Vintage

The Islamic Center wanted to make it's members aware of the following letter that was sent today by NYU President John Sexton to NYPD Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly in regards to the recent revelations of NYPD surveillance of Muslim students on campus.   Please pass on to those whom you feel would be interested in reading.

Should you have any comments or concerns, feel free to reach out with your feedback to:

NYU President John Sexton: john.sexton@nyu.edu
NYU VP of Public Safety Jules Martin: jules.martin@nyu.edu
NYU VP of Public Relations John Beckman: john.beckman@nyu.edu
and cc University Chaplain and IC Director Imam Khalid Latif at kl442@nyu.edu

Dear Commissioner Kelly:

We all appreciate the grave responsibility that the Police Department has taken upon itself to safeguard New Yorkers from terrorist attacks.  All of us who lived through the events of 9/11 here in New York understand what is at stake for our city.  However, if our understanding of the newly revealed information is correct – that the Police Department has been monitoring our Muslim student group based on religion alone – then we find this troubling and problematic.

Universities fill a special and especially valuable role in our society.  Our commitment to the free and peaceful exchange of ideas is at the heart of our effectiveness as institutions of research and of teaching and learning. This is true even of genuinely controversial ideas, let alone the kind of uncontroversial activities involved here.

Parents and students now wonder whether continued participation in the University’s Islamic community of worship is a risk; whether an opinion expressed at a student group meeting will end up in a government report; whether testing an argument or challenging conventional wisdom will cause one to become a suspect of some sort.  These possibilities are disquieting to our students and their families, harmful to our community-building efforts, and antithetical to the values we as a university cherish most highly.

You are a public servant of good will and character facing difficult and complex challenges in keeping New York safe from terrorism, and we at NYU appreciate your hard work.  Still, I must report our community's alarm over the reports of this activity, and that we stand in fellowship with our Muslim students in expressing our community’s dismay.

Sincerely,


John Sexton