Cow College Cowed by CAIR

According to the Jewish Forward, Michigan State University has agreed to a plan, (at the prompting, of course, of the Michigan chapter of CAIR), to offer diversity training to students and faculty, “focusing on Islam-related subjects.”

This is MSU’s penance for harboring on its faculty Indrek Wichman, a professor of mechanical engineering, who dared to exercise his right to free speech in a private e-mail directed to the Muslim Students’ Association in the midst of the group’s tantrum over the Danish cartoons last February. The day before the group's campus protest was to be held, a website, SpartanEdge.com, owned by an MSU journalism teacher, published the cartoons. This caused further offense, as shown in an opinion piece that ran in the State News written by the Association’s “political chair,” Syed Mehdi Jafri:

“This is just a continuation of the university's anti-Muslim policies and practices, which include mandatory housing in dorms for all freshmen (which we were not given exemption from), the unavailability of halal food (which was denied upon request), the invitation to a speech by Salman Rushdie last year (which was not revoked upon request) and now remaining silent as SpartanEdge.com publishes such offensive and blasphemous caricatures.”

Apparently pushed to the point of distraction, Wichman fired off a private e-mail to the group.

“I intend to protest your protest,” he said. “I am offended not by cartoons, but by more mundane things like beheadings of civilians.” After citing several examples of brutal Islamic violence from around the world, Wichman, a rather poor speller, said “I counsul you dissatisfied, agressive, brutal, and uncivilized slave-trading Moslems to be very aware of this as you proceed with your infantile ‘protests.’”

The Muslim Students’ Association went public with the e-mail, and CAIR began demanding MSU discipline Wichman, “saying the e-mail creates a hostile learning environment for students.” CAIR also wanted a mandatory freshman seminar on hate and discrimination.

MSU refused to discipline Wichman, citing his right to freedom of speech and that he hadn’t violated the university’s anti-discrimination policies. In the end CAIR got the diversity training it wanted, at least. But according to the Forward, Michigan law prevents the diversity training from being made mandatory. In that case, “Wichman told the Forward not to expect him at the training.”