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Professor Swain, Vanderbilt and expressing a view

Professor Swain, Vanderbilt and expressing a view

Adam J. MacLeod

Students at Vanderbilt University are targeting Carol Swain, a professor of law and politics at Vanderbilt (and a member of the James Madison Society, of which I also am a member), because she has criticized Islam — in other words, because she has her own views on matters of civic importance.

I do not share Professor Swain's view that Islam itself is the problem. It seems to me that many Muslims disagree with the peculiar jurisprudence of Al-Qaeda and ISIS supporters, and I am not in a position to discern which groups or individuals have the best interpretations of the Koran and Hadith. So, I am not prepared to paint with as broad a brush as Professor Swain uses. But it doesn't matter whether I agree with her. She is a reasonable, accomplished scholar expressing a view that reasonable people hold. And even if I thought her view were unreasonable, she has a right to express it as long as it does not amount to defamation or some other legally-cognizable harm.

Fundamentalism and foreign policy
Blogs

Fundamentalism and foreign policy

Rob McFarland

The Obama administration intends to grant refugee status to 10,000 Syrians. According to the White House's director of communications, 2,171 Syrian refugees have already been admitted to the United States following a rigorous screening process.

Following the Paris attacks, governors of 31 states signed executive order or released statements protesting the Syrian refugee policy. These governors are concerned that the screening measures utilized by the federal government are inadequate. These concerns rest, in part, on reports that at least one of the terrorists in Paris utilized a Syrian passport to obtain entry into France. Seven governors released statements supportive of the current Syrian refugee policy.

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