Barry Sommer was supposed to teach a non-credited class at Lane Community College in Oregon entitled “What is Islam?”
But that was before the Council on American-Islamic Relations alerted them to the fact that Sommer was the president of an Oregon chapter of the anti-Islam group “ACT! for America,” started by Brigitte Gabriel to save Western Civilization from the “authoritarian values of radical Islam, such as the celebration of death, terror and tyranny” and that he had a history of making anti-Islam statements.
So Lane College dropped the class, for which not even one student had signed up, and Sommer was out the $160 he would have been paid for teaching it … and so, of course, Pat Robertson’s American Center for Law and Justice has taken up the case is the threatening to sue Lane College if it doesn’t let Sommer teach this course:
The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) said today it is demanding that an Oregon community college rehire a teacher fired after the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) complained about a class he was scheduled to teach about the religion of Islam. The ACLJ, which represents the instructor, contends that Lane Community College (LCC) in Eugene, Oregon violated the contractual and constitutional rights of the teacher by firing him and canceling the class because of pressure from CAIR.
“This is a textbook case of a public college improperly firing an instructor in response to public pressure,” said CeCe Heil, ACLJ Senior Counsel, who is handling the case. “The school had approved the course and our client’s request to teach it. Only after CAIR got involved did the school react – caving to political pressure and intimidation – firing our client and canceling the course. The school clearly violated the First Amendment free speech rights of our client. It’s disappointing that a community college that should uphold an environment of academic freedom along with diversity and acceptance has failed to do so in this case. We’re demanding that the school rehire our client and reinstate the class he had been scheduled to teach. If corrective action is not taken, we’re prepared to take legal action to protect the rights of our client.”
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The ACLJ has given the school until next Wednesday, December 15th, to respond and take corrective action or face possible legal action in federal court.
