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March 30, 2006
NYU Caves in To Muslims' Pressure
IRVINE, CA--Yesterday, in a shameful act, NYU broke its own official policy and denied free speech to its students.
After having approved the display of the Danish cartoons for a panel discussion on free speech, NYU's administration reversed its decision in the face of Muslim protests.
A day before the panel discussion was to take place, NYU gave the student event organizers a non-negotiable ultimatum: if you display the cartoons we will close the event to non-NYU guests. This was in spite of the fact that NYU's own rules leave this decision to the student sponsoring organization.
And even though the students opted for not showing the cartoons, NYU barred entry to at least two journalists and more than 30 registered guests. Even after learning that Muslim students had sabotaged the event by acquiring and destroying two hundred tickets to leave as many seats empty, NYU officials still refused to allow non-NYU guests to enter.
In caving in to fear, in restricting and obstructing attendance, in forbidding the display of the Danish cartoons, NYU handed a victory to the Islamic totalitarians and their facilitators. In standing up to the destroyers of free speech, the NYU student sponsors of the free speech panel showed the courage that the NYU officials lack.
Dr. Yaron Brook is available for interviews on the Ayn Rand Institute's ongoing campaign to bring the Danish cartoons to the widest possible audience--and to arrange a series of panel discussions to discuss the vital need to defend free speech.
See the 12 Danish cartoons at ARI's Web site
More information on ARI's Campaign in Defense of Free Speech
Posted by ARImedia at March 30, 2006 7:59 PM
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