'Appalled' Over Nothing Again, Muslims Outraged World Doesn't Obey!...World of Satan's Insolent Pig-Dogs! Cower, Damn You!

Mmmm...I guess poached Salman never gets old for some people.

Speaking Invitation to Salman Rushdie Angers Some Nova Students

from Sun-Sentinel

DAVIE, Florida - Some students at Nova Southeastern University say the school's move to invite author Salman Rushdie to speak at graduation is an insult and they want campus officials to reconsider their choice.

A small group of concerned undergraduate students will meet with the private university's leadership today, although NSU is unlikely to replace the author, whose 1988 novel The Satanic Verses was accused of being blasphemous to Islam.

In the novel, a near-death experience changes two Indian expatriates to Britain into living symbols of good and evil, who then go through a series of dreams and revelations. In 1989, Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran issued a fatwa, a religious edict, calling for the execution of Rushdie and placed a $3 million bounty on his head. The Iranian government effectively withdrew the fatwa in 1998.

In recent years, Rushdie gradually has resumed a public life, speaking at universities and making other appearances.

Graduating senior Farheen Parvez said she and her family would boycott the graduation ceremony, scheduled for May 7: "I was looking forward to my graduation, of course," said Parvez, a student leader and officer in the International Muslim Association at NSU. "Then when I found out that Salman Rushdie would be the speaker, I was appalled."

In announcing Rushdie as a speaker, NSU officials praised him as an example of "higher education's central role in the open, uncensored examination of social, cultural and religious issues."

"Most importantly, he's an outspoken advocate of freedom of expression, which is a critical core value of the university," said Don Rosenblum, dean of NSU's undergraduate school.

"I'm concerned for students who think it's intended as an affront," he said. "[Because] it's not...I hope through conversations in classrooms or person to person, we can reassure them."

Besides concerns based on Rushdie's writing, students also expressed worries over safety.

"Who is to say there is not someone willing to try and kill him while inflicting harm to everyone else at the ceremony?" said NSU student Randy Rodriguez-Torres.

Though she disagreed with the choice of Rushdie, NSU student Sadia Dandia said she planned to attend. "I don't think a speaker should prevent anyone from going to their graduation ceremony. It's not something you can get back."