[full petition text:]

Open Letter,

We are deeply disappointed by revelations of a separate and unequal “clout” admission system that has been in place at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

A recent Chicago Tribune investigation revealed a system of special consideration and more frequent admission to students advocated for by political connections.

In other words: the University’s administrators helped students cheat. They operated a separate set of rules and gave unfair advantages to students who happened to have powerful connections (at least 800 such students on the list since 2005 alone). As a result, the very administrators charged with educating young people to be ethical citizens and effective leaders failed to demonstrate either quality.

We have reason not to trust the University to investigate itself, and it is unacceptable for the investigation to consist of an internal panel that includes and reports to the same trustees culpable for perpetuating the clout list in the first place.

As a result, we, the undersigned, demand immediate corrective action that includes, but is not limited to:

1. The appointment of a truly independent commission to investigate the extent of the shadow clout system and ensure that a clear and equitably enforced admissions process is put into place.

2. The resignation of University officials and trustees who partook in the shadow admissions system to ensure accountability to the the University’s stakeholders (including current and past students, faculty, and Illinois taxpayers.)

We pledge to withhold donations to the university until the university takes adequate corrective action which has been implemented within deadlines that are publicly stated.

The undersigned,

—

ORIGINAL INVESTIGATION: “Clout Goes to College” http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-college-clout-storygallery,0,3636100.storygallery

By Ahmed Rehab

Apparently, Al Qaeda No. 2, Ayman Al Zawahiri recently sent out an audio message warning Muslims not to be fooled by Obama.

I think I speak for most Muslims around the world and certainly most Muslims in the United States when I say, “Mr. Al Zawahiri, we really don’t care what you think.”

What level of delusion does it take for someone who has brought nothing but fear and destruction to the world to still think that the world wants to hear from him? The only word I want to hear from Al Zawahiri is “guilty” pronounced in a court of law before he is hauled away to serve multiple life sentences.

I have a message for the few Muslims who actually might care what Al Zawahiri has to say: “Don’t be fooled by Al Zawahiri.” What has he done for you lately? What have the Al Zawahiris of the world who claim to fight in defense of Islam actually done for Muslims or Islam? What have they done to educate the illiterate, feed the hungry, heal the diseased, or boost the quality of life anywhere in the Muslim world?

The fact is these individuals have devolved into a perverse cult-like existence that engulfs everything around them with anger, hate and self-victimization. They are a disgrace to our faith and a menace to our world.

I have a message for those who are not Muslim who may also be listening to Al Zawahiri: “Don’t be fooled by Al Zawahiri.” He does not speak for Muslims. He speaks for himself and his band of cohorts.

I cannot help but wonder: what goes through Al Zawahiri’s mind when he releases statements on “Muslim public opinion?”

Does he believe that we will think he has access to some polling mechanism or scientific survey we are not aware of? Apparently he has been so secluded from the real world and so entrenched in his own delusional world view that he fails to notice the rest of us actually ask these questions.

Mr. Al Zawahiri, Muslims out there are not the brainwashed minions you surround yourself with and pontificate to without being questioned. If they were, you would be in a palace presiding over an empire, not in a cave presiding over an international organization of outlaws.

And they are in no need of your advice. Most will judge President Obama, not by his words, color, or ancestry, but as they did his predecessor, by his actions.

Nonetheless, it is a farce of our times when a man whose ascension to power through the brute force of bombs can stand to delegitimize a man whose own ascension to power has been through the voice of the people, a tedious and transparent process we call democracy. Obama has the mandate of the people he speaks for; Al Zawahiri in turn has nothing but the usurped powers of a self-serving warlord.

I have one final message; this one goes out to the media:

We don’t want to hear what Al Zawahiri or Bin Laden have to say, please do not afford them publicity and legitimacy they do not deserve — and could not get otherwise.

Copyright � 2009 HuffingtonPost.com, Inc

Noha El-Hennawy 

Reporting from Cairo — Egyptians are cautiously rejoicing over the recent appointment of a veiled Egyptian American Muslim woman as an advisor to President Obama. 

Dalia Mogahed, senior analyst and executive director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, was appointed this month to Obama’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

Arabs are closely watching for signs that the new leadership in Washington is making efforts to improve relations with Islam, which many Muslims believe were severely damaged during the eight years of the Bush administration. The selection of Mogahed is viewed by many in the Middle East as a step by Obama to move beyond the stereotypes and prejudices that Muslims believe they have encountered since the attacks Sept. 11, 2001.

“Dalia Mogahed is the best example of a successful Muslim woman. She proves that the Muslim should be successful in all fields, at least in [her] area of specialization,” a commentator wrote on the website of the independent daily Al Masry al Youm.

The Egyptian-born Mogahed moved with her family to the United States almost 30 years ago. Recently, she co-wrote the book “Who Speaks for Islam?” with John Esposito, an American political science professor who has been criticized by some as an Islamic apologist. Mogahed and Esposito published an opinion piece this month in The Times on American ignorance of Islam and the Muslim world.

“My work focuses on studying Muslims, the way they think and their views,” Mogahed was quoted as saying on the website of the Saudi-owned Al Arabiya satellite news channel. “Then I should tell the president about their problems and needs, especially that lately Muslims have been perceived as a source of problems and as incapable of taking part in solving international problems and that they should work on themselves. Now we want to say that Muslims are capable of providing solutions.”

Yet, Mogahed’s declaration that her loyalty goes first to the United States, published Monday in an interview with Al Masry al Youm, disappointed some people.

“I wish your loyalty was to your Islam first, Egypt second and your Arabism third and then to anything else,” wrote a reader identifying himself as the Tiger of Arabs. “I am afraid that they might make a fool out of you and use you as a cover for policies that don’t serve Egypt and the Arab and Muslim world.” 

El-Hennawy is in The Times’ Cairo Bureau.

Dr. Cornel West, Professor of Religion and African-American Studies at Princeton University, spoke to a packed crowd Foellinger Auditorium on Thursday, April 2. The event was entitled, “Has the Dream been Realized,” referring to Martin Luther King Jr’s, “I Have a Dream” speech. The Black Law Students Association and the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity along with funding from the Cultural Resources Fee as well as the Student Organization Resource Fee organized the event.

Known for his contributions to the Civil Rights Movement, West’s work focuses on race and class in American society. During the event, he discussed the way popular culture has skewed Martin Luther King Jr’s legacy saying, “Martin wanted you to be love struck rather than colorblind.” To deny someone’s color or their differences from oneself is to trivialize their struggle, he continued. The key to Martin Luther King Jr’s dream was to love people and embrace their humanity while taking into account their color and personal experiences.

He contrasted this with today’s definition of success of “making it versus making it right.” West said that rather than a success defined by “being well adjusted to injustice and well adapted to intolerance,” people should realize that everyone’s destiny is intertwined and work together. He denounced the economic double standards of this country by mentioning the billion-dollar bailout of major corporations and contrasted that with the advice given to the lower class- “pull yourselves up by your bootstraps and work hard.”

West also commented on the Obama presidency, saying that it was important to be critical of the President’s actions and policies. To do so only demonstrates that the population is helping their leader make appropriate decisions and helping to better the American future, he pointed out.

The event was inclusive. Although he focused on the plight of the African-American struggle in the United States, he extended his message to include all struggles in this country such as poverty in the face of the economic. His final point to the diverse crowdwas clear- to move on with the future through “clarity, courage, and compassion.”

Laura Goodstein

A Gallup poll of Muslims in the United States has found that they are far more likely than people in Muslim countries to see themselves as thriving.

In fact, the only countries where Muslims are more likely to see themselves as thriving are Saudi Arabia and Germany, according to the poll.

And yet, within the United States, Muslims are the least content religious group, when compared with Jews, Mormons, Protestants and Roman Catholics.

Gallup researchers say that is because the largest segment of American Muslims are African-Americans (35 percent, including first-generation immigrants), and they generally report lower levels of income, education, employment and well-being than other Americans.

But American Muslims are not one homogeneous group, the study makes clear. Asian-American Muslims (from countries like India and Pakistan) have more income and education and are more likely to be thriving than other American Muslims. In fact, their quality of life indicators are higher than for most other Americans, except for American Jews.

“We discovered how diverse Muslim Americans are,” said Dalia Mogahed, executive director and senior analyst of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, which financed the poll. “Ethnically, politically and economically, they are in every way a cross-section of the nation. They are the only religious community without a majority race.”

The Gallup study is significant because it is the first to examine a randomly selected sample of American Muslims. Gallup interviewed more than 300,000 people by telephone in 2008 while conducting broader polls, and focused on 946 who identified themselves as Muslims. (The margin of sampling error is plus or minus four percentage points.)

Previous studies of American Muslims located respondents based on surnames, mosque attendance or geographic clusters, which polling experts say can skew the results.

Gallup asked an extensive battery of questions, producing a picture of American Muslims through the prisms of race, gender, class, age and education. The international comparisons were possible because of earlier Gallup studies of Muslims overseas.

American Muslim women, contrary to stereotype, are more likely than American Muslim men to have college and post-graduate degrees. They are more highly educated than women in every other religious group except Jews. American Muslim women also report incomes more nearly equal to men, compared with women and men of other faiths.

Muslim women in the United States attend mosque as frequently as Muslim men — a contrast with many Muslim countries where the mosques are primarily for men. American Muslims are generally very religious, saying that religion is an important part of their daily lives (80 percent), more than any other group except Mormons (85 percent). The figure for Americans in general is 65 percent.

By political ideology, Muslims were spread across the spectrum from liberal to conservative, with about 4 in 10 saying they were moderates. By party identification, Muslims resembled Jews more than any other religious group, with small minorities registered as Republicans, roughly half Democrats and about a third independents.

There are clear signs of social alienation, however. Lower percentages of Muslims register to vote or volunteer their time than adherents of other faiths. They are less likely to be satisfied with the area where they live. These indicators are “worrying,” said Ahmed Younis, a senior analyst at the Muslim studies center.

“There is still a sense among American Muslims of being excluded from the mainstream,” Mr. Younis said, “and among young people that’s more acute.”

But the perception is far worse among Muslims in England and France, the study found.

Mr. Younis said the finding “reinforces the proposition that the integration process for American Muslims is, on the whole, a much more successful endeavor than it is for European Muslims.”