Brandeis Gutless to Reject Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Don't like what she says? Make it not so!

A tale of two honorary degrees. This May, Smith College will award an honorary doctorate to Christine Lagarde, the current head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). That same month, Brandeis University will not award an honorary doctorate to Ayaan Hirsi Ali, whose degree was withdrawn because of her outspoken criticism of Islam.

Let us take pause. Both women are accomplished and deserving–though I agree with neither in total. Ms. Ali is undoubtedly controversial. She calls Islam the “new fascism” and calls for its defeat–and she means an overthrow of the entire faith, not just pacification of its radical elements. She has denounced Muhammad as a false prophet who lived an immoral life, and the Koran as a non-sacred book. Ali was born in Somalia–from which her family escaped when she was eight–and renounced Islam for atheism after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. She was headed in that direction anyhow, as Ali witnessed Islamic misogny as expressed in forms such as genital circumscion of girls, forced marriages, Sharia law, and the veiling of women. Ms. Ali is the screenplay writer of the movie The Submission, for which her director, Theodore van Gogh, was assassinated in 2004. She too was targeted and was forced to go into hiding. Let’s just say the woman has her reasons for her views on Islam.

That said, Ali is indeed a distinguished person worthy of an honorary degree. In addition to her screenplay, she has authored three books and an autobiography–all of which are hyper-critical of Islam. She served for five years in the Dutch Parliament, has taught at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and has won a host of freedom and humanitarian awards in both Europe and the United States, where she now resides. That’s a pretty good resumé for someone just 44-years-old. Did I mention that she’s also a political conservative?

Her political views are actually quite consonant of those of Christine Lagarde, though Lagarde has never voiced her views on Islam. Isn’t it interesting that a woman who has done no harm, has been the victim of hate crimes, has endured threats, and supports women thr rights of women is considered too dangerous and controversial, but the head of the IMF is viewed as “distinguished.” To reiterate, I find both women ‘distinguished,’ but the IMF has certainly done more harm around the globe than Ms. Ali. The IMF is singularly focused on the stablization of currency and free trade. Its policies are often very controversial and its fixation on economic stability has led it to support authoritarian governments and all manner of development projects that ignore the enviroment, cultural preferences, and health standards. It is an elitist organization that is inherently anti-democratic and often drafts policies that violate the national sovergnty of cooperating nations. The IMF is responsible for both the blessings of global capitalism, and its myriad curses. Oh, by the way, Lagarde–like Ali–is conservative politically, but also supports the dismanting of sexist barriers. I guess it’s not controversial if those barriers are economic.

Are Ali’s views too radical? Compared to what? Brandeis, a historically Jewish university, granted Amos Oz an honorary degree, though he was critical of Judaism! Ali’s husband, historian/commentator Niall Ferguson, has honoary degrees, though his views are on par with hers. Lots of schools confer degrees on controversial people: Andrew Card (George W. Bush’ chief of staff) got an honorary degree from UMass Amherst; SUNY Stony Brook gave one to Kermit the Frog, which is easier to stomach than those garnered around the world by Henry Kissinger. Barack Obama, who is pro-choice, collected one from Notre Dame, a Catholic univeristy. Judith Butler has one from McGill, though her anti-Israel views border on anit-Semitism. Hell, even Kim Cattrall has an honorary degee, though you’d have to argue mighty hard that she’s more distringuished than Ms. Ali.

The moral is that honorary degrees are given as much for name recognition (and hope of attracting donors) as contributions to scholarship or humanity. If you want to make a case for getting rid of these altogether, you’d find mine a willing ear. That hasn’t happened, which makes the Brandeis decision gutless and galling. To the millions of Muslims who find her views insenstive, I say two things–the first of which is that controversy and debate are the very touchstones of liberal democracy. Those unwilling to live under such free-exchange of ideas regimes should reside elsewhere. The second thought is that those who don’t like what Ali says should seek to change the horrifying conditions she documents. Ali doesn’t have a forum because she lies, but because she speaks truth to (male) power. The abuses she documents are not conjured from imagination, but from the daily news. Please spare us the empty sanctimony that other religions are also abusive to women. We know that. The challenge is to stop the abuse, not make mushy-headed excuses for it. I think Ms. Ali overstates her fears, but I share her view that human rights should always trump religious rights. It is nothing short of hypocrisy to award degrees to those who entertain us or run our economies, but turn our backs on those that tell us that half of the world’s population is being ill-served in the name of faith.