The College Republicans are bringing conservative commentator David Horowitz to Emory to speak about Islamic radicalism next month, a decision that could spark controversy on campus.

Horowitz’s visit is part of the College Republicans-sponsored Terrorism Awareness Week, which in turn is linked to a national Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week that is being organized by the Horowitz Freedom Center.

Kelse Moen, the College Republicans’ attorney general and organizer of the week’s events, said the purpose “is to raise awareness of the threat of terrorism worldwide and to fight the idea that this is a threat created by the Bush administration.”

“It is not an attack on the Muslim community, but more an issue on the extremists within that community,” he added.

College Republicans President Ben Clark said the organization did not invite Horowitz — Clark was contacted by the national Terrorism Awareness Project and asked if Emory would be interested in having an awareness week.

“I thought it would be good for people to hear his point of view,” Clark said. “I was excited when he asked to come; excited about being able to bring him to campus.”

The week, which will be held Oct. 22 through Oct. 26, will involve a memorial service for victims of terrorism worldwide and the showing of a video relevant to terrorism awareness, Moen said. The College Republicans have not decided on the video yet.

Aysha Hidayatullah, the Muslim religious advisor in Emory’s Office of Religious Life, said Horowitz’s campaign is designed to silence discussion and that either advocating or protesting his visit would be detrimental to the Muslim community.

Hidayatullah said withholding comments allows Horowitz a free reign to disseminate his views. Disagreeing with him, on the other hand, would invite Horowitz to target the protester as a “suppressor of free speech and academic freedom and supporter of the enemy,” she said.

“This event is problematic in the way that it is happening, creating a climate of fear, suspicion, and silence that only creates more hatred reminiscent of 1950s McCarythism,” she said.

Director of Emory Hillel Michael Rabkin said the issue needs to be treated with “the care and sophistication it deserves.”

“Horowitz’s Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week project makes it more difficult for voices of moderation on both sides to speak out and achieve the results they are seeking,” he said.

Some Muslim students have expressed concern about Horowitz’s visit because of his organization’s sharp rhetoric regarding Islam. For example, a statement on the Terrorism Awareness Project website says the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the national Muslim Students Association are “fronts for the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas.”

Members of Emory MSA's executive board declined to comment on Horowitz's upcoming visit, except to say, “We fully respect the right to free speech, and Horowitz’s right to appear on Emory’s campus.”

Shaheen Sharif, a College sophomore who is Muslim, said she is unhappy Horowitz is coming to campus because she feels he will further skew the already misunderstood Islamic faith.

“The College Republicans should not sponsor a man who is attacking religious views of a faith he obviously knows nothing about,” Sharif said, citing the advertisement created by Horowitz that ran in the Wheel last semester claiming jihad is an effort for “world domination” instead of “an inner holy struggle to find God.”

Moen said the College Republicans are taking a different angle than the Horowitz Freedom Center by focusing on global terrorism because they decided that Islamo-Fascism was not a good “P.R. term.”

Jeff Wiener, the national coordinator for Horowitz’s Terrorism Awareness Project, said the purpose of the week is to protest the oppression of women in Islamic societies.

Weiner added that the Terrorism Awareness Project “hopes to illuminate the radical element of Islam and how they use elements of the religion for violent purposes.”

Moen said that some people might think bringing Horowitz to campus was a divisive move that does not promote unity among student groups, but that was not the intention of the College Republicans.

“We are trying really hard to not let that happen,” he said. “We have been having a steady back and forth with the Muslim Student Association to make sure their needs are addressed.”

Clark said he encouraged people who disagree with Horowitz to come and listen to him speak.

“The best way to defend your position if you disagree with someone is to know where they stand too,” Clark said.

But Hidayatullah characterized Horowitz’s approach as extreme and said people who do not completely agree with him are cast as enemies.

“I do believe there are ways of talking about religious violence without perpetuating violence, but this is not the way to do it,” she said.

— Contact Mithu Maheswaranathan at mmahesw@emory.edu.