Ayaan Hirsi Ali is an astounding woman. In her critically acclaimed memoir Infidel, she chronicles the harrowing story of her life growing up as a Muslim in Somalia. After her parents tried to force her into an arranged marriage, she fled the country and wound up in The Netherlands, where she eventually became a member of the Dutch Parliament, and an advocate for Muslim women. Ali shed light on a number of issues affecting the human rights of young women in Islam, including forced genital mutilation, honor killings, and physical abuse.

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In honor of her accomplishments, notoriously liberal Brandeis University decided to offer her an honorary degree. This angered Muslim students attending the school, who accused Ali of giving Muslims a bad name. Senior Sarah Fahmy, a member of the Muslim Student Association, created a petition which was eventually signed by thousands of people.

“This is a real slap in the face to Muslim students,” Fahmy said prior to Ali’s honorary degree being withdrawn.

“A university that prides itself on social justice and equality should not hold up someone who is an outright Islamophobic.”

It’s extremely difficult to apply the term “Islamaphobe” to Ali, considering she grew up as a Muslim in Africa, and didn’t fully commit to atheism till her 30’s. If anyone has the authority to speak for Muslim women, it is this woman. The university released a statement commending Ali while simultaneously trying to shame her for telling the truth about the religion she grew up in.









“She is a compelling public figure and advocate for women’s rights, and we respect and appreciate her work to protect and defend the rights of women and girls throughout the world,” said the university’s statement. “That said, we cannot overlook certain of her past statements that are inconsistent with Brandeis University’s core values,” the online statement read.

If there was any ambiguity as to where the university’s values lie, that last sentence should clarify things. Ali’s statements that supposedly don’t uphold Brandies values were expressed in an interview she gave with Reason magazine in 2007.

While talking about Islam, she said, “Once it’s defeated, it can mutate into something peaceful. It’s very difficult to even talk about peace now. They’re not interested in peace. I think that we are at war with Islam. And there’s no middle ground in wars.”

Defenders of Ali are baffled at the university’s decision to withdraw the honor. Michael Shermer from Scientific American sent an open letter to university president Fred Lawrence condemning his actions.

“[I]n offering, and then retracting your offer, you have double shamed yourself and your university, because Ayaan Hirsi Ali is the Martin Luther King, Jr. of this generation of civil rights activists and champions,” Shermer said.

Ali responded to the matter as eloquently as you’d expect from a former diplomat.

“What was initially intended as an honor has now devolved into a moment of shaming. Yet the slur on my reputation is not the worst aspect of this episode. More deplorable is that an institution set up on the basis of religious freedom should today so deeply betray its own founding principles. The “spirit of free expression” referred to in the Brandeis statement has been stifled here, as my critics have achieved their objective of preventing me from addressing the graduating Class of 2014. Neither Brandeis nor my critics knew or even inquired as to what I might say. They simply wanted me to be silenced. I regret that very much.”

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