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| Fifth Column |
| Jihad at Manchester Community College |
| 2005-04-19 |
| Earlier this year, Michael Abdelmessih was hired by Manchester Community College (MCC) in Connecticut to teach a noncredit course titled "Understanding Militant Islamic Fundamentalism." As of last Friday, however, Abdelmessih, a Coptic Christian who holds an MS degree in Political Science from Southern Connecticut State University, is out of a job, replaced by a Muslim professor. That MCC moved so quickly to replace Abdelmessih reveals the disturbing effectiveness that apologists for radical Islam are having in stifling opposing viewpoints on college campuses across the United States. Six students originally signed up to take the course. Two of them were Muslim women serving on MCC's faculty. In an interview with Frontpagemag, Abdelmessih identified one of the women as Fatma Antar and the other as Dianne Hussein. Rest at link. |
| Posted by:ed |
| #9 Lex Have you caught up with Efraim Karsh's article on Juan Cole? |
| Posted by: tipper 2005-04-19 8:17:03 PM |
| #8 It is indeed a huge problem for the nation. The presence of so many nutjobs and anti-semitic conspiracy-mongers from Juan Cole on down the line is the major reason that this country's intel services have so few capable, clear-eyed middle eastern specialists. Intelligent students want no part of it; aspiring scholars who are inclined not to blame Israel for the arabs' problems are pushed out of the field. But it's a long struggle. I've written repeatedly to the U-Michigan regents, president, head of history dept, about Cole's idiotic conspiracy-mongering and have yet to get a reply. |
| Posted by: thibaud (aka lex) 2005-04-19 3:07:15 PM |
| #7 Abdelmessih must have an even better understanding of militant Islamic fundamentalism now that he met those two lovely ladies. ;) |
| Posted by: Gir 2005-04-19 2:25:54 PM |
| #6 Community Colleges are a whole nother animal in the academic world. Often their instructors (not full professors, in general, unless the CC is an official feeder into a nearby university) are part timers with real jobs elsewhere. They tend to come and go anyway, as the needs of their real lives cause changes in personal priorities. So there is even less of a barrier to this kind of nonsense than at a proper university. Andrea, you are an OT? My mother was an OTR :-) |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-04-19 10:28:36 AM |
| #5 # 3 YEs! The tax payer's really PAY for this. I went to college there several year's ago for Occupational Therapy- they had a real bad director of their program-she finally left on her own, or was suggested to MOVE ON~~I never found out the scoop on that teacher. MUM is usually the word. Andrea Jackson |
| Posted by: Andrea Jackson 2005-04-19 9:52:27 AM |
| #4 We are ALL paying for this stuff. Time to mail and phone your congress critters, local officials and alumni associations folks. This stuff sounds funny, but it's scary how pervasive it has become -- and how much the kids they talk to believe them. |
| Posted by: too true 2005-04-19 9:26:18 AM |
| #3 It really is a nutty world in academia. That Fatima sounds like a real charmer. Do the taxpayers in Connecticut actually pay for this type of circus? |
| Posted by: Tkat 2005-04-19 9:20:45 AM |
| #2 Violence and the Sacred in Islam Colleen Keyes, Islamic Scholar, Hartford Seminary Wednesday, April 13 7:30 p.m. Andover Newton Theological School Stoddard Hall |
| Posted by: sea cruise 2005-04-19 7:10:43 AM |
| #1 You missed the jucey bits.... He continued: "When I started talking about jihad, I was constantly interrupted because these two faculty members, Fatma and Dianne, [who are both muslims and part of the 'middle eastern' faculty members who signed up for the course even when they obviously did not need it] claimed that jihad doesn't mean attacking non-Muslims, but means 'protecting Islam' Then, in the middle of the class, in Arabic no less, I received threats from Fatmaâ¦and she made it clear that she would 'contact the Egyptian government.' She said, 'believe me, you will not continue this course.'" And she did not stop there. Abdelmessih says Fatma also threatened his family in Egypt, where Copts are brutally persecuted. He says that Anne Bonney, in turn, told him she feared for his and his familyâs safety so much that she decided to station campus police at the classroom door to admit only enrolled students. "I asked Fatma in class if she intended to do the course work and homework in the class I had prepared before criticizing the course. She replied, 'No, I'm only here to watch you, '" Abdelmessih said. "A week later, after the MCC class was over, I went on a trip to Washington, D.C. and while eating dinner was called by Anne Bonney of Manchester Community College,â he continued. âI was told I no longer will teach the course because of 'a few grammatical errors in the notes' (Abdelmessih was born overseas) I handed out to students." and... The threats, intimidation and ultimate removal of Abdelmessih's course, only to replace it with a Muslim professor as the instructor, shows that practices common in the Middle East are now making their way onto American college campuses. Abdelmessih is also supposed to teach Arabic this summer at Manchester Community College. At this point, however, he doesn't know if he will still have a job with the school, where dhimmitude has apparently become law. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2005-04-19 3:55:58 AM |