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Teacher suspended for inviting anti-Muslim speaker Print E-mail
By News Agencies   

RALEIGH – A teacher at Enloe High School was suspended with pay after a speaker he invited told students to shun Muslims.

Social Studies teacher Robert Escamilla invited Kamil Solomon, a Raleigh-based Christian evangelist, to speak to his students on February 16.

Solomon gave them two pamphlets, "Jesus Not Muhammad Part 1," and "Do Not Marry a Muslim Part 1." Some parents and students were shocked and complained to school authorities about the incident.

One pamphlet, says the Muslim prophet "enslaved people, abused women and taught Muslims to terrorize non-Muslims and force them into Islam."

The Council on American-Relations (CAIR) had called on the school to take disciplinary action against the teacher. In a letter to Dr. Adelphos Burns, superintendent of the Wake County Public School System, CAIR Legal Director Arsalan Iftikhar wrