DETROIT,
April 25, 2006 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Distancing
itself from the remarks, the Michigan State University (MSU) said
professor Indrek Wichman was exercising his free speech right when
describing Muslims as "brutal and uncivilized" and telling
Muslim students to return to their "ancestral homelands."
"He
was cautioned that any additional commentary ... could constitute the
creation of a hostile environment, and that could ... form the basis
of a complaint," Terry Denbow, a spokesman for MSU, was quoted as
saying by Detroit Free Press.
He
stressed that the remarks, though "very inappropriate," do
not violate the university's antidiscrimination policy.
In
an e-mail to the university’s Muslim Students’ Association (MSA)
on February 28, Wichman wrote: "I counsul [sic] you dissatisfied,
agressive [sic], brutal, and uncivilized slave-trading Moslems [sic]
to be very aware of this as you proceed with your infantile
‘protests.’"
He
was referring to global protests against Danish cartoons that
ridiculed Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him).
"If
you do not like the values of the West--see the 1st Ammendment
[sic]--you are free to leave. I hope for God's sake that most of you
choose that option. Please return to your ancestral homelands and
build them up yourselves instead of troubling Americans."
The
Bush administration has backed Muslims against newspapers that
reprinted the blasphemous caricatures, which were first published by
Danish daily Jyllands Posten last September.
Former
US president Bill Clinton has condemned the cartoons as
"appalling" and "outrageous" and compared rising
anti-Islamic prejudice to anti-Semitism.
Disciplined
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Wichman described Muslims as "aggressive, brutal, and uncivilized slave-trading.".
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The
Muslim Students' Association called Monday for the university to issue
a letter of reprimand.
They
have met several times with university officials since February 28 and
went public with the e-mail Monday because the school had not acted.
The
student group also wants the university to implement diversity
training programs for faculty and a mandatory freshman seminar on hate
and discrimination.
The
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), America's largest Muslim
civil liberties group, has also urged the university to reprimand the
professor.
"The
university needs to take appropriate disciplinary action in this case
to demonstrate through its actions that anti-Muslim bigotry will not
be tolerated on campus," Dawud Walid, head of the Michigan
chapter of CAIR, said in a statement on the group's website.
He
said that it is "unconscionable" for a professor to use his
university e-mail account to "foster a hostile learning
environment for Muslim students."
Many
prominent American figures, who insulted Islam and Muslims in the
past, have apologized or lost their jobs thanks to the quick and
positive reaction from Muslim advocacy groups in the country.
In
August last year, US radio talk-show host Michael Graham was fired
after branding Islam a "terrorist organization" in remarks
slated by Muslim groups as "hate radio."
In
June, a California radio station was forced to issue an on-air apology
for an Islamophobic skit that claimed Muslims have sex with animals,
avoid bathing and are obsessed with killing Jews.
The
Chicago-based syndicated radio commentator Paul Harvey, the most
listened-to radio personality in the United States, claimed in
December 2003 that Islam "encourages killing."
But
after receiving hundreds of angry messages from Muslims and
non-Muslims alike, Harvey backtracked on his defamatory comments,
praising Islam as a "religion of peace".
CAIR
launched in 2004 a campaign called "Hate Hurts America"
based on the conviction that the increasing attacks on Islam by
conservative talk show hosts was not only offensive to Muslims and
other people of conscience but to the entire country.
