It’s not just Barack Obama who refuses to say “radical Islamic terrorism” —UC-Merced Chancellor Dorothy Leland follows his lead. Jason Chulack, a student at Merced, wrote an op-ed for The College Fix about the lack of truth on his campus.
Attacks from radical Muslims hit close to home for Merced. In November, 18-year-old Faisal Mohammad stabbed four people before a campus police officer killed him. It was then discovered that he had an image of the ISIS flag, a handwritten manifesto with instructions on how to behead someone, and reminders to pray to Allah.
Rather than admit religion played a role, the school focused on how he was upset for being kicked out of a study group.
A campus event, “Teach-In: Don’t Turn Our Tragedy Into Hate,” also tried to distract from the issue. A doctoral student wrote a column, “UC Merced Students Say NO to Xenophobia,” following the attack.
Those reactions were routine on campus. Chulack was “personally upset” with the lengths the school went to sympathize with the killer:
Even when the FBI admitted in March that Mohammad was inspired by ISIS, Chancellor Leland downplayed the connection. She reacted in a similar way after the Orlando attack. She refused to say “radical Islamic terrorism” and instead focused on “hate” and “divisiveness.”
Many question what good there is in saying the words. Admitting the words won’t defeat ISIS, but it will lead to a less restricted debate. Instead, those who make the connection are called Islamophobes. “This is how the Left silences students, and all Americans, to control the language – and thus the debate,” Chulack wrote.
Particularly for college students, being politically correct or fitting in is more important than admitting the truth.
“College students want to fit in, and fitting in requires giving in to the leftist agenda, since the majority opinion on most college campuses is left-of-center. If you do label radical Islamic terror it is considered ‘hate,’ but the terrorist’s act somehow isn’t hateful,” Chulack wrote.
