Comments on: Controversy Regarding “Radical Islam”

By: Admiral

Admiral — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 15:02:54 +0000

Actually, I don’t believe either Willis or the AG said the UF administrators were interfering with the film screening. Their arguments are that a) tearing down flyers is illegal and the worst example of depriving someone of their rights in this whole episode (not investigated by the UF administration contrary to Dr. Telles-Irvin’s assertion) and b) the email requesting an apology from a public institution over a case of truthful but provocative speech may deprive us of our free speech rights now and in the future.

Anyway, the facts that Willis and the AG speak of are not in dispute.

Additionally, for whatever her reasons, Dr. Telles-Irvin’s email has nothing to do with the email. I suspect she wouldn’t want to get involved in a he said / she said sort of thing when he had already apologized for any confusion — an apology that was rejected in bad faith by the group that it was given to, incidentally. That’s not how you settle things or come to a dispute’s resolution. So it’s sad it had to end this way.

By: Mike Licht

Mike Licht — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 07:14:24 +0000

The Attorney General is a rare legal talent; he has no need to establish the facts of a case in order to generate a legal opinion. This wonderful aptitude must be unique to the UF Law school, as Professor Willis shares it.

A film screening sponsor sent a slanderous and defamatory email to the entire UF campus, full of false accusations and invective concerning the UF Islamic student oganization. Dr. Telles-Irvin emailed in response to this, omitting the name of the student, for which I cannot fault her. There can be no doubt the intentionally provocative posters led to this chain of events.

The unfounded assumption by the AG and Professor Willis that UF administrators were interfering with the film screening is simply not borne out by the facts, no matter how many times they repeat this charge or how many bullying and bombastic letters and memos they share with the national media.

Details at http://notionscapital.wordpress.com/2007/12/17/eternal-vigilance-is-a-symptom-of-paranoia-part-one/
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By: Frank

Frank — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 12:09:38 +0000

Oh my! I emailed Glenn Beck back on 11/27 with the story and a copy of the official UF response. Good to see he got around to the story and kudos to you for a great interview.

By: Admiral

Admiral — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 04:59:32 +0000

I have posted continuing developments on another blog just for this occasion, we had 100 hits in one day which is interesting: http://freespeech4all.wordpress.com

* AG McCollum inveighed against the administration
* FL House Maj Leader Hasner bashed the administration too

Also, in response to your comment Slade, I appreciate the support. You refer to the email controversy… and yes, Matt Klein was an organizer of the event who apologized (twice) for any potential misunderstanding regarding that email, which has degenerated into a he said / she said thing. However, Dr. Telles-Irvin did not mention the emails at all and made it clear she wanted us to apologize for the flyers. It will be interesting to see if the administration takes the time to listen to all these other voices, as they did to the aggrieved students before, and act accordingly. I won’t hold my breath.

By: Frank

Frank — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 07:32:21 +0000

The first day I read about this I already knew what it was about without even getting to the facts. As with every other organization in today’s modern society, all it takes is one person to cry foul for an entire group of people to be penalized. I spent four years in the Air Force and learned through experience the extent to which political correctness has invaded our culture.

Unfortunately it has now reached the institutions that serve as beacons for freedom of expression in our country, our universities. I wrote to Congressman Miller expressing my gratitude for having commented on the issue but fear that his input may be moot in our country’s liberal-leaning university establishment.

If I have learned anything from the events at our own school it is that you are only allowed to bash one group of people in this country, and that is the United States government. They are the only ones who don’t have a right to be offended. As for radical Islamic extremists, congratulations, I hope you could sleep better at night now knowing those crazy students at UF won’t offend you anymore!

By: slade

slade — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 17:37:13 +0000

my understanding is that someone affiliated with one of the groups sponsoring the event made a comment via email, on a bog, or through some medium of that nature, which implied that the people responsible for removing the flyers were terrorists/terrorist sympathizers. if it is the case both that (1) this person was speaking in an official capacity on behalf of the group(s) sponsoring the event and (2) the people who tore down the posters do not, in fact, have connections to terrorism, then i think the groups involved probably should have condemned his comment and asked for an apology themselves.

still, i’m with you. telles-irvin’s letter did not address the above incident, it addressed the posting of a constitutionally-protected and not-altogether-inaccurate advertisement. she’d get no apology from me.