<p>Today Brandeis abruptly withdrew its offer of an honorary degree to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Somali-born woman and former member of the Dutch Parliament who has spoken out against female mutilation, honor killings, and other abuses of woman that have been perpetrated in the name of Islam. Brandeis withdrew its offer after faculty and students accused the university of being insensitive to Muslim students by honoring Ali.</p>
<p>I’m a Brandeis alumnus whose S14 has been accepted to this fall’s freshman class with a significant merit scholarship. My son is largely apolitical, but he has no patience for extremist views on either side of the political spectrum. We’ve already been concerned that Brandeis’ politics are so far to the left than any dissenting views will be considered intolerable by faculty and fellow students. The muzzling of such a courageous woman and the cowardice of the university is, to me, disgusting. Although we actually have a re-visit to the school scheduled for next week, there’s no way after a debacle like this that we’ll show up. Whatever side one’s politics are on, it’s clear that it’s truly amateur hour at the highest levels of Brandeis University.</p>
<p>Big shock. Brandeis is a liberal institution. As an alumnus, my guess is you already knew that. Anyway, they are not muzzling her since they invited her to campus to speak, just not in connection with an honorary degree. If your son wants a conservative college, that will be hard to find among elite liberal arts institutions. Maybe he should try Brigham Young. </p>
<p>Well, maybe I didn’t make my point very clear – it’s not a liberal/conservative thing. It’s a competence thing. You would think that before Brandeis offers someone an honorary degree that they would carry out the due diligence necessary to know what they’re getting into. However the Brandeis’ official statement includes: “We cannot overlook certain of her past statements that are inconsistent with Brandeis University’s core values.” What changed over the past couple of days? Was Brandeis unaware of these “past statements”? If so, how did the faculty and students who objected to Ali’s honorary degree find them so quickly? </p>
<p>It’s more likely that Brandeis knew of the controversy surrounding Ali. So either Brandeis was so ignorant of the nature of their constituency that they didn’t anticipate the brouhaha that arouse, or they did anticipate it but were spineless once some faculty and students started whining . Either way, it speaks very poorly of the school’s administration to have offered this honorary degree to Ali, and then have to withdraw the offer. That’s why I titled the thread ‘Amateur Hour’.</p>
<p>Don’t worry about my son. He has some good options. They might be just as liberal, but that doesn’t bother him. But they may be more competent.</p>
<p>I am also an alumnus. Brandeis is great because of its distinguished faculty and talented students (and alumni), its wonderful curricular and extracurricular activities, its intimate learning environment and its proximity to Boston. In my opinion, these are the enduring student-centered criteria that should be among the bases for deciding whether to attend–not any political controversy, or even misjudgment, of the moment. </p>
<p>Ayaan Hirsi Ali has been a magnificent advocate for the rights of women and girls globally and has rightfully cast a spotlight on the role of religion in justifying the oppression of women. However the link she posits between Islam and violence is a source of bitter controversy. The failure of the Brandeis administration to recognize this when they invited her to be the commencement speaker was indeed a colossal failure of due diligence. Is violence and misogyny inherent in Islam, as Hirsi Ali suggests, or does it represent hijacking of the religion by extremists? Searching for “truth even unto its innermost parts” on this question requires that different points of view be heard. And a college commencement speech is not a forum, nor does it typically allow for nuanced discussion.</p>
<p>One can only speculate on what might have happened had Hirsi Ali simply been given an honorary degree for her work on women’s’ rights and invited to the campus to discuss Islam in a forum type setting, rather than as the commencement speaker. Such a dialogue was rendered impossible after Brandeis insulted her by rescinding the degree. But should graduating Muslim students have been expected to sit through a commencement address to hear their religion be castigated? Awarding her the degree but cancelling the speech could legitimately have been called muzzling her. There were truly no good outcomes in this unfortunate situation. (A silver lining for Hirsi Ali is that as a result of Brandeis’ action her speech, What I Would Have Said at Brandeis, was printed in the Wall Street Journal and reached far more people than it would have purely as the commencement address at Brandeis.)</p>
<p>Brandeis is not the first university to unintentionally ignite a firestorm in its choice of commencement speaker, nor is it likely to be the last. The question is what the administration’s bungling of this matter has to do with the education of its students. As @B77 has pointed out, the qualities that make Brandeis great are its distinguished faculty and the terrific educational opportunities afforded by embedding the intimate learning environment of a liberal arts college within a world-class research university. Proximity to Boston, arguably one of the best college towns in the nation, is another plus. These qualities will endure long after this regrettable incident has receded into the past.</p>
<p>My son (admitted for this fall with a significant merit scholarship) and I sent an email tonight informing Brandeis that after the Ayaan Ali honorary degree debacle he has chosen to go elsewhere. Brandeis claims to value diversity, but they obviously have no interest in diversity of opinion or thought. Whining by CAIR and the usual politically-correct suspects sent them running.
