A huge controversy erupted at the University of San Francisco over a student, “Rachel,” who has since graduated and moved out of the state, because of her “Snapchat shot of a young woman wearing a headscarf with an emoji of a bomb in her hand and the caption ‘Allah Akbar.’”

The law school dean’s office went so far as to contact Rachel, shaming her into a letter of apology, in which she stated her “heartfelt disappointment” in herself and “remorse” for the Snapchat emoji. This heavy-handedness from USF officials is redolent of Mao’s China during the Cultural Revolution.

The USF administration wildly overreacted. Its action comes against the backdrop of the serious and virulent anti-Semitism that is ubiquitous on campuses across America. Not far from USF, San Francisco State University recently partnered with a major Palestinian university, An-Najah National University in the West Bank, which is known for its support for and recruitment of jihadi terrorists.

Instead of reflecting on and taking action against that anti-Semitism, USF officials acted so harshly against Rachel as part of their bending over backwards to foster good relations with the Muslim community. “A national conference on Jesuit higher education’s relationship to Islam and Muslims” was held in 2015 at USF with the objective of “bringing together faculty and staff working on issues of Islam, Muslims, and Christian-Muslim relations at Jesuit colleges and universities across the country.”

“‘Allah Akbar’ and a bomb emoji prompt uproar at USF”, by Matier & Ross, San Francisco Chronicle, January 25, 2017: