Salman Rushdie Scared Away From College Speech After Uproar
Renowned novelist Sir Salman Rushdie has backed out of a college commencement speech at the eleventh hour amid intensifying backlash over 'troubling statements.'
Claremont McKenna College President Hiram Chodish wrote in a campus-wide email Tuesday that Rushdie, 77, had decided to withdraw as graduation keynote speaker for its May 17 ceremony, the Daily Bulletin reported.
'This decision was his alone and completely beyond our control,' Chodosh wrote. 'We remain steadfast in our commitment to Sir Salman's visit to CMC and have extended an open invitation to him to speak on our campus in the future.'
The cancellation came as student and local Muslim advocacy groups called the author's presence 'disrespectful' after he said pro-Palestinian protests across college campuses were akin to supporting 'a fascist terrorist group,' The Guardian reported last year.
'I'm surprised, relieved and happy,' Claremont Colleges Muslim Students Association president Kumail Afshar said about Rushdie backing out of the event.
Rushdie, an Indian-born British and American atheist, has been forced into hiding for years amid immense outrage over his 1988 fiction novel The Satanic Verses, in which he suggests Islam's Prophet Muhammad's may have entertained polytheism.
Iran's former spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa against Rushdie in response, with a $3 million reward for his life. Dozens have been killed in connection with protests over the book, and the book's Japanese translator was killed, BBC reported.
Then in 2022, Rushdie was blinded in one eye after being stabbed over 12 times while on stage during a talk at Chautauqua Institution in New York. His attacker, Hadi Matar, was found guilty of attempted murder in the second degree and will be sentenced this week, The Guardian reported.
Rushdie's 2024 autobiographical memoir, Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder, details the near-death experience and his resulting injuries.
In the aftermath of the attack, Rushdie has been selective about where he speaks, frequently canceling appearances amid ongoing death threats.
Leading up to the commencement, the Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations had called on Claremont McKenna College to address its students' concerns over Rushdie's 'troubling statements about Islam and Palestine.'
'CMC cannot claim to value diversity and inclusion while dismissing the voices of its students,' they wrote in a statement. 'We strongly urge CMC leadership to address the sincere concerns raised by the MSA about the decision to host Salman Rushdie, engage with them in good faith, and ensure that the campus remains an environment where students feel heard, respected, and valued.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Judge says government must release Mahmoud Khalil
The Brief A federal judge ruled that ICE must release Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian student and recent Columbia graduate, unless the government appeals within 40 hours. Khalil, a green card holder, was detained in March by DHS agents and held in Louisiana for his involvement in pro-Palestinian campus protest. The Trump administration argues Khalil's activism threatens U.S. foreign policy interests, but has not alleged criminal conduct or presented evidence linking him to extremist groups. NEW YORK - A federal judge has ruled that the government must release Mahmoud Khalil, the former Columbia University student who has been in ICE custody for over two months over pro-Palestinian demonstrations. The government has 40 hours to appeal the decision; until then, Khalil will remain in custody, likely through at least Friday. MORE: Mahmoud Khalil update: Government must provide evidence in case Wednesday, judge says MORE: Over 80 arrested after anti-ICE protest erupts in NYC: 'We will not tolerate chaos' MORE: Lawyers for Mahmoud Khalil urge judge to release him from ICE custody in Louisiana "The court's decision is the most significant vindication yet of Mahmoud's rights," said Ramzi Kassem, co-director of CLEAR, a legal nonprofit and clinic at the City University of New York that represents Khalil. "But we aren't out of the woods until Mahmoud is free and back home with his wife and child." Timeline The Trump administration has been pushing to deport Khalil and other student demonstrators over their involvement in campus protests against Israel. "We gave you a visa to study and earn a degree, not to become a social activist and tear up our university campuses," Sen. Marco Rubio said shortly after Khalil's arrest. Khalil, a 30-year-old Palestinian by ethnicity who was born in Syria, was arrested back on March 8 in New York and taken to a detention center in Louisiana. The immigration detention center in Jena, Louisiana, is thousands of miles from his attorneys and wife (a U.S. citizen), who gave birth to their first child while he was in custody. He recently finished his coursework for a master's degree at Columbia's school of international affairs. The backstory Khalil has adamantly rejected allegations of antisemitism, accusing the Trump administration in a letter sent from jail last month of "targeting me as part of a broader strategy to suppress dissent." "Knowing fully that this moment transcends my individual circumstances," he added, "I hope nonetheless to be free to witness the birth of my first-born child." Facing a deadline from an immigration judge to turn over evidence for its attempted deportation of Khalil, the federal government submitted a brief memo, signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, citing the Trump administration's authority to expel non-citizens whose presence in the country damages U.S. foreign policy interests. The two-page memo, which was obtained by the Associated Press, does not allege any criminal conduct by Khalil. Rather, Rubio