We cc’d the alumni office, and I added a line instructing them not to call for a donation this year, or any year. We’re done.</p>
<p>The Brandeis administration demonstrated poor judgment and/or lack of due diligence in this incident. But it is an overreach to conclude that Brandeis has “no interest in diversity of opinion or thought”. Ayaan Hirsi Ali has condemned Islam as an inherently violent religion “a destructive, nihilistic cult of death”. She has stated that Islam must be defeated - not just radical Islam, but “Islam, period.” She would herself be likely to acknowledge that her views on Islam are extreme. Muslims at Brandeis were deeply offended by her blanket characterization of their religion, and others viewed it as negative stereotyping, likening it to anti-Semitism. To dismiss those who objected to the honorary degree by labeling them as “whiners” and “the usual politically-correct suspects” demeans their viewpoints. Doesn’t such name-calling demonstrate the very intolerance to diverse opinions that @AsleepAtTheWheel deplores? </p>
<p>Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s views on Islam certainly merit open discussion. But that’s not what an honorary degree is about. A college commencement is a coming together of a university community to honor its graduates, an event at which all members of the community should feel respected and safe. The Brandeis administration made the only response they could to a situation they shouldn’t have gotten into in the first place.</p>
<p>Several years ago Brandeis conferred an honorary degree on Tony Kushner. Tony Kushner had made it clear prior to his honorary degree that he considers the Jewish people undeserving of a homeland. He had called the establishment of Israel to be a “mistake”. My favorite Kushner quote is, “The biggest supporters of Israel are the most repulsive members of the Jewish community. . .Israel is a creation of the U.S., bought and paid for.” Unlike the “Muslims at Brandeis (who) were deeply offended by her blanket characterization of their religion, and others (who) viewed it as negative stereotyping”, no one needed to “liken” his comments to Anti-Semitism. And some might consider calling American Jews who support Israel as “repulsive” to be negative stereotyping.</p>
<p>Many Jewish alumni, students, and supporters of Brandeis were also deeply offended, and complained. I was one of them. At the time, Brandeis stated that they were conferring the honorary degree on Kushner because of his body of work, and that his politics were irrelevant. Kushner got his degree. Ayaan Ali was to receive her honorary degree because of the work that she’s done bringing to light the abuse that women have suffered in the name of Islam. But somehow her political positions are relevant, and what was to be an honor has turned into an insult.</p>
<p>I have no problem labelling those whose politics are founded on victimhood to be ‘whiners’, and for those whose double-standards allow freedom of speech only if it comes from the left as ‘politically-correct’. </p>
<p>So, I guess Brandeis feels that “commencement is a place for all the members of the community to feel respected and safe”, as long as they’re not Jews or Zionists. Don’t lecture me about intolerance.</p>
<p>I regret that this forum has veered into political debate, which is not what College Confidential is about. For anyone interested in pursuing the issue of honorary degrees from Brandeis to politically controversial persons, I’d suggest doing a search on Tony Kushner and Ayaan Hirsi Ali. </p>
<p>My reading indicates some differences between the two: Tony Kushner claims that his remarks about Israel were misrepresented and that he has always wanted the state of Israel to continue to exist. Ayaan Hirsi Ali has made it clear that her statement that Islam must be defeated applies to the entire religion, not just some practitioners of it. Readers of this forum can decide for themselves whether it is appropriate or constructive to use the term “whiners…whose politics are founded on victimhood” to characterize the Muslims at Brandeis who were offended by Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s position on their religion. </p>
<p>Perhaps it was because they learned from their previous experience that Brandeis decided not to go ahead with awarding a degree that offended members of their community. </p>
<p>And BTW, responding to an email of mine the Director of Development Communications at Brandeis sent me a thoughtful email that included a lengthy statement by President Lawrence (which I’d not seen elsewhere). To Lawrence’s credit he does a real mea culpa about the lack of due diligence prior to offering the honorary degree to Ali. But when he explicitly tries to address the double standard at Brandeis (no degree for Ali, yes degree for Kushner) he doesn’t address the double standard at all, but rather goes on a long rant regarding Brandeis’ strong support of Israel. It’s OK to offend Jews and Zionists, but not Muslims or “Two-Third Worlders” (a term I learned when I read the faculty petition objecting to Ali’s honorary degree). </p>
<p>This Sunday at commencement Brandeis will be bestowing an honorary degree on Jill Abramson. Today Jill Abramson was abruptly fired from her position as executive editor of the New York Times. How’s that for timing? Whoever is going to introduce her and describe her achievements that led to her honorary degree must be feverishly rewriting his/her script.</p>
<p>Brandeis may want to get out of the honorary degree business. They’re not doing so well this year.</p>
<p>That is not delicious, it is unfortunate. You made valid points and I’m sure most people agree with you that a mistake was made regarding Ayaan Hirsi Ali , however you seem a little too happy about the incident with the new speaker, and finding joy in this turn of events is not delicious as you quoted. There are students that have worked very hard. I wish them a memorable commencement, and hope that an inspirational speech is delivered this Sunday. </p>
<p>To the poster B77 who suggested that if the OP doesn’t agree with Brandeis, he/she should consider a conservative university disregards the diversity of ideas and opinions of an entire spectrum of humans. Not all topics are easily divided into two separate sides. This also disregards the diverse choices of excellent colleges.</p>
<p>AsleepAtTheWheel, I admire your integrity. By choosing another college, you are standing up for what you value and setting an example for your son to do the same, no matter what his are or will be over time. Best wishes to you and your son. </p>
<p>It’s official – Jill Abramson has informed Brandeis President Fred Lawrence that she will not be attending commencement exercises to receive her honorary degree. </p>
<p>So despite Brandeis’ best efforts at political correctness, this year there will be NO women receiving an honorary degree at commencement. The Women’s and Gender Studies department, who led the charge against Ayaan Ali, will now have to sit by and watch three men receive honorary degrees. Oh, the horror of it all. </p>
<p>Of course, the Women’s and Gender Studies department could use the commencement to protest the kidnapping of hundreds of girls by the Boko Haram, But in the faculty petition protesting Ali, they stated that by honoring Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Brandeis would suggest “to the public that violence toward girls and women is particular to Islam . . . thereby obscuring such violence in our midst among non-Muslims, including on our own campus." So, I guess by the same logic the Boko Haram is off limits. Nothing to see here. Move along. If you can draw moral equivalency between genital mutilation, honor killings, and the forced marriages of adolescent girls on one hand, and the violence “in our midst” on the Brandeis campus on the other hand, what’s the big deal about kidnapping and enslavement?</p>