Dive Brief:

• Brandeis University has changed its mind and decided not to confer an honorary degree to a controversial women’s rights advocate and critic of Islam.
• Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who has called Islam “a destructive, nihilistic cult of death,” has been invited to speak on campus instead.
• Brandeis reversed itself just eight days after announcing it would honor Ali, claiming that the university was not aware of her controversial statements.

Dive Insight:

As a Columbia University professor told the New York Times, ““You would think that someone at Brandeis would have learned to use Google.” It seems more likely that Brandeis simply withered in the face of increasing criticism, which started with bloggers, then a Brandeis-student-led online petition at Change.org with thousands of signatures. That was followed by a social media and email campaign by members of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a story in a student newspaper on the controversy, and a letter from the council that labeled Ali as a “notorious Islamophobe.” Ali, who suffered through genital cutting, attempted forced marriage, and at least one death threat at the hands of Muslims, is a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.