“The connection between violence, particularly violence against women, and Islam is too clear to be ignored. We do no favors to students, faculty, nonbelievers and people of faith when we shut our eyes to this link, when we excuse rather than reflect.”
These words were meant to be delivered at Brandeis University long before Islamist terrorists kidnapped nearly 300 Nigerian girls simply because they were trying to get an education. But they were never spoken. Ayaan Hirsi Ali — a champion of women threatened by radical Islamic fundamentalism — had her invitation to speak at Brandeis’ commencement canceled because her message was too politically incorrect.
Ali ended up publishing her remarks in The Wall Street Journal under the headline “Here’s What I Would Have Said at Brandeis.” Her tale speaks to two sad facts: First, Islamists tremble at the mere thought of a girl going to school. Second, too many of our own universities tiptoe around the problem. Far easier for profs and speakers to rail against a phony GOP war on women than to address what Ali calls the “difficult questions” about Islam in the real war on women.
True, Ali apparently rejects the idea that moderate Islam exists. But you don’t have to accept her entire worldview to recognize her courage, or that she was standing up for girls like those kidnapped by Boko Haram long before it made our headlines.
It’s easy to indict the Nigerian government for its corruption and indifference. But what moral standing do we have when our own institutions of higher learning also prefer to look the other way?