Tag: ASU

So far, the Justice Department has focused its efforts on free speech cases involving conservatives and Christians.

By Rowaida Abdelaziz and Ryan Reilly | HuffPost | Mar 5, 2018

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“Universities have been a beacon of free speech and thought — that is what they have been for all these years, but only certain students are afforded that right to free speech.”
— Imraan Siddiqi, the executive director of CAIR-Arizona

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A lawsuit against one of America’s largest public universities could pose a major test for the Justice Department’s commitment to campus free speech.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) filed a lawsuit in federal court last week against Arizona State University, accusing the school of violating Muslim students’ right to free speech and rights to equal protection by enforcing a ban on speakers who call for boycotting Israel.

The suit was filed on behalf of American Muslims for Palestine and its founder, Hatem Bazian, shortly after Arizona State’s Muslim Students Association invited him to speak at what is billed as an “educational event regarding Palestinian perspectives on Middle East conflict” on April 3.

Bazian, a senior lecturer at University of California in Berkeley, said he could not agree to the school’s speaker’s contract because of a “no boycott of Israel” clause that essentially bars him and others from participating “solely because they engage in and advocate for economic boycotts of Israel as a means to promote Palestinians’ human rights,” according to the lawsuit.

Continue reading “Arizona State’s ban on Israel boycotters tests DOJ’s free speech commitment”