Standing Up for Oregon Teacher

It doesn't make sense.  A teacher at a Lane Community College in Eugene, Oregon was scheduled to teach a course on Islam.  Instead of being able to conduct the course, the teacher was fired - given a pink slip for speaking the truth about Islam.

What's worse.  The terrorism-related group CAIR pressured the school to get rid of the teacher.  That's right - intimidation from CAIR - an organization that the U.S. government labeled an 'unindicted co-conspirator' in a major terrorism case with links to Hamas.

We are now representing the teacher, Barry Sommer, and have sent a demand letter to the school.  If the school does not rehire our client and reinstate the class, we will take legal action.  You can read the letter here. 

This is absurd.  Not only did the school violate the First Amendment free speech rights of our client, it caved in to the bullying tactics employed by CAIR.  This is CAIR's strategy - intimidate - attack. 

We're not going to let that happen.  We're standing up for this teacher and his right to teach the course on Islam. It's important to note that this class was designed to introduce students primarily to the Quran and other viewpoints on Islam in a world where terrorism is a constant threat.

The purpose of this course was to provide a basic understanding of Islamic doctrines so that students could make informed decisions based on unbiased and current information.

But that didn't satisfy CAIR.  They lashed out.  They pressured the school to take the politically-correct route and get rid of the teacher.

This, from a community college where academic freedom, diversity, and acceptance are supposed to be cherished educational values.

In our demand letter, we spell it out very clearly:

"Cancelling Mr. Sommers course due to CAIRs complaint conflicts with the longstanding tradition at public colleges, commanded by the First Amendment, of protecting academic freedom in order to prevent an orthodoxyoften fueled by the political correctness of the day from being imposed upon college instructors and students. LCC should right this wrong by reinstating the course and allowing interested students to register and draw their own conclusions."

"While CAIR is free to exercise its freedom of speech to criticize viewpoints with which it disagrees, LCC is not free to breach a contract and censor viewpoints in the name of 'sensitivity' or political correctness," the demand letter contends.  "In sum, for a biased and questionable group such as CAIR to willfully try to interfere with a contract and attempt to stifle First Amendment rights of any potential opposition is to be entirely expected.  However, for a state institution to follow suit is not!"

"The law is clear," the demand letter concludes.  "LCC must reinstate Mr. Sommers course and allow him to teach."

We're fighting back. We want you to stand with us and add your name to our Committee standing up for the First Amendment rights of our client and standing up against CAIR. 

Add your name here.