least one Muslim student: Omar Mahmood, whose off-campus apartment was vandalized last December by a trio of women who pelted his door with eggs and left him hateful messages because they didnt appreciate a satirical column he'd written mocking trigger warnings and microaggressions.
Who perpetrated this act of intimidation against a Muslim student? It was Khalil herself, according to Mahmood, whose account is supported by the testimony of other students, video footage, and emails obtained by Reason.
Khalil was assisted by two others, according to Mahmood, who are also recent graduates and progressive activists in the UM Muslim community.
Mahmood has known this all alongthe amateur criminals were caught in the act on the apartment complexs surveillance video and are identifiable to those who know thembut he says he didnt report their names to the media in hopes that they would reconcile with him privately. They never did.
In the wake of the controversy over American Sniper and Khalils statements about campus hostility toward Muslims, Mahmood says he couldnt hold back any longer.
At 1:40 a.m. on Friday, December 12, 2014 the three women entered Mahmood's building. They vandalized the door leading to his apartment unit, pelting it with eggs, gum, and hot dogs, and left hateful messages such as You scum embarrass us, you have no soul, and everyone hates you you violent prick. They also left a picture of Satan and defaced copies of the thing that had drawn their ire: a satirical column he had written for the campuss conservative alternative newspaper, The Michigan Review.
The column, titled Do the Left Thing, was written from the perspective of a left-handed student up in arms about all the microaggressions right-handed students had committed against him. Mahmood lamented political correctness in the piece:
It is 2014, people. Still, change starts with awareness. Until right-handed people, especially cis-gendered hetero white males in salmon shorts, do not start checking their privilege, we will continue to live in inequality.
That was enough, says Mahmood, to provoke Khalil.
But even though the perpetrators were caught in the act on surveillance video and their identities were known to many on campus, according to Mahmood, no official action or reprimand took place. And despite the incident garnering attention from national news mediaboth Fox News and New York Magazine cited it as a prime example of the culture of censorship at the modern American university campusMahmood never received any kind of apology. Leaders of the UM Muslim community tried to mediate, but the women were unwilling to meet.
They have not apologized, Mahmood told Reason.
Khalils tactics are all the more astonishing given her level of distinction and importance on campus. During her time at UM, she was a model leader with a considerable resume. She was a student commencement speaker for the Honors Program graduation ceremony in May 2014, president of the Muslim Student Association, a columnist for the main campus newspaper, The Michigan Daily, and founder of several activist groups. The university chose her as a Rhodes Scholarship nominee last Septemberjust a few months before Mahmoods door was vandalized. She even received the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Spirit Award for exemplifying the leadership and extraordinary vision of King, an apostle of non-violence. She interned at the Century Foundation and the Brookings Institution, both left-leaning think tanks in Washington, D.C.
Khalil did not respond to repeated telephone calls, voicemail messages, and emails seeking comment on their actions. Reason obtained messages between a UM employee with knowledge of the incident and the people involved; these documents support Mahmoods assertions. An individual who spoke to Reason on condition of anonymity recognized the women from the surveillance footage and said there was no doubt of their identities.
The Michigan Review has also reported that Kahlil took part in the vandalism and was investigated by the UM Dean of Students over the matter last year.
University administrators are committed to a diverse, open, and friendly campus, according to The Michigan Journal, which reported that President Mark Schlissel believes all students should be able to express their opinions openly. Much lip service is paid to the idea that college is a place for tolerance of diverse viewpoints.
Why then did the attempted intimidation of a studentparticularly one belonging to an ethnic, political, and religious minoritygo unanswered by officials? Rick Fitzgerald, director of the Office of Public Affairs at UM, told Reason that the administrations hands were tied. Mahmood never filed a bias complaint, so the university had no grounds to take action, he said.
Violations of the Statement of Student Rights and Responsibilities are initiated by complainants who bring forward certain facts in the form of a complaint, said Fitzgerald.
Mahmood told Reason that he called the university hotline to report a bias incident, but was informed that because it had occurred off campus, nothing could be done.
Mahmoods situation is interesting because muted responses to bias incidentseven unofficial onesare atypical, at UM and other colleges. Indeed, at UM the administration acted swiftly when the feelings of certain Muslims were at issue. After hundreds of students sign a petition demanding that UM cancel a planned screening of American Sniper, organizers substituted Paddingtona film starring an anthropomorphic bear, based on a childrens bookin its stead. Criticized for caving to some students hurt feelings, officials changed their minds and decided to show both films.
Where was the outcry over Mahmoods door?
Derek Draplin, a UM student, editor of The Michigan Review, and friend of Mahmoods called his treatment completely hypocritical."
The Muslim community on campus has basically excommunicated him for not adhering to their dogmas, he told Reason. They preach tolerance, then try to shut any dissenters up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S51pRQ4p4tk
$
This was to be expected.
UoMI delenda est. Cut off their govt funding...
because it doesn’t fit the agenda.
How many times have there been bogus stories of gays, blacks, etc. attacked by evil whites, Christians, straights?
We would have a healthier society if Moslems did face a hostile atmosphere on campus, and everywhere else.
Ping as True Dat.....
Khalil has a bright future in the dem party as it careens ever leftward.
The Top Anti-Muslim Hate Crime Hoaxes of 2014
http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/robert-spencer/the-top-anti-muslim-hate-crime-hoaxes-of-2014/
Wolf howl upon them....
Zeinab Khalil has proved that muslims can’t be trusted.
“Three left wing college activists vandalized a Muslim student’s apartment. Even though it was recorded on video, the college refuses to punish them.”
The vandalisers were left-wing Muslims. Puts the university in a terrible spot if they discipline them.
Liberal hypocrites will be liberal hypocrites, but I’m kind of curious about this comment;
“They vandalized the door leading to his apartment unit, pelting it with eggs, gum, and hot dogs...”
I can understand the eggs, but gum and hot dogs? Is this some sort of Wolverine thing, because down South we usually stick to just the eggs. So, do you chew the gum before throwing it, and if so does the flavor matter? Or is the hot dog assault some sort of cryptic Muslim warning like Luca Brasi sleeping with the fish in Godfather? Maybe you add insult to your attack by also singing the Oscar Mayer jingle?
There has to be some reason for the things they threw, so if there’s anyone either from Michigan or a Muslim theologian who knows the significance of these items, please let the rest of us in on it...
Couldnt afford bacon on a student budget.
this is what leftists do. They create problems, they stage “incidents” and then demand they be empowered to “fix” them.
It is not a wonder that the leftist media and the leftist academe will protect the real perps while denouncing white, male conservative Christians for the crime.
Very vulgar hate crime. They should be charged in a real court.
Cloward-Piven with a dash of Alinsky.
Create a crisis, overload the current system causing a systemic collapse then rush to the rescue with a new system more desirable to the left.
This is the left on every single issue
Yep...it’s the arsonist/fireman/contractor who burns down your house then says he did you a favor cuz he put out the fire and BTW he can can build you a new one at twice the cost..
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