By A.R. Bassa

Can you imagine a so-called ‘Imperial Wizard’ of the Ku Klux Klan allowed by a community college, or any academic institution even attempting to pass itself off as legitimate, to teach a course in African-American history, without qualification? The school would be unrelentingly condemned worldwide and a mandatory media circus would ensue whether or not it remedied the situation. Good thing nothing like that ever happens, right? I invite you to additionally think along any of the following lines: an unrepentant Serbian war-criminal teaching a Bosnian history course; a proud Turk teaching a course in Armenian history bereft and in denial of genocide; a neo-Nazi teaching a class on ‘What is Judaism?’; or even a high ranking member of the Taliban teaching ‘American-studies’. Unsuspecting students seeking knowledge would only learn ignorance and hate. Perhaps in oppressive societies where minorities are demonized routinely, basic civil liberties cast aside and human rights disregarded, dark hegemonic ideologies can be taught in academia under false guise—not in America of course.

Lane Community College, of Oregon’s second largest city, Eugene, was set to offer a non-credit course deceptively titled “What is Islam?” This course was proposed and set to be instructed by a man with no credentials in religious studies or legitimate education in Islam, Barry Sommer. The course was subsequently cancelled, before a session was held, after LCC administrators learned a bit about Sommer and took the right course of action earlier this month. LCC offers around 300 non-credit courses in their Continuing Education program, often led by people other than college staff, aimed at “(enriching) the lives of the residents in and around Lane County,” according to its website. Forming and instructing one of these courses is not hard, there are only a few bureaucratic steps and a minimal number of students willing to register in order to get the course offered.

Sommer resides in a quiet trailer park in the local Eugene-area. He runs an anti-Muslim blog titled “Islam Today Oregon” where he skews news-stories regarding terrorism and Islam to provide only a negative one-sided view of the faith. He also produces a local cable access program similarly titled “Islam Today.” His grammar and spelling are unfit for anyone hoping to teach at a college-level. Browsing through his blog one will notice a myriad of errors. His deplorable English and scholarly-fraud is not limited to his blog; he is also an author of a seemingly self-published online book “From the Mouths of Our Enemies,” which he dedicates affectionately to infamous anti-Muslim blogger Robert Spencer. Similarly to his blog and TV-show, his book is nothing more than faux-scholarly bigotry. He is unequipped to teach at all, let alone a course on theology he has no grasp on.

Aside from being an intellectually-deprived writer, Sommer is also president of the Oregon chapter of a national anti-Muslim hate group known as “ACT! for America”. The national group is headed by Brigitte Gabriel, who is quoted as making false claims like “Every practicing Muslim is a radical Muslim,” and “a practicing Muslim who believes the word of the Koran to be the word of Allah, who abides by Islam, who goes to mosque and prays every Friday, who prays five times a day — this practicing Muslim, who believes in the teachings of the Koran, cannot be a loyal citizen to the United States of America.”

From just a small glimpse into Barry Sommer’s works and affiliations, it becomes obvious that he would only provide poor instruction and a skewed bias to students of his would-be class had LCC not mended their mistake. Administrators only realized their mistake after being contacted by a local TV station that Sommer had informed of the course. In a statement provided to another station, KVAL, LCC administration noted that the “noncredit class titled ‘What is Islam’ …reached the attention of administration after a phone call from a local television station…The station had been contacted directly by the person who proposed the course.” They reviewed the course and “determined that it was in the best interest of students and the community to step back, pause for careful consideration, and engage our faculty in how to best provide a rich learning experience,” the statement continued. Additionally LCC’s Continuing Education program describes that “Instructors are practitioners in the subjects they teach,” and Sommer is no practitioner of Islam.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) learned of Sommer’s proposed course after he sought and recieved media mention for it. They took action immediately issuing a statement to LCC administration as well as a press-release on the matter. The class was, however, cancelled before CAIR’s statement was received. In the statement, CAIR-Washington Executive Director Arsalan Bukhari advised that Sommer be replaced “unless the goal of this course is to promote anti-Muslim bigotry.” Bukhari, in a phone-interview, expressed most concern in Sommer’s education, “I want to see his educational background,” he said, “He’s been claiming that he’s been studying Islam for (more than 10) years,” he continued “There are many ways to study a faith.” The LCC situation “irks us and should irk every rational person,” Bukhari expressed.“In mainstream society we don’t want bigotry in education. It shouldn’t be acceptable to have people who hate Islam, teach it. That’s not education.”

In answering whether he hated Islam to a local reporter, Sommer replied “That’s kind of a loaded question…I have absolutely nothing against Muslims, but I have a problem on how Islam is defined today by its leaders.” Unfortunately Sommer believes that 1.57 billion Muslims today are led by the minuscule percentage of radicals responsible for about 6% of terrorism in the US and .4% in Europe, according to the FBI and Europol respectively. This fetish for misleading people about Islam is most definitely rooted in a deep-seated hatred for it. It’s harrowing that he almost got away with producing institutionalized Islamophobia but somewhat comforting that his efforts were ultimately thwarted. Sommer is not giving up easily though, and the American Center for Law and Justice is threatening LCC with legal action on his behalf; the right-wing legal-group wants Sommer and his course reinstated. The ACLJ’s threats are baseless as they are under the false impression that LCC’s decision was pressured by CAIR, though LCC administration asserts that their decision was entirely through internal review.

This situation at LCC is merely a footnote in the rising tide of anti-Muslim sentiment enveloping America, and many nations in Europe. Bukhari believes that Muslims should be vocal in defense against this, “Stand up for your rights, take a stand,” he advised; promoting writing op-ed articles, letters-to-the-editor, and comments on online news relating to Islam. “There are basically organizations, groups, out there that have interns or volunteers go (online) and comment (falsely) on articles about Islam” he warned; further recommending “(getting) maybe 10 Muslims to go debunk negative commentators.” Bukhari stressed the importance of media involvement, he continued to advise “(responding) to reporters, write positive letters to reporters to balance the negativity” they receive from bigots, when they do fair articles about Islam. “It has a huge impact and it’s very easy to do,” he added “Mainstream discourse is off, our job is to respond to that, to make sure our narrative gets out.”


Original link:

http://albayanmag.com/2010/12/18/bigotry-has-no-place-in-education/