Rosie Waterhouse - Revision history

David at 09:03, 16 September 2010

2010-09-16T09:03:49Z

David: /* Views on Islam on campus */

2010-09-16T09:00:52Z

Views on Islam on campus

David: /* Views on Islam on campus */

2010-09-16T08:59:28Z

Views on Islam on campus

David at 08:45, 16 September 2010

2010-09-16T08:45:10Z

David: New page: http://www.city.ac.uk/journalism/people/faculty/rwaterhouse.html ==Notes== Waterhouse, Rosie Waterhouse, Rosie

2010-09-16T08:35:27Z

New page: http://www.city.ac.uk/journalism/people/faculty/rwaterhouse.html ==Notes== <references/> Waterhouse, Rosie Waterhouse, Rosie

New page

http://www.city.ac.uk/journalism/people/faculty/rwaterhouse.html

==Notes==
<references/>
[[Category:Academics|Waterhouse, Rosie]] [[Category:Journalists|Waterhouse, Rosie]]

@@ Line 21: / Line 21: @@
 <blockquote style="background-color:ivory;border:1pt solid Darkgoldenrod;padding:1%;font-size:10pt">
-This unleashed a torrent of hostile comment on The Independent website, which ran to 17 pages. I was accused of being a racist and Islamaphobic. Several posts said I should resign or be sacked. Copies of the article were posted around the journalism department at City, with invitations to add comments. Most were angry and critical.</p><p>
+<p>This unleashed a torrent of hostile comment on The Independent website, which ran to 17 pages. I was accused of being a racist and Islamaphobic. Several posts said I should resign or be sacked. Copies of the article were posted around the journalism department at City, with invitations to add comments. Most were angry and critical.</p><p>
 A colleague, [[Paul Anderson]], wrote an article on his blog saying universities were secular institutions and supporting my stance against the potential promotion of violent extremism on campus (although he was not in favour of a niqab ban).</p><p>
 In May, while on holiday overseas, I received a text message from Anderson saying my photograph and his had been posted on the Islamic Society website together with a diatribe accusing us of being Islamaphobic and harbouring "outright hatred" of all Muslims. To me, this was a deeply disturbing and palpable threat. I contacted Anderson and the acting vice-chancellor, Professor [[Julius Weinberg]], to instruct the Islamic Society to remove my photograph and the offending article.</p><p>

@@ Line 18: / Line 18: @@
 <blockquote style="background-color:ivory;border:1pt solid Darkgoldenrod;padding:1%;font-size:10pt">In April 2009, organisers invited three radical Islamist preachers to address the society's annual dinner, with the "brothers" and "sisters" segregated, and the latter forbidden to ask questions. One preacher, Anwar al-Awlaki , was to speak by video-link from Yemen, because he is banned from Britain for alleged links to terrorists. But the then vice-chancellor [[Malcolm Gilles]] [sic.] intervened and the video-link was banned.<p>After this I met Gillies to say I was concerned about the activities of the Islamic Society. Several research papers and [[Ed Husain|Ed Husein's]] [sic.] alarming book, ''[[The Islamist]]'' suggested that certain British universities, including City, were potential recruiting grounds for violent extremists. We agreed this was a sensitive subject but I argued that it was time universities took action. Gillies, who has since moved to London Metropolitan University, said there were two taboo topics among vice-chancellors – Islamic extremism and pensions.</p><p>My anxiety continued. I was particularly disturbed by the sight of Muslim female students wearing the niqab, a dress statement I find offensive and threatening. Don't they value the rights and freedoms they enjoy in Britain? In Taliban strongholds in Afghanistan they are forced to cover up and denied an education.</p><p>One of my journalism students, who is a Muslim woman, interviewed four British-born Muslim girls who said they began to wear the niqab only after coming to City and joining the Islamic Society. They found it "liberating", they said.</p><p>I think the niqab should be banned at university. Some of my colleagues agree with me; others don't... <Ref>Rosie Waterhouse, '[http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/higher/rosie-waterhouse-universities-must-take-action-on-muslim-extremism-1922730.html Universities must take action on Muslim extremism]', ''Independent'', 18 March 2010.</ref></p></blockquote>
-In July Waterhouse returned to the subject recounting the impact and response to her article at City. 'Naively', she writes 'I did not anticipate the furore that followed.' The furore included:
+In July 2010, Waterhouse returned to the subject recounting the impact and response to her article at City. 'Naively', she writes 'I did not anticipate the furore that followed.' The furore included:
 <blockquote style="background-color:ivory;border:1pt solid Darkgoldenrod;padding:1%;font-size:10pt">

@@ Line 14: / Line 14: @@
 ==Views on Islam on campus==
-In March 2010 Waterhouse, wrote in the ''[[Independent]]'' that in 2009 she had approached [[Malcolm Gillies]], then Vice-Chancellor and President, to say that she was 'concerned about the activities of the Islamic Society'. An extract of the article is reproduced below:
+In March 2010 Waterhouse, wrote in the ''[[Independent]]'' that in 2009 she had approached [[Malcolm Gillies]], then Vice-Chancellor and President, to say that she was 'concerned about the activities of the Islamic Society':
 <blockquote style="background-color:ivory;border:1pt solid Darkgoldenrod;padding:1%;font-size:10pt">In April 2009, organisers invited three radical Islamist preachers to address the society's annual dinner, with the "brothers" and "sisters" segregated, and the latter forbidden to ask questions. One preacher, Anwar al-Awlaki , was to speak by video-link from Yemen, because he is banned from Britain for alleged links to terrorists. But the then vice-chancellor [[Malcolm Gilles]] [sic.] intervened and the video-link was banned.<p>After this I met Gillies to say I was concerned about the activities of the Islamic Society. Several research papers and [[Ed Husain|Ed Husein's]] [sic.] alarming book, ''[[The Islamist]]'' suggested that certain British universities, including City, were potential recruiting grounds for violent extremists. We agreed this was a sensitive subject but I argued that it was time universities took action. Gillies, who has since moved to London Metropolitan University, said there were two taboo topics among vice-chancellors – Islamic extremism and pensions.</p><p>My anxiety continued. I was particularly disturbed by the sight of Muslim female students wearing the niqab, a dress statement I find offensive and threatening. Don't they value the rights and freedoms they enjoy in Britain? In Taliban strongholds in Afghanistan they are forced to cover up and denied an education.</p><p>One of my journalism students, who is a Muslim woman, interviewed four British-born Muslim girls who said they began to wear the niqab only after coming to City and joining the Islamic Society. They found it "liberating", they said.</p><p>I think the niqab should be banned at university. Some of my colleagues agree with me; others don't... <Ref>Rosie Waterhouse, '[http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/higher/rosie-waterhouse-universities-must-take-action-on-muslim-extremism-1922730.html Universities must take action on Muslim extremism]', ''Independent'', 18 March 2010.</ref></p></blockquote>
 ==Notes==
 <references/>
 [[Category:Academics|Waterhouse, Rosie]] [[Category:Journalists|Waterhouse, Rosie]]