THE SCHEDULED APPEARANCE OF TWO former terrorists on the campus of Western Michigan University in March to discuss why Islamic terrorists want to kill generated enough controversy by itself.
But a poster promoting the event generated its own issues, pitting student sponsors in a free speech battle with the school administration and fellow students who were offended by the poster.
The two speakers were Walid Shoebat and Kamal Saleem, former members of the Palestinian Liberation Organization who admitted to committing terrorist acts such as planting bombs in the name of Islam. The speakers have since renounced their terrorist ties and regularly speak at college campuses on the issue of terrorism.
But it was the poster put up by the sponsoring student group, International Conservatives, that got campus ethnic organizations, students and school officials in an uproar.
The posters depicted the faces of two dark-skinned individuals in white and black facial wraps, with only their eyes showing. The headline of the poster says in big red letters, “Why we want to kill you.”
International Conservatives President Chris McCann and Keith Davies of the Walid Shoebat Foundation listed numerous instances of intimidation and obstructionist tactics by university officials over the posters, including sending campus police to take them all down.
The university apparently received complaints from members of the Muslim Student Association, which claimed the poster was offensive. McCann and the Shoebat Foundation argued that it was a First Amendment issue and there was absolutely nothing wrong with the poster.
The two men did end up speaking before about 1,300 people at the university.