CAIR
Loses San Diego Schools Partnership
by John Rossomando
IPT News
July 26, 2017
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 SAN DIEGO – The
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) tried to have it both ways –
claiming to be a civil rights organization when it suits its purposes, but
admitting at other times that its mission is religious.
That duplicity has cost CAIR a partnership with San Diego public schools
and threatens to sabotage a plan to take an educational program national.
San Diego school board members agreed Tuesday night not to work with
CAIR on a campaign to specifically fight anti-Muslim bullying generated by
an exaggerated CAIR report. Instead, the Anti-Defamation League is poised
to work on a program that aims "to comprehensively address the issue
of bullying of all students."
The agenda item specifically mentioned that school board "staff is
redirected from forming a formal partnership with CAIR to forming an
intercultural committee which shall include representatives of from all
faiths and cultures and which shall provide input to District staff on
issues of cultural sensitivities and the individual needs of various
subgroups within our diverse community."
Still, speaker after speaker criticized the proposal for excluding CAIR
and for not specifically emphasizing anti-Muslim bigotry and
"Islamophobia." CAIR-San Diego Executive Director Hanif Mohebi
managed to make that argument while still denying CAIR was singularly
focused.
"We have never come out saying that it should only be one group.
But I think also we should realize that it might be a mistake not to focus
on groups that are targeted much more than the rest," Mohebi said.
"So that being said, we expect the district to publicly acknowledge
and recognize the work that we have done for over a decade with the school
district."
While the Anti-Defamation League also has a focus on protecting a
specific group – Jews – Regional Director Tammy Gillies said its mission
also is to "secure justice and fair treatment for all. That 'and' is
the most important part of our mission statement. When one community is
unsafe we are all unsafe."
The ADL program, she noted, has been evaluated by Columbia University,
the University of Pennsylvania, Yale and other respected institutions.
The board agreed to work with CAIR in April. CAIR's program aimed
to increase education
about Islam in the classroom. Parents and religious liberty advocates
balked at singling out Muslim students for safe places without providing similar accommodations to
other faiths. Muslim
holidays would have been added to the school calendar, and campus
events falling on those holidays would be rescheduled.
It was obvious, though, that board members reluctantly decided to
implement a broader policy addressing bullying across cultures and
religious backgrounds Vice President Kevin Beiser reaffirmed his support
for CAIR and thanked it for over a decade of partnership, but said
supported the revised proposal "because I believe it codifies the
board's commitment and my commitment to making sure that all students are
safe. We do have certain groups of students who are bullied at much higher
rates than other students.
"We need to work together to solve that problem," Beiser said,
"and we want to thank CAIR and all of you in the Muslim community for
your partnership."
The anti-bullying program was never about "promoting a
religion" as some critics claimed, said Board President Richard
Barerra.
But lawyers with the Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund (FCDF) sued the school district in May, claiming the program
did place Muslim students above others, violating the First Amendment's
establishment clause, the Fourteenth Amendment and California law barring
assistance to religion. They also claimed the anti-bullying program was a
solution to an exaggerated problem.
None of the speakers advocating for CAIR's continued involvement addressed
that Constitutional concern.
A report by CAIR's California chapters, "Growing in Faith:
California Muslim Youth Experiences with Bullying, Harassment &
Religious Accommodation in Schools" inspired the program, FCDF's lawsuit claims.
The school district's decision to back away from partnering with CAIR is
an important victory, FCDF Executive Director Daniel Piedra told the
Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT). But he remains concerned that
CAIR still may partner with the school district on other programs.
Mohebi and his allies seemed upset that they will not be able to use the
school district to further their agenda, Piedra said after the meeting.
"They talk about equality, but it's really Orwellian because in
their philosophy and the school board's philosophy, they are really saying
that all students are equal but that some students are more equal than
others," Piedra said.
The FCDF lawsuit remains alive despite Tuesday's decision to switch from
CAIR's program to the ADL's. The group wants to learn more about CAIR's
role in drafting the anti-bullying program. If it turns out that CAIR was
intimately involved, the lawsuit may move forward because students' rights
would have been violated, Piedra said, and to ensure that CAIR loses future
opportunities to shape policy.
FCDF could seek monetary damages, he said, but it may ask a judge to
impose a consent decree compelling the school district to not
partner with CAIR again.
"We are willing to work with them; however, violating the
Constitution is a serious allegation, and we are going to hold that to the
school district every step of the way," Piedra said.
Under the now-abandoned program, students accused of bullying Muslim students
were supposed to face "restorative justice," requiring them to
reconcile with the other student. The school district would provide monthly
reports on the bullying of Muslim students and post them online.
The district's reversal follows the FCDF's amended
complaint filed last month, which challenged CAIR's local effort to
hide behind the label of being a "civil rights organization." It
pointed to testimony by CAIR co-founder and Executive Director Nihad Awad,
who told the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that it lacked jurisdiction
over a fight over unionizing CAIR employees because CAIR is a religious
organization.
CAIR letterhead includes the invocation, "In the Name of God, the
Compassionate, the Merciful," which opens every chapter in the Quran,
Charles L. Posner, regional director of the National Labor Relations Board,
wrote in an April 7 ruling.
This religious acknowledgement goes to the heart of the Establishment Clause's separation of church and state.
The loss of the San Diego program is a set-back for CAIR's desire to
take an "anti-Muslim bullying" program national. It represents
the biggest government rebuke to CAIR since the FBI instituted a policy in 2008 to break-off outreach
programs due to CAIR's documented history in a Muslim-Brotherhood created
Hamas-support network in the United States.
And it should send a message to districts throughout the country, Piedra
said, warning CAIR that his organization will sue any public school
district that partners with it in a similar anti-bullying program.
"We want to be sure for the benefit of our schoolchildren that CAIR
is kept out of America's schools," Piedra said.
Related Topics: Education
| John
Rossomando, CAIR,
San
Diego school board, anti-bullying
programs, ADL,
Tammy
Gillies, Hanif
Mohebi, Kevin
Beiser, Richard
Barerra, Freedom
of Conscience Defense Fund, Establishment
Clause, Daniel
Piedra, Nihad
Awad, National
Labor Relations Board, Charles
L. Posner, Education
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