...Prior to 9/11 MSA was involved with three Muslim charities: Holy Land Foundation (HLF), al-Aqsa Islamic Bank, and Beit el-Mal Holdings. Following the attacks the Treasury Department froze the bank accounts of these three organizations for ties to Hamas. Al-Talib, the Muslim newsmagazine at the University of California, Los Angeles, claimed that eight national organizations announced in a joint statement that the effort was simply a “politically-motivated smear campaign by those who would perpetuate Israel’s brutal occupation.” They suggested that the organizations were shut down to hurt Islamic poor and not to hinder Islamic radicals. Yet there seems not to be any wonder about what kind of organization the MSA itself is. According to Middle East Quarterly, “There is overwhelming evidence that the MSA, far from being a benign student society, is an overtly political organization seeking to create a single Muslim voice on U.S. campuses—a voice espousing Wahhabism, anti-Americanism, and anti-Semitism, agitating aggressively against U.S. Middle East policy, and expressing solidarity with militant Islamist ideologies, sometimes with criminal results.”

This is a sobering glimpse of what the MSA is up to on college campuses. More frightening is that according to the MSA itself, there are 600 MSA chapters in universities in America and Canada, 150 of which are affiliated with the national MSA. The College Democrats of America reportedly at their height have had 500 active chapters. It is disturbing that a group with political and financial ties to hostile foreign governments has a sufficiently significant number of chapters on college campuses to rival one of our major political parties. If it were simply a religious group promoting Islam, I wouldn’t be so worried. But as you can see, MSA associates with all the wrong folks.

...As you know, as a public institution we are committed to creating an open environment which allows for the free exchange of ideas - no matter how controversial. As part of the planning process in advance of this Panel presentation, we set up a very successful security protocol.

There were more than four hundred people in the audience. An additional twenty or so protestors were silent and exited quickly without incident.

The four who overstepped the program's protocol were removed quickly and handled appropriately by university administrators and police.

We are committed to providing a secure environment for civil discourse. We believe this momentary interruption did not constitute a significant interference with your presentation or ensuing discussion...