DAR AL HARB - U.S.A. - OHIO: A PROFESSOR, MOSLEM COMPLAINTS & A CANCELLED SPEECH

Professor’s invitation to speak pulled after Muslims complain
by Matthew Barakat

An Ohio professor who has called for war with Iran had his invitation to speak at George Mason University rescinded after Muslim students complained that he advocates violence.

On Friday, however, it appeared that the speech at the McLean, Va., school might be rescheduled.

John Lewis, who teaches history at Ashland University, was invited to speak in conjunction with an article he wrote in December titled "No Substitute for Victory: The Defeat of Islamic Totalitarianism."

In the article, Lewis calls for war against the Islamic government in Iran and the "immediate, personal destruction" of Muslim clerics and intellectuals who advocate the formation or support of an Islamic state.

The speech had been sponsored in part by the school’s Objectivist Club, which promotes the social philosophies of self-interest of author Ayn Rand. The invitation was pulled after the school received complaints from Muslim students and it was discovered that the club’s charter had lapsed.

Lewis said Friday that the speech has been tentatively rescheduled for April, with the university’s College Republicans club as a new sponsor. But university spokesman Daniel Walsch said the school had received no notice of the club’s invitation.

Walsch said the school investigated after hearing students’ concerns, but the school found no reason to bar him from campus. Walsch said he would be welcome to speak as long as proper procedures are followed.

"We just don’t want any disruptions to classes or anything like that," Walsch said. "We’re certainly not going to stand in the way of him coming here."

The student body at George Mason is 6 percent Muslim — six times larger than an average university. It is also a school with a strong conservative tradition, including prominent free-market professors in economics and law, and leadership that includes former rector and Reagan-era Attorney General Edwin Meese.

In a phone interview, Lewis said he does not advocate violence against individual Muslims in the United States who support Islamic law.

"I didn’t plan on going to George Mason with an armed gang. I’m coming to share my ideas," Lewis said.

He said he would tell any student who advocates implementation of Islamic law that "it’s impossible for you to live in the United States," but that the best way to defeat militant Islam at home is to destroy the Iranian government and eradicate the world’s most prominent theocracy.

"They need to witness the destruction of the Iranian state and be shown its failure," he said.


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Pertinent Links:

1) Professor’s invitation to speak pulled after Muslims complain