GMU - worse than I initially reported

A follow-up to my post Muslim spacehogs at GMU:

UPDATE May 11, 2007: From Snapped Shot via LGF, Brian C. Ledbetter clears up some misperceptions about George Mason U and the Muslim Student Association: for example, not all bathrooms in the Johnson Center have ritual foot-washing basins, but every bathroom in the northeastern half of the building has foot-washing basins. Still doesn't give me a warm fuzzy.

The original article from Snapped Shot was titled "Some are more equal." This statement is adapted from the proclamation "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others" made by the ruling pigs in George Orwell's Animal Farm. A fitting extension of our porcine metaphor.

As noted in a previous article Muslim accomodations on college campuses:

The [Muslim Accomodations Task Force, a project of the Muslim Student Association] isn't operated by overly enthusiastic college students. Its professional staff, based in the Washington, D.C., area, includes coordinators who provide legal advice, teach students to lobby, write letters on their behalf, and help them overcome "obstacles" such as college administrators' concerns about violating the separation of church and state.

To learn how local colleges and universities are "accomodating" Muslim demands, visit Muslim Accomodations (East Zone USA) on the MSA National web site.

Muslim spacehogs at GMU

... and yes, the title is intentional.


Pigs in Space - ouch!

From Broadside Online via Little Green Footballs, the Muslim Student Association (MSA) at George Mason University has demanded that the University assign a special prayer space for Muslims, to also serve as an Islamic Education Center, and to allow the MSA to run it.

Muslims face Mecca when praying and going through their gyrations, and the wall they face cannot be adjacent to rest rooms. The existing "meditation space," designed to serve all GMU students, regardless of religion, meets these requirements. This room would be expanded to create a separate prayer space for women.

As a public university, GMU should not favor any religion and should not enable gender apartheid. Remember how the Commonwealth of Virginia was obliged to admit women to VMI?

My perverse thought is that if the MSA's demands are fulfilled and the space is renovated, let's make sure that the toilets in the restrooms that the MSA use for wudu, or ritual ablution, are repositioned to point toward Mecca!

Muslim accomodations at college campuses

From the StarTribune.com (Minneapolis-St. Paul) via Dhimmi Watch, information about how the Muslim Student Association is conducting "soft" jihad on college campuses by pressuring them to make special accomodations for Mulsims. As with the Muslim American Society, MSA doesn't provide a street address, only a postal address in - guess! - Falls Mosque:

The task force isn't operated by overly enthusiastic college students. Its professional staff, based in the Washington, D.C., area, includes coordinators who provide legal advice, teach students to lobby, write letters on their behalf, and help them overcome "obstacles" such as college administrators' concerns about violating the separation of church and state.

The Muslim Accommodations Task Force is a project of the Muslim Student Association of the U.S. and Canada. MSA's mission is to enable Muslims here "to practice Islam as a complete way of life," and its "main goal" is "spreading Islam," according to its website. The association calls itself the "landmark Muslim organization in North America," and says it has chapters on 600 campuses.

On MSA's website (www.msa-national.org), the sort of inclusive language used by the Muslim Accommodations Task Force gives way to hard-hitting advice for insiders. One downloadable publication --"Your Chapter's Guide to Campus Activism" -- describes how activists can advance political positions such as "restoring justice within the Palestinian territories," and opposition to the Patriot Act and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The cover features a student with a megaphone, and the slogan "Speak Out! Stand Up! Say It Loud!"

MSA views itself as America's moral and political vanguard. "As Muslims, we are a nation elected by God to lead humanity," the guide announces. On campus, that means initiating "mass mobilization" through "direct action campaigns" à la the 1960s, when students were "itching to fight" for change.

The guide explains how Muslim student groups can obtain funding, identify coalition partners and "bodies of power" on campus, work within student government, and use the media. "Marches, rallies and protests on campus" can "generate massive amounts of exposure for your MSA and its cause," it advises.

In all these endeavors, however, establishing credibility is vital to success, the guide emphasizes. Activists must "take full advantage of the open-minded environment" on campus, and skillfully employ the language of patriotism and rights. "[M]obilization commences the moment you speak in a language that resonates with your audience," the guide adds.

Thus, activists should take care to position themselves as mainstream Americans. "Make use of terminology like 'our country,' 'our security,' and 'we, the American people,' " the guide suggests. "Unless you identify with the people, you will never gain the legitimacy to criticize state policies," though "identifying yourself as an American" will not necessarily preclude criticism.

Activists should also frame their objectives in language that Americans embrace. "Most Americans identify with concepts such as 'justice,' 'self-determination,' 'human rights' and 'democracy,' " the guide explains. "These terms will be constructive when delivering your message, regardless of the issue."

NOTE: It is not my style to quote whole sections of an article, but here it is was necessary to expose the tactics of MSA. In a subsequent article, I will quote what this article said about accomodations for Muslims at Georgetown University.