wrote, Khalil could be expelled for his beliefs. Judge Farbiarz had ruled earlier that expelling Khalil from the U.S. on those grounds was likely unconstitutional. Big picture view The Trump administration has pulled billions of dollars in government funding from universities and their affiliated hospital systems in recent weeks as part of what it says is a campaign against antisemitism on college campuses, but which critics say is a crackdown on free speech. To get the money back, the administration has been telling universities to punish protesters and make other changes. The U.S. government has also been revoking the visas of international students who criticized Israel or accused it of mistreating Palestinians. At the time of Khalil's arrest, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson accused Khalil of leading activities "aligned to Hamas," referring to the militant group that attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. But the government has not produced any evidence linking Khalil to Hamas, and made no reference to the group in their most recent filing.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
GOP lawmaker flips script on Newsom, Bass by defining anti-ICE riots with 1 word
EXCLUSIVE: GOP Rep. Darrell Issa is blasting elected Democrat officials in his home state of California over their response to the anti-ICE riots in Los Angeles after he called for a congressional investigation into the response time of local law enforcement. "These are the same people that tell us, you know, Biden was fine, he was on the top of his game," Issa said about Democrat narratives responding to the riots that have been unfolding in Los Angeles since Friday. "So their credibility goes with what you see versus what they say. I can't think of a better example of why you shouldn't believe or vote for people in that party as long as they're willing to literally lie to your face on what you're seeing with your own eyes." Democrats across the country, from California to Washington, D.C., have downplayed the rioting and focused on the claim that the majority of the anti-ICE displays have been "peaceful." Tom Cotton Pushes New Crackdown On Pro-immigration Rioters In Los Angeles, Citing Ice Assaults Additionally, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and other Democrats have blamed President Donald Trump's mobilizing the National Guard for making the situation worse. Read On The Fox News App Issa, who represents California's 48th Congressional District, took issue with that narrative. "First of all, there was damage, both vandalism and actual destruction done before Trump got involved, and that's the reason he got involved, but there's another thing that some people miss," Issa told Fox News Digital. "When ICE agents called for police support when they were being assaulted, they hunkered down and waited two hours before police responded because police couldn't get authority to react. So that alone gave a reason for the president to bring in additional federalized troops to protect the ICE agents." On Tuesday, Fox News Digital exclusively reported Issa's call for an investigation into the Department of Homeland Security's claim that the LAPD took two hours to respond to assist ICE agents being assaulted on Friday night. The LAPD, in a Sunday press conference, denied that allegation and said it took 40 minutes to respond due to traffic. Harris Ripped For 'Appalling' La Ice Raids Statement Placing Blame On Trump: 'The Country Dodged A Bullet' "Understand that we have over 10 million people who were let into this country, and tens of thousands of them are serious criminal aliens," Issa said. "There were warrants. There were orders to deport. There are reasons that we've got to go after many of these people in cities around the country. If ICE agents can't be protected or won't be protected by people like the mayor and my governor, then the president's going to have to continue to do this, eventually create escorts for ICE agents." Issa told Fox News Digital that Trump is doing a "great job" in his response to the unrest in Los Angeles. "One thing that I'm very happy about is, I know that by taking strong action here, he's keeping it from occurring in other cities around the country, because what you don't want is what ultimately happened in 2020 where we saw it happening not just in one city but in city after city where more than two dozen people died and billions of dollars of damage occurred because it wasn't handled quickly enough, and we've learned from that." Issa told Fox News Digital that he finds it curious why Democrats have used the word "insurrection" to describe the Jan. 6th riots that lasted hours but have not used the term to describe what has unfolded in Los Angeles over several days. "We heard the word 'insurrection' for a couple of years nonstop, and now in Los Angeles, when people are directly assaulting property and law enforcement, that's the very definition of insurrection; and particularly when they're doing it on behalf of people who are sitting in jails because they were arrested for crimes, not just for entering the country illegally but for actual felonies," Issa said. "And it's sort of amazing to believe that high-ranking elected officials like Gov. Newsom would actually try to defend any of that action. And yet they're doing it." Issa went on to say that Newsom's response to the riots "might have worked in the era of print or maybe even the era of radio" but that video evidence of rioting from the scene makes his position untenable. "Television and podcasts and everyone having a cellphone, those images are going to be what the American people [is going to] see when he tries to pretend that he was a good governor," Issa said. "They're going to see a failure to do his job and an absolute resistance against those who came in to do it for him." Fox News Digital reached out to the offices of Newsom and Bass for comment. "Trump is pulling a military dragnet all across Los Angeles, well beyond his stated intent to just go after violent and serious criminals," Newsom said on Tuesday night. "His agents are arresting dishwashers, gardeners, day laborers and seamstresses. That's just weakness. Weakness masquerading as strength. Donald Trump's government isn't protecting our communities. They're traumatizing our communities. And that seems to be the entire point." "When Donald Trump sought blanket authority to commandeer the National Guard, he made that order apply to every state in this nation. This is about all of us. This is about you. California may be first, but it clearly will not end here. Other states are next. Democracy is next. Democracy is under assault before our eyes. This moment we have feared has arrived. He's taking a wrecking ball, a wrecking ball to our Founding Fathers' historic project."Original article source: GOP lawmaker flips script on Newsom, Bass by defining anti-ICE riots with 1 word
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Judge says government must release Columbia protester Mahmoud Khalil, but has until Friday to appeal
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge has ruled that the government must release Mahmoud Khalil, the former Columbia University graduate student whom the Trump administration is trying to deport over his participation in pro-Palestinian demonstrations. But Khalil, a legal U.S. resident, will remain in custody until at least Friday, giving the government time to appeal, U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz in New Jersey said Wednesday. 'The court's decision is the most significant vindication yet of Mahmoud's rights,' said Ramzi Kassem, one of Khalil's lawyers. 'But we aren't out of the woods until Mahmoud is free and back home with his wife and child.' Dr. Noor Abdalla, Khalil's wife and a U.S. citizen, expressed hope he could be returned to New York in time to enjoy his first Father's Day with his son, Deen, who was born while Khalil has been held in a federal detention center in Jena, Louisiana. 'This is the news we've been waiting over three months for," she said in a statement provided by the American Civil Liberties Union, which is also representing Khalil. The Department of Homeland Security confirmed the administration intends to appeal. 'Today's ruling delays justice and seeks to undermine the President's constitutionally vested powers under Article II," Tricia McLaughlin, an agency spokesperson, said in a statement. 'We expect a higher court to vindicate us in this.' Khalil was detained by federal immigration agents on March 8 in the lobby of his university-owned apartment, the first arrest under President Donald Trump's crackdown on students who joined campus protests against the war in Gaza. He was then flown thousands of miles away to Louisiana. Khalil's lawyers challenged the legality of his detention, accusing the Trump administration of trying to suppress free speech. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said he can deport Khalil, citing a rarely used statute that gives him the authority to expel those who pose 'potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.' Farbiarz had ruled earlier that expelling Khalil from the U.S. on those grounds was likely unconstitutional. In his new ruling Wednesday, the judge said that Khalil had shown that his continued detention is causing irreparable harm to his career, his family and his free speech rights. However, the judge put his order on hold until 9:30 a.m. Friday to allow the government time to appeal. He also required Khalil to post a $1 bond before he is freed. Farbiarz cited Khalil's statement to the court last week that the revocation of his green card has damaged his career prospects, including a decision by Oxfam International to rescind a job offer to serve as a policy adviser. The judge also noted that the decision deterred Khalil from engaging in constitutionally protected protests. "The Court finds as a matter of fact that the Petitioner's career and reputation are being damaged and his speech is being chilled — and this adds up to irreparable harm,' the judge wrote. Farbiarz noted in his ruling that the government has also argued it is detaining and deporting Khalil in part because of alleged omissions on his green card application. But the judge said evidence presented by his attorneys showed lawful permanent residents are virtually never detained for such a thing. Khalil, in his statement to the court last week, also disputed that he wasn't forthcoming on the application. For example, he said he was never employed by or served as an 'officer' of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, as the administration claims, but completed an internship approved by the university as part of his graduate studies. The judge's decision comes after several other legal residents targeted for their activism have been released from custody, including another Palestinian student at Columbia, Mohsen Mahdawi; a Tufts University student, Rumeysa Ozturk; and a Georgetown University scholar, Badar Khan Suri. Khalil isn't accused of breaking any laws during the protests at Columbia, but the Trump administration has argued that noncitizens who participate in such demonstrations should be expelled from the country. They say such protesters express views that are antisemitic and 'pro-Hamas,' referring to the Palestinian militant group that attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Khalil, then an international affairs graduate student, served as a negotiator and spokesperson for student activists. He wasn't among the demonstrators arrested, but his prominence in news coverage and willingness to speak publicly made him a target of critics. The White House accused Khalil of 'siding with terrorists,' but has yet to give any evidence for the claim.
