The Islam class is on.
At the urging of the American Center for Law and Justice, Eugene, Ore., ACT for America chapter leader Barry Sommer will be teaching his informational class on Islam.
That's even though the local Lane Community College cancelled the class at the request of a Muslim activist organization, and that decision, while being challenged, is not yet changed.
"The ACLJ has filed a Freedom of Information Act request with LCC and they've given LCC 21 days to come up with the information requested," Sommer explained.
"At that time, if LCC doesn't respond, the ACLJ will file an appeal with the Oregon attorney general and at that point, we will be discussing taking the next legal steps, which could include a lawsuit in federal court," Sommer added.
The FOIA request follows an ACLJ demand letter to the community college, demanding the course be reinstated.
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American Center for Law and Justice attorney Cece Heil confirms that the ACLJ has been in contact with Lane.
"We send a demand letter to the college demanding that they reinstate the course and gave them a December 15 deadline to respond. They replied saying that they will have a response by the 22nd," Heil explained.
"We also sent the FOIA request asking for all relevant documents relating to the course and their decision," Heil continued.
"We are preparing to move forward with the case no matter which way the college responds," Heil added.
Listen to an interview with Sommer: |
Meanwhile, the ACLJ advised Sommer to hold the class at another location and those plans are now set to start Jan. 24.
Sommer says the class he will teach in the new location will be the same one he was planning to teach at Lane Community College.
"Since the entire class is eight hours in length, it 's going to be a historically factual overview of Islam, starting with a biography of Muhammad. It will go all the way up to today," Sommer described.
Sommer adds that the course will get into some of the meatier details of Islam.
"I'm going to be covering Shariah Law, the concept of jihad, who the leaders of Islam are and where the seats of Islamic power are," Sommer detailed.
"I'm going to cover how Islam interacts with other countries in the Middle East, specifically Israel, and what Islamic doctrine is as defined by its leaders and how that applies to other countries around the globe today," Sommer added.
The ACT for America chapter leader adds that he will cover issues raised by Muslim leaders like British-based Sheikh Anjem Choudary, who say that the foreign policy of true Islamic nations is jihad.
Sommer says he's getting out the word through the media.
"I sent out a press release and some information on what I'm going to do. From this point, I'm going to keep the media involved and keep them updated, and there will be announcements in all the local newspapers," Sommer stated.
Sommer adds that he's expecting some opposition from CAIR, which made the original complaint that caused the college to abruptly cancel his class.
"It would not be unexpected to hear something from CAIR very soon," Sommer said.
He adds that he's prepared for protests.
"As you know, in America we are allowed to stand outside pretty much anywhere we want and protest. It would not be unexpected to have CAIR show up, or at least some of their people to show up to protest the class," Sommer observed.
"I have a high expectation that there will be some type of protest once I start the class," Sommer added. "That would be a wonderful thing to happen. Maybe I should send my press release to CAIR directly."
The ACT for American chapter leader says the class became possible when he found out that there are public buildings available for use by the people.
"I've found that where I live here in Lane County that there are public buildings available for use by the general population," Sommer explained.
"I found out who to contact, got in touch with them, explained to them what I needed and they are very graciously agreeing to let me have one of their public buildings for four consecutive weeks to put on the exact same class I would have put on at LCC," Sommer added.
Lane rejected the course after the Washington State chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations objected to the class being taught by the Oregon leader of Brigitte Gabriel's ACT for America.
Sommer said in a previous interview with WND that he went through the proper channels to win course approval.
"In Mid-October, I applied at the Continuing Education Department to teach my class on Islam. I filled out the requisite paperwork and assumed that the school did some checking. I submitted a basic syllabus for the course," Sommer explained.
He added that the attacks began once word began to circulate about the course. He also did an interview with a local television station.
"I did the interview and evidently within a few hours of when the interview was broadcast, CAIR got wind of it and issued the press release," Sommer said. "In response they [the college] cancelled my class with no explanation."
The Washington State chapter of the national CAIR, which was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 2008 Holy Land Foundation terror financing trial, led the opposition to the course and in response to CAIR's contacts, the school dropped the class from its program.
In a previous interview about the course, CAIR Washington State leader Arsalan Bukhari said he believes Sommer's affiliation with ACT for America is a disqualifier.
"There are three main concerns. One is the person's own views that he very publicly airs. He has a website he maintains where he has a cartoon picture of the Prophet Muhammad with a bomb in his turban," Bukhari said.
"The second is, we're wondering what kind of educational background he has. And of course, he's a member of ACT for America. He's the Oregon chapter head. That's also one of the red flags that we saw," Bukhari said.
Officials at Lane Community College have not responded to requests for comment.