Kayvan Chinichian’s letter to the editor Monday (“Hate speech is not protected”) alludes to posters about quotations from the Quran around campus as hate speech, and that hate speech is not protected, as it would not be protected if he were to go around and post Nazi posters defaming Jews.
First, I want to make it absolutely clear that no Jewish organization or group has had anything to do with this, and as such, I believe it is absolutely unnecessary to immediately relate this to Nazis and Jews.
Second, whether hate speech is protected or not, it should be the same for all. As he finds this hate speech, there are countless posters, statements, speeches, films, culture nights, classes and references about the Jews and Israelis on this campus that are equally hate speech, and I believe that he should protest those too.
Portraying the U.S. Forces and the Israeli defense forces the way they are portrayed in our classes by some faculty is nothing more than hate speech. I hope that he will work on stopping this demonization everywhere, not selectively.
I hope that he will be a nucleus to start a constructive dialog on this campus to make it a model for civilized education and not teaching hate. I am ready to help him.
Saeed Niku
Mechanical engineering professor