A campaign waged by the UF Law School Republicans
A few days ago, Glenn Beck appeared on The O’Reilly Factor to promote his book. His interview with the Law School Republicans was fresh on his mind. In the middle of this clip, exasperated by the UF administration’s actions, Glenn Beck talks about the fight for free speech at UF and Bill O’Reilly makes some witty remarks.
The Florida House Majority Leader, Adam Hasner, is a great one for doing what is right. Recently, he called for the swift resignation of a State Representative who had been “sentenced to probation and to pay a fine for solicitation.” Now, Representative Hasner, like the Florida Attorney General, patriots all, have come to the aid of all who stand to gain from free speech at the University of Florida:
TALLAHASSEE – Representative Adam Hasner (R-Delray Beach) is calling on University of Florida President Dr. James Bernard Machen to admonish the Florida’s Vice President of Student Affairs and take steps to repair the University’s image after a troubling freedom of speech episode which has drawn criticism from conservative pundits, free speech advocates and Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum.
Last month, University of Florida’s Vice President of Student Affairs, Dr. Patricia Telles-Irvin, distributed a campus-wide email condemning certain students and calling for them to apologize for posting an advertisement in advance of the showing of the film “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West.”
Some of the fliers used by the students to advertise the film read in part, “Radical Islam wants you dead.”
In a campus-wide email to approximately 50,000 students, Dr. Telles-Irvin condemned the posting of the flyers as “offensive behavior,” and demanded the film organizers – which included the Law School Republicans, Jewish Student Union, College Republicans, Gators for Israel, and the Jewish Law Students Association – apologize.
Upon learning of this situation, Rep. Hasner contacted the office of UF President Machen to express his concerns that Dr. Telles-Irvin’s email was inappropriate and that the film’s organizer’s right to free speech were being unfairly targeted. Dr. Machen responded to Rep. Hasner in a letter that the email was meant to “promote tolerance and diversity” and that “as educators we must speak up when the debate is inaccurate or when students do not feel safe on campus.” Dr. Machen noted one Muslim student group had expressed safety concerns, and the email communication was to make students feel safe and to “help ensure accurate debate.”
At the time, Rep. Hasner stated, “I fully recognize the University’s obligation to preserve campus safety and its interest in encouraging accurate debate. But the dissemination of the poster in question and publicly addressing the dangers of Radical Islam are not inherent threats to campus safety. Moreover, the University’s call for “accurate” debate of this subject implies that the University’s official position is that the advertisement was inaccurate. According to the administration’s view of the world, elements of Radical Islam do not want to kill us. Not only is this view wrong, but it is itself dangerous.
Radical Islam is intent on killing. Its extreme views sanction the death and destruction of those who are non-believers – including Muslims. That is a fact. It is documented. It is undeniable.
By failing to differentiate between the Muslim students on campus whom they sought to protect and the elements of Radical Islam who pose a real threat, the University has breached its responsibility to its students by creating its own atmosphere of inaccuracy.
Furthermore, true and accurate debate cannot commence at UF while its administration adopts a position that is one of appeasement and denial.”
In a December 3 letter to Dr. Machen, Attorney General Bill McCollum stated Dr. Telles-Irvin’s letter “may have violated the free speech rights of the students and organizations who posted this ad and sponsored the movie.” Added Attorney General McCollum, “At the very least it has created a chilling effect on the free speech rights of students enrolled at the University of Florida.” Attorney General McCollum asked Dr. Machen to review the incident with his staff, legal counsel and the Board of Trustees to “formulate and take some appropriate remedial action.”
In his follow-up letter to Dr. Machen’s reply, Representative Hasner states, “In light of Dr. Telles-Irvin’s actions today and the University’s inadequate initial response, I believe the following actions are appropriate in order to restore confidence in the University of Florida’s commitment to free speech: A public apology by Dr. Telles-Irvin to the students who were attacked for promoting the film; A public reprimand by the University of Dr. Telles-Irvin; A substantive and enunciated policy expressing Florida’s commitment to free speech and an action plan for how incidents like this can be avoided in the future.”
“As a proud product of Florida’s public university system and an elected representative of the state, this is not something I take any joy in,” added Representative Hasner. “However, I believe that remaining silent will only contribute to the erosion of confidence in the University’s ability to promote serious discussions about the important issues facing the students.”
The Law School Republicans are proud to call Representative Hasner a friend. We hope that his support and voice, representing millions in the state of Florida, will be heard by the administration.
Two weeks ago, the Law School Republicans looked forward to a swift, amicable solution to any grievances regarding misunderstandings about the event. But then one week ago, the UF administration sent its official response to the entire student body, without hearing from us first, and without giving us a right to respond. As such, we moved to give our defense in any way that we could — although we are not responsible for and do not condone ludicrous personal attacks, which have been made but I will not dignify with links. This is a battle about principle.
It is in that spirit that Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum has written a letter addressed to the President of the University of Florida, Bernie Machen. I have been a fan of the AG’s for at least 12 years, but I didn’t expect help like this. Republicans are used to being treated like crap from university officials and from some faculty, so it usually doesn’t occur to us to seek help. Take a look:
December 3, 2007
Dr. James Bernard Machen, President
The University of Florida
Office of the President
Post Office Box 113150
Gainesville, FL 32611Dear Dr. Machen
It has come to my attention that Dr. Patricia Telles-Irvin, the University of Florida Vice President for Student Affairs, sent a letter November 26 to all university students entitled “official response” highly critical of an ad for the showing of the movie “Obsession” which was posted around the campus.A copy of this letter is attached for your reference.
Dr. Telles-Irvin’s letter may have violated the free speech rights of the students and organizations who posted this ad and sponsored the movie. At the very least it has created a chilling effect on the free speech rights of students enrolled at the University of Florida. As the Attorney General of Florida, it is my duty to protect the constitutional rights of all Floridians including civil rights and free speech rights. Consequently, I have asked attorneys in my office to review this matter and advise me what if any action this office should pursue. I am writing to request that you review this matter with your staff, legal counsel and the University of Florida Board of Trustees and, if they concur with my concerns, formulate and take some appropriate remedial action.
No doubt Dr. Telles-Irvin was responding in her letter to the sensitivities of the Muslim students on campus. While the Muslin faith should be honored and respected and most practicing Muslims are not radical and not terrorists, the United States has been at war with radical Islamic terrorists since September 11, 2001. The movie “Obsession,” which I have seen, describes the nature of our enemy and this war. The headline on the ad for the movie reading “RADICAL ISLAM WANTS YOU DEAD” is one of the messages in this movie and is a true statement of the intent of these radical Islamic terrorists. In her letter Dr. Telles-Irvin says, “regardless of its original intent, the language reinforced a negative stereotype, created unnecessary divisiveness and contributed to a generalization that only furthers the misunderstanding of the religion of Islam.” This may be the view of Dr. Telles-Irvin, but a great many Americans would disagree and argue that it is essential to the discussion and understanding of this war that the terrorists be properly and correctly labeled as radical Islamists who by their very actions clearly want us dead. Students and student organizations who hold this latter view should not be stifled in their free expression of it.
By not only criticizing the ad, but also calling on the groups that posted the ad to apologize, Dr. Telles-Irvin, intentionally or not, has chilled free speech on the UF campus. It may be that her intent with this letter was simply to encourage students when speaking of radical Islamists to put them in context by also making a statement that most practitioners of the Islamic faith are not terrorists and not radical Islamists. But that is not the effect of her letter. And I would submit that when one posts an ad for a movie it isn’t practical to expect a “clarification,” as perhaps Dr. Telles-Irvin thinks is needed when speaking of radical Islamists.
It has also come to my attention that students and/or faculty tore down most of the posted flyers advertising this movie and that some of those doing so wore hoods. It seems to me that the university should investigate this behavior and prosecute or discipline those who engaged in such conduct. To permit this kind of conduct without an appropriate response has an even more chilling effect on free speech on the campus than Dr. Telles-Irvin’s letter.
Your early attention to this matter is most appreciated.
Sincerely,
Bill McCollum
cc: Mr. Manny Fernandez, Chairman, Board of Trustees, University of Florida
Ms. Carolyn Roberts, Chairman, The Florida Board of Governors
What I am really most impressed with is the AG’s focus at the end on the flyers being torn down. As I said earlier, Republicans are so used to it by now that we have come to take it for granted. Certainly, no one in the administration expressed any concern whatsoever about this and you did not hear it in the campus-wide email.
It’s about time that we started defending ourselves. We’re not going to take this punishment anymore. We told the truth.
Today, we were fortunate to have a national media presence pick up the story of the subtle erosion of free speech: Glenn Beck. Mr. Beck has long been a proponent of open, frank discussion on the subject of radical Islam. He featured the movie we showed at UF, Obsession, about a year ago and really got people talking about the issue at a time when most people were tired of hearing about Iraq. I confess that I was one of those people. Since then I have remedied the situation with a healthy diet of Michael Yon, amongst other blogs.
In any case, please check out the Glenn Beck interview conducted with me:
Apparently, when Mr. Beck went on The O’Reilly Factor, he mentioned the UF situation. More on that soon.
I wanted to post some of the important documents that you may not have read regarding the “Radical Islam” controversy at the University of Florida. You know the basic story: the UF administration has requested that we apologize to the entire campus, not just those potentially harmed by the ads, and we have refused.
1. The advertisement that we have been asked to apologize for said “RADICAL ISLAM WANTS YOU DEAD … Obsession: The Movie. Radical Islam’s War Against the West. Screening at UF on Tuesday, Nov. 13 in the Reitz Union Movie Theater at 7:00 pm. Special Guest Speakers and a panel to follow. Sponsored by the Law School Republicans, Gators for Israel, Jewish Student Union, the College Republicans, and Jewish Law Students Association.”
2. The UF administration’s official response saying that we did not have accurate information (?!), should apologize, and that we unnecessarily divided our campus
3. Official Law School Republican response to the UF administration
4. Response to the UF administration from Professor Willis, the Law School Republicans faculty advisor (while not a fan of the tone, I think that you should read this stirring defense — for which all LSRs are very grateful)
5. Response to the UF administration from FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights in Education)
6. Response to the UF administration from Congressman Jeff Miller (R-FL)
What do you think? Check out Islam on Campus’s website for a different perspective.
[Cross-posted at Awkward Utopia]
Greetings everyone and welcome to the UF Law School Republicans Fight for Free Speech at UF blog. This blog exists for the sole reason of communicating information regarding the ongoing controversy at the University of Florida regarding the showing of the movie Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West and the flyers advertising the movie.
Civil discourse is welcome.
