Distancing itself from the remarks, the Michigan State University (MSU) said professor Indrek Wichman was exercising his free speech right when describing Muslims as "brutal and uncivilized" and telling Muslim students to return to their "ancestral homelands."
"He was cautioned that any additional commentary ... could constitute the creation of a hostile environment, and that could ... form the basis of a complaint," Terry Denbow, a spokesman for MSU, was quoted as saying by Detroit Free Press.
He stressed that the remarks, though "very inappropriate," do not violate the university's antidiscrimination policy.
In an e-mail to the university’s Muslim Students’ Association (MSA) on February 28, Wichman wrote: "I counsul [sic] you dissatisfied, agressive [sic], brutal, and uncivilized slave-trading Moslems [sic] to be very aware of this as you proceed with your infantile ‘protests.’"
He was referring to global protests against Danish cartoons that ridiculed Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him).
"If you do not like the values of the West--see the 1st Ammendment [sic]--you are free to leave. I hope for God's sake that most of you choose that option. Please return to your ancestral homelands and build them up yourselves instead of troubling Americans." |