QUOTE OF THE DAY, FROM A GREAT LADY – AT 9:52 A.M. ET:  Unlike Hillary Clinton, there are some women who have a great deal to say that is valuable, and they have put their lives on the line for their beliefs.  One such woman is Ayaan Hirsi Ali.  If the name sounds familiar it's because she was embroiled this week in an ugly controversy.

The Somali-born Ms. Ali, currently a scholar at Harvard, and once a member of the Dutch Parliament, has spoken out against the abuse of women in Islamic countries.  Her life has been threatened many times.  Recently this true heroine was offered an honorary degree by Brandeis University, in Waltham, Massachusetts.  Brandeis was founded in the late 1940s, partly as a counter to the ethnic quotas then in place in many "elite" colleges and universities.  It's a pretty good school, but its dark side has always been a reliably left-wing fringe.  It's the school where Anita Hill now teaches.  It is trendy.

Its dark side was on display this week when it withdrew its offer of an honorary degree from Ayaan Hirsi Ali, under pressure from Muslim groups, moronic campus children called undergraduates, and leftists on the faculty.  Hearing truths about the Islamic world and its treatment of women was apparently too much to bear.  It violated the party line.  By the way, attacks on Judaism, Israel, or Christianity never seem to bother Brandeis half as much.  Yes, trendy it is.

As usual, Brandeis's outrageous behavior has been greeted with silence by the "liberal" press and by so-called "feminist" groups, who have no problem throwing women under the bus if they're the wrong kind of women.

But Ms. Ali has written a brilliant rejoinder in The Wall Street Journal called "Here's What I Would Have Said at Brandeis."  It's inspiring.  I urge you to read the whole thing.  Here is an excerpt:   

Just as the city of Boston was once the cradle of a new ideal of liberty, we need to return to our roots by becoming once again a beacon of free thought and civility for the 21st century. When there is injustice, we need to speak out, not simply with condemnation, but with concrete actions.

One of the best places to do that is in our institutions of higher learning. We need to make our universities temples not of dogmatic orthodoxy, but of truly critical thinking, where all ideas are welcome and where civil debate is encouraged. I'm used to being shouted down on campuses, so I am grateful for the opportunity to address you today. I do not expect all of you to agree with me, but I very much appreciate your willingness to listen.

I stand before you as someone who is fighting for women's and girls' basic rights globally. And I stand before you as someone who is not afraid to ask difficult questions about the role of religion in that fight.

The connection between violence, particularly violence against women, and Islam is too clear to be ignored. We do no favors to students, faculty, nonbelievers and people of faith when we shut our eyes to this link, when we excuse rather than reflect.

So I ask: Is the concept of holy war compatible with our ideal of religious toleration? Is it blasphemy—punishable by death—to question the applicability of certain seventh-century doctrines to our own era? Both Christianity and Judaism have had their eras of reform. I would argue that the time has come for a Muslim Reformation.

COMMENT:  That apparently was too upsetting for the delicate ears at Brandeis.  Yes, it is true that Ms. Ali has had some harsh things to say about Islam, which is the ostensible reason her honorary degree was withdrawn.  Like all of us, she might regret some of those comments.  But so much of what she says is important, correct, and an inspiration to a new generation.

I'm glad she wrote her article, and the Journal is to be praised for publishing it.  Maybe someone will have the courage to read her words out loud at Brandeis's graduation.  Don't bet on it.  Conformity is the deity of the American college campus.

April 11, 2014