Alec Dent, a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, broke the story in The College Fix:
An English class offered at UNC Chapel Hill this fall called “Literature of 9/11” explores the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks from the perspective of radical Islamists and those who view America as an imperialist nation.
The course represents virtually everything wrong with American academia today.
The reading list consists entirely of writings by Leftists who view the War on Terror as a massive exercise in American racism and imperialism. Most of the other writings are by Muslims who … view the War on Terror as a massive exercise in American racism and imperialism.
As the incomparable Daniel Greenfield puts it: “#OnlyTerroristLivesMatter.”
The course’s professor, Neel Ahuja, is identified in the College Fix article as “an associate professor of English, comparative literature, and geography at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.” However, UNC’s website lists him more specifically as “associate professor of postcolonial studies in the Department of English and Comparative Literature at UNC.”
“Postcolonial studies”: that’s as likely to present a positive or even fair view of the United States of America as the Department of “Queer Theory” is to present a course titled “The Wisdom of Pat Robertson.”
Writes Dent:
According to Ahuja’s Blinkness rating page — which is similar to Rate My Professors but specific to Chapel Hill — he seems to be popular with his students, and received generally positive reviews. However, several students also warned not to disagree with Ahuja, especially in a graded assignment.
Of the dismal and one-sided offerings in this propaganda session masquerading as a college class, the only one I have read is Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist. Speaking of regrets, I was sorry I had wasted my time. The book was an extended exercise in grievance-mongering, intending to show how U.S. policies were driving thoughtful, reasonable people to become jihad terrorists.
Despite the word “fundamentalist” in the title, there was little in the book about Islamic texts and teachings, and what effects they could have upon a devout believer.
No, it was all the fault of the big bad United States.
UNC, like virtually all major universities today, is not a center of higher learning, but a center of far-Left indoctrination, and woe unto you if you dare walk out of step. UNC is a particularly ugly and virulent center of this indoctrination: they employ the likes of Carl Ernst, who has won an award from the genocidally anti-Semitic Islamic Republic of Iran for his work on whitewashing Islamic jihad; and Omid Safi, the desperately dishonest Islamic supremacist who has since moved on to even greener dawah opportunities at nearby Duke.
I myself am a UNC graduate, and I’m sure that UNC’s embarrassment at having me as an alumnus is outstripped only by my disgust at having gone there.
But this course, and the situation it reflects — is it taught significantly different elsewhere?
Neither Neel Ahuja nor UNC is some egregious anomaly. Most college and university students are learning this today, all over the country. How will that work out in twenty or thirty years, unless there is some massive change? With a country voluntarily surrendered to and subjugated by its enemies, delivered over to them by leaders who didn’t think America and Judeo-Christian civilization was anything worth defending.
When the furor over this course broke nationwide, UNC tried to save face: Jim Gregory is the director of media relations there, but if that gig doesn’t work out, he really ought to try standup comedy. In defending the university and this nakedly propagandistic course, Gregory says:
Carolina offers academic courses to challenge students — not to advocate one viewpoint over another.
Really?
Then where is the counterpart course to this one, in which students read accounts by 9/11 victims and the relatives of those who were killed?
What courses does UNC offer about the Islamic doctrine of jihad, and the contemporary global jihad?
What courses does UNC offer about Sharia and dhimmitude, in which students read the works of Bat Ye’or?
What courses does UNC offer about the early origins of Islam, in which students read Alphonse Mingana and Christoph Luxenberg?
The reality is that UNC, like most other universities today, does nothing but advocate one viewpoint over another. Dissenting voices are not welcome.
Here’s a chance for Jim Gregory to back up the his claim: I will come to Chapel Hill at my own expense to address either the 9/11 class or any other class, about the jihad threat. I will debate Carl Ernst or any other professor.
How about it, Mr. Gregory? It would show you’re really on the level about allowing dissenting viewpoints. You can reach me at director[at]jihadwatch.org. But knowing what UNC and all universities are like today, let’s just say I won’t be waiting for that email to come in.
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