by George Livadas

This year’s Harvard University commencement ceremony will feature one of the most controversial student speakers selected in years.

Despite a surge in national patriotism from the September 11 attacks and the War on Terrorism, Harvard’s faculty panel has selected Zayed M. Yasin ’02 as one of the three students to speak at the commencement ceremony. Yasin, with the assistance of Harvard dean of continuing education Michael Shinagel, originally titled his speech, “American Jihad.” After the title of the speech was released, questions and concerns were raised immediately as to the appropriateness of the title itself, as well as the content of the speech, and the very selection of Yasin as a commencement speaker.

Much of the criticism over Yasin’s speech has been over his casual use of the word “jihad” and his intention to relate it to American values.

Although Yasin claims to use the word “jihad” to mean one’s own personal “inner struggle to do the right thing,” one can’t help but wonder whether he could have exercised better judgment in selecting the theme and title of his speech, given the very real jihad waged by radical Islamic groups against the United States. Since Yasin maintains that “jihad” really means an “inner struggle to do the right thing,” would it be that far-fetched for listeners of the speech to conclude that Yasin is in some way explaining the September 11 attacks as merely nineteen young men just “struggling to do the right thing”?

Yasin further defends his use of the word “jihad” by stating that those critical of him simply do not understand its true definition. However, when the majority of the audience to whom he is speaking and the majority of Americans understand “jihad” to mean “holy war” and associate it with the current “holy war” that is being waged against the United States, Yasin is suddenly communicating a very different message, intentionally or unintentionally. While Yasin has changed the title of his speech from “American Jihad” to “Of Faith and Citizenship: My American Jihad,” Harvard, in an attempt to not offend those critical of Yasin, has actually gone so far as to actually remove “My American Jihad” from the title of the speech in the commencement programs (it appears only as “Of Faith and Citizenship”). Despite this slight change in the title of the speech, the content will likely remain the same; and, the question still remains as to why exactly the Harvard faculty committee selected Yasin to speak in the first place.

The faculty’s selection of Yasin is especially troubling, given his past record of loyal support for Islamic organizations aiding terrorists. Most notable about Yasin’s background is his past and continued support for the Holy Land Foundation, a group that has had its assets frozen by President Bush in recent months for funneling money to Hamas, a powerful Palestinian terrorist organization. The Holy Land Foundation also stands accused of giving money to the widows and families of suicide bombers. When Yasin was president of the Harvard Islamic Society, the group held a charity dinner and initially intended to give the proceeds to the Holy Land Foundation and the Red Crescent; but, due to outside criticism they ended up donating money only to the Red Crescent.

Yasin, however, continues to defend and support the Holy Land Foundation and their cause. He continues to defend the foundation for giving money and support to the widows and families of suicide bombers and claims that one should not “attack an organization that takes care of the poor, the sick because you disagree with the causes that may have contributed to these people’s destitution.” Yasin fails to recognize that an organization that supports the families of suicide bombers is not in any way discouraging such acts of violence, but is actually encouraging further suicide bombings by ensuring that suicide bombers can continue slaughtering innocent civilians without having to make their own families suffer financially for their actions.

Additionally, Yasin, as well as the commencement speaker selection committee chair Richard Thomas, both signed a petition calling for Harvard’s divestment from Israel. The petition insists that the University sever its ties with fifteen different companies that simply do business with or in Israel. Among these companies are McDonald’s, IBM, and Motorola. The fact that Yasin signed such a petition, combined with his continued defense of the Holy Land Foundation’s funding of suicide bomber families, makes abundantly clear Yasin’s radical views on Israel and the Middle East.

Given Yasin’s questionable background, past, and topic selection, why exactly would Harvard select such a controversial person to speak and represent its graduating class at the commencement ceremony? Some critics of the University have maintained that it is simply further evidence of the school’s growing anti-Americanism. The fact that Harvard continues its absolute ban of the Reserve Officer Training Corps from its campus and facilities is another notable example of this anti-Americanism. This is especially troubling when considering the fact that the University allows students like Yasin to use campus facilities to fundraise for groups with significant terrorist involvement. It seems as though there are only two real possibilities in explaining Yasin’s selection. The first could be that the faculty serving on the commencement speaker selection committee completely agrees with Yasin’s radical views on the Middle East; however, this is unlikely.