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Thursday, January 11, 2007

Pace Universary Censors the Truth: write them and tell them what you think

From Israpundit

Pace U. threatens Hillel over proposed showing of Obsession

PACE’S DOCU DRAMA

By DAVID ANDREATTA

January 9, 2007 — Pace University administrators threatened to sic the cops on a Jewish-student club if it went ahead with plans to screen a critically acclaimed film about radical Islam, the head of the group charged yesterday.

Michael Abdurakhmanov, president of Pace Hillel, said two deans warned that showing the documentary film would implicate club members as suspects in two hate crimes involving the desecration of the Koran at the university’s lower-Manhattan campus last fall.

In addition, Abdurakhmanov said an assistant dean physically restrained him as he attempted to defend the film and his group in a meeting with administrators.

“The message was pretty clear, if you show this film, you’re going to incriminate yourself,” Abdurakhmanov said.

Pace spokesman Chris Cory acknowledged that officials encouraged Hillel to postpone the screening until tensions over the hate crimes dissipated, but dismissed the accusations of coercion as “far-fetched,” “implausible” and “unprofessional.”

Hillel had planned to screen “Obsession” during Judaism Awareness Week in November. The school stepped in after receiving complaints from Muslim students that the film negatively portrayed Islam.

In September and October, copies of the Koran were found in toilets in men’s rooms on the Manhattan campus. Those incidents were followed by the discovery of a swastika scrawled on a bathroom wall and a Hillel event poster.

Abdurakhmanov, a 20-year-old psychology major from Brooklyn, said neither he nor any member of his club had reason to believe they were suspects in the Koran incidents until the dean of students, Marijo Russell O’Grady, suggested it.

“Her words were if you show this film, the police will be looking into your records further,” Abdurakhmanov said.

He added that he knew of no one who had been contacted by the NYPD’s Hate Crime Task Force. An NYPD spokesman declined to say whether there were any suspects in the cases.

In a second meeting with university administrators, Abdurakhmanov claims an assistant dean, David Clark, twice pushed him into a seat when he tried to stand to speak.

Phone messages and e-mails left for the president of the Muslim Students Association, which objected to the film and attended the meetings, were not returned.

“The bottom line is the university never told them not to show the film,” said Cory, the Pace spokesman. “This was a good-faith effort by the deans to mediate between the Muslim Students Association and Hillel.”

Posted by Ted Belman @ 9:17 pm |

Below is a list of key members of the Pace board Lets write them to tell them what we think of the university's censorship of the truth.


Board of Trustees
Aniello A. Bianco, ' 61
Chairman

President
David A. Caputo

Members of the Executive Council

Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs
Joseph Morreale

Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration
Rick Whitfield

Vice President for Information Technology/Chief Information Officer
Frank J. Monaco

Vice President for Human Resources
Yvonne Ramirez-Lesce

Vice President for International Opportunities
Beverly L. Kahn

Vice President for University Relations
Doug Whiting

Vice President for Philanthropy
Laura Fredricks

Vice President for Student Affairs
Darnita Killian

Vice President for Enrollment Management
William N. Black

Vice President for Finance and Associate treasurer
Toby Winer

Associate Vice President for Planning and Budget
Ronald Nahum

Vice President for Government and Community Relations
Cynthia Rubino

Vice President for Facilities Management and Construction Planning
Dennis MacDougall

University Counsel
Stephen Brodsky

Affirmative Action Officer
Arletha Miles

Executive Assistant to the President/Special Assistant to the Board of Trustees
Cindy Heilberger


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Had the Muslim students wanted to show an anti-Jewish, anti-Israeli, anti-Christian, or even anti-American film, you can rest assured the Dean and the rest of the administration would have said nothing to them.

In fact had the Muslim students done that, if anyone had bothered questioning the Dean he would have replied that it was a question of academic freedom... This is yet another step in the voluntary descent into witless Dhimmitude by today's "academics."