Ohio State Lectured On ‘Islamophobia’ Three Months After Terror Attack
by David Krayden
After being subject to a terrorist attack by a Somali refugee student less than three months ago, Ohio State University (OSU) is hosting a lecture Monday night on the dangers of “Islamophobia.”
The College Fix reports that the university’s Middle East Studies Center and Multicultural Center are jointly hosting a visit by author Nathan Lean, who will tell students about the “pernicious phenomenon” of Islamophobia that has reached “a fevered pitch” in American society.
Lean’s visit to the campus comes about three months after Somali refugee and Ohio State student Abdul Artan drove his car into a crowd of students and starting stabbing people before an OSU police officer shot him dead. Artan had identified himself as an al-Qaida supporter.
The author is in town to discuss his book “The Islamophobia Industry: How the Right Manufactures Fear of Muslims.” Lean’s website is replete with positive reviews of his work: “Nathan Lean sees the values of cultural and religious pluralism as vital to the democratic life of any society,” claims the Middle East Policy Council. While The Muscat Daily notes that “Nathan’s writing on Islamophobia will shape our understanding of this subject for a long time to come.”
Lean writes of the “Islamophobia Industry” in his book and claims that the “fear” of Muslims “is so fierce in its grip on some populations that it drives them to do the unthinkable.”
Ohio State’s website says that Lean will assess “Islamophobia’s causes, consequences, and highlight some of the underlying dynamics that have animated it in recent history” while lecturing the students on how their misguided fear has reached “a fevered pitch.”
He will offer “key insights on how students, scholars, and members of the community at large can counter instances of prejudice and help realize a world that values pluralism and diversity.”
There would seem to be considerable fear at OSU — but not of Muslims. The College Fix found one student willing to talk about alleged “Islamophobia” at the university but only on the condition of anonymity because he said he feared being punished by the OSU administration for his frankness.
“I will spout off about any other topic, but OSU has made it clear that this topic is untouchable,” he told the student news service. “I feel as a student at a public institution that I am being silenced. If I am a free thinker I should be allowed to question Islam, its writings, its prophet, and teachings just like fundamentalist Christian values are questioned everyday here at OSU. This does not promote dialogue but rather writes everyone right of the aisle off as the potential perpetrators of hate crimes.”
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