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Detroit Free Press – April 25, 2006
MSU professor’s hate filled e-mail outrages Muslims
BY LORI HIGGINS and NIRAJ WARIKOO
An Islamic student group at Michigan State University demanded Monday that university officials publicly reprimand a professor whose Feb. 28 e-mail called on Muslims who don't "like the values of the West" to leave the United States.
But MSU officials said there's little that can be done to punish Indrek Wichman, 55, a tenured professor of mechanical engineering, because his comments essentially constitute free speech. Wichman sent the message to the Muslim Students' Association of Michigan State University while it handed out free cocoa during a public awareness event about controversial cartoons that depicted Islam's founder as a terrorist. . .
The Muslim Students' Association, along with 12 other student and advocacy groups, called Monday for the university to issue a letter of reprimand. They have met several times with university officials since Feb. 28 and went public with the e-mail Monday because the school had not acted.
Terry Denbow, spokesman for MSU, said Wichman's views in no way represent the university's views. But, he said, they do not violate the university's antidiscrimination policy.
"He was cautioned that any additional commentary … could constitute the creation of a hostile environment, and that could … form the basis of a complaint" under the policy, Denbow said.
He said he considers the comments "very inappropriate. And I personally wish he would apologize to the students."
To Farhan Abdul Azeez, an MSU senior studying human biology and the president of the student association, the e-mail was startling.
"Naturally, I was very upset. I was disgusted. All of those emotions went through my body," said Azeez, 20, of Canton.
In addition to a reprimand, the student group wants the university to implement diversity training programs for faculty and a mandatory freshman seminar on hate and discrimination. . .
The Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations also is urging the university to take "appropriate disciplinary" action, saying the e-mail creates a hostile learning environment for students.
"It was upsetting, yet sad" that a tenured professor could make such comments, said Dawud Walid, executive director of the council. "It's scary when you think about the power that this gentleman has" as a professor.
Walid said that MSU has the academic and moral obligation to publicly denounce the e-mail, conduct a formal investigation and have sensitivity training on how to deal with Muslims on campus….
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060425/NEWS05/604250381
CAIR Bulletin – April 24, 2006
Michigan professor tells Muslim students
to leave America
LATHRUP VILLAGE, MI. - The Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI) today called on Michigan State University (MSU) in East Lansing to take "appropriate disciplinary action" against a professor who sent an Islamophobic e-mail to Muslim students.
MSU engineering professor Indrek Wichman used his faculty e-mail account to send a "Dear Moslem Association" message to the university's Muslim Students' Association (MSA) containing a long list of charges, including a claim that Muslims rape "Scandinavain [sic] girls and women (called 'whores' in your culture)."
The February 28, 2006, e-mail also stated: "I counsul [sic] you dissatisfied, agressive [sic], brutal, and uncivilized slave-trading Moslems to be very aware of this as you proceed with your infantile 'protests.' If you do not like the values of the West--see the 1st Ammendment [sic]--you are free to leave. I hope for God's sake that most of you choose that option. Please return to your ancestral homelands and build them up yourselves instead of troubling Americans."
Representatives from CAIR-MI and the MSA met several times with MSU officials to urge the university to take appropriate action in the case as well as to address the increasing religious and racial tensions on campus. The university is considering a response to Muslim student concerns.
"It is unconscionable for a professor to use his university e-mail account to foster a hostile learning environment for Muslim students," said CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud Walid. "The university needs to take appropriate disciplinary action in this case to demonstrate through its actions that anti-Muslim bigotry will not be tolerated on campus."
Walid also said there have been a number of recent incidents on or near the MSU campus targeting minorities.
The controversial e-mail
The e-mail, sent by professor Indrek Sven Wichman on Feb. 28 from his university account, was a sharply worded criticism of Muslim protests against the Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad and of Muslim cultures in general.
In it, according to a copy provided by the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Wichman told the group he hoped that they would "return to your ancestral homelands … instead of troubling Americans."
Indrek Wichman sent an e-mail to the student group Feb. 28 - apparently in response to its protests of controversial Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad as a terrorist. The students had labelled the cartoons as hate speech, not free speech.
Wichman, 50, wrote that he was protesting their protest and said he was not offended by cartoons but rather Muslims who commit suicide bombings, behead civilians, attack public buildings, burn Christian churches, kill Catholic priests in Turkey, rape Scandinavian girls and riot in France. . .
The Council on American-Islamic Relations called engineering professor Indrek Wichman's remarks "Islamaphobic" and issued a statement quoting the e-mail that prompted the controversy.
"The university needs to take appropriate disciplinary action in this case to demonstrate through its actions that anti-Muslim bigotry will not be tolerated on campus," said Dawud Walid, head of the rights group's Michigan chapter. . .
Wichman, who specializes in studying how fire starts and spreads, said he regretted that a private e-mail had been made public. "I wrote it in haste," he told Reuters. "It's a shame it was made public."
CAIR Bulletin – April 25, 2006
MSU professor apologizes for 'intemperate' e-mail
LATHRUP VILLAGE, MI, April 25, 2006 - The Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI) today said that a Michigan State University (MSU) professor has offered an apology for an Islamophobic e-mail sent to Muslim students.
In an e-mail reply to a person expressing concern over his offensive remarks, MSU engineering professor Indrek Wichman said: "I wrote my comments in haste to what I thought was a private organization and I used intemperate language. My apologies to you and other [sic] whom I have offended. I regret this very much and my comments have nothing to do with my classes or any research."
"Let us hope this disturbing incident can serve as a learning opportunity for all concerned," said CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud Walid. "Once again we see that activism, education and dialogue are the best tools to use when challenging intolerant views."
Walid said MSU sent a letter to Wichman informing him that the opinions he expressed went against the values of the university. He urged MSU to institute religious sensitivity training for faculty members before the next school year.
The Michigan Department of Civil Rights is looking into the case.
Detroit News – April 25, 2006
MSU professor says e-mail biased
By Gregg Krupa
EAST LANSING -- A professor at Michigan State University admitted Monday that he sent an e-mail with statements reflecting prejudice against Muslims. He said he thought his missive would remain private.
Indrek Wichman, a professor of mechanical engineering, said he intended the letter as a critique of Muslim students' protests at the university about the publication of caricatures of the prophet Muhammad.
In the e-mail, after citing several international incidents of what he said was Muslim violence directed against others, Wichman wrote: "I counsul (sic) you dissatisfied, agressive (sic), brutal and uncivilized slave-trading Moslems to be very aware of this as you proceed with your infantile 'protests.' If you do not like the values of the West -- see the 1st Ammendment (sic) -- you are free to leave."
"I hope for God's sake you choose that option," Wichman wrote. "Please return to your ancestral homelands and build them up yourselves instead of troubling Americans. Cordially, I.S. Wichman, Professor of Mechanical Engineering."
In an interview Monday, Wichman said he believes he has done nothing that requires an apology.
"Why should it?" Wichman said. "I am a private citizen, right? What am I doing wrong in my job? What did I do here?
"For the record, I thought it was a private communication and it was written in haste. I think a very minor thing has been blown completely out of proportion. I wrote it in 60 seconds. It was not like I sat and pondered over this thing for days. It was like you talking one night to your wife or your kids."
The letter was written Feb. 28. Wichman said he sent it to an e-mail address that he believed belonged to a particular student who is active in the Muslim Students' Association.
But students who lead the association said the e-mail address was part of the official Web site of the group, which assured distribution of the letter to more than the students and others who are active in Muslim affairs on the campus in East Lansing and elsewhere.
The Muslim Students' Association and the Council on American-Islamic Relations met with administrators at MSU three times over the past six weeks, said Dawud Walid, the executive director of the council in Michigan. The groups are seeking a reprimand for Wichman and the implementation of more diversity programs on campus.
"He does have academic freedom and freedom of speech," Walid said. "But when his inflammatory speech is fostering apprehension and an unhealthy learning environment for students at the university at which he teaches, that is a problem.
"Furthermore, he is sending out this information on university property, a computer, and that is paid for by the taxpayers, by our tax dollars, during his working hours in his office."
Wichman received a letter from MSU Provost Kim Wilcox informing him that the opinions he expressed were against the values of the university and that if he expresses similar views again, he must make clear that they are entirely his own, said Terry Denbow, the vice president for university relations.
"I can certainly see that as to the tone and the content of the e-mail why it was offensive," Denbow said…..
ttp://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060425/SCHOOLS/604250334
CAIR Bulletin - April 24, 2006
Muslim Students' Association of MSU receives
hate-filled e-mail from professor
East Lansing, Michigan - The Muslim Students' Association (MSA) of Michigan State University (MSU) received a very disturbing email from Dr. Indrek S. Wichman, professor of Mechanical Engineering at Michigan State University on 02/28/06. Using his MSU email account, he degraded Muslims by calling them, "dissatisfied, aggressive, brutal, and uncivilized slave-trading Moslems" and despicably demanded Muslim students to "return to your ancestral homelands and build them up yourselves instead of troubling Americans." These virulent attacks are inexcusable for a MSU professor, especially considering the University's collective commitment to fostering a welcoming academic environment for all.
Representatives from the MSA have discussed this grave matter with University officials on numerous occasions. Unfortunately, their response was unsatisfactory and therefore, along with the undersigned organizations, the MSA is calling for a public letter of reprimand by the University to the professor.
Despite the University administration's unwillingness to adequately discipline the professor, they have expressed a positive commitment to work with us to avoid the reoccurrence of such an incident. To achieve this end, we call for a comprehensive initiative to be undertaken by the University to address the underlying problems of hate and discrimination present at MSU through the following measures:
- Support for the MSA to put on Islamic culture and diversity programs,
- Sponsorship by the office of the president and provost for diversity programs and programs highlighting issues confronting Muslim students,
- Mandatory freshmen seminar addressing hate and discrimination, and
- Programs for the faculty of MSU to undergo diversity training, including Muslim sensitivity training.
The MSA has been proactive in uniting students of various backgrounds to take a unified stance against all levels of hate, discrimination, and racism at MSU. Specifically, we have been working with many other student groups to establish an umbrella organization comprised of student leaders of every concerned University registered student organization (RSO). RSOs interested in joining the coalition should contact the MSA at msaofmsu@gmail.com. We also urge everyone to contact the University to express their disapproval of the professor's racist remarks and support the call for the implementation of the aforementioned initiatives. It is our hope that these initiatives and the like will help put an end to hatred and discrimination at MSU and foster a healthier and more harmonious community.
Signed:
Muslim Students' Association of Michigan State University
Co-Signed:
Arab Cultural Society - ACS
Asian Pacific American Student Organization - APASO
Black Student Alliance - BSA
Islamic Medical Students Association - IMSA
Jewish Student Union - JSU
North American Indigenous Student Organization - NAISO
Pakistan Students Association - PSA
Students for Economic Justice - SEJ
Women's Council
Council on American Islamic Relations - CAIR-MI (non-RSO)
Islamic Society of Greater Lansing - ISGL (non-RSO)
Muslim American Society - MAS-Lansing Chapter (non-RSO)
Press Contacts:
Farhan Abdul Azeez
President, Muslim Students' Association - MSU
(734) 604-2426, azeezfar@msu.edu
Maryam Khalil
Vice President, Muslim Students' Association - MSU
(734) 834-7348, khalilm2@msu.edu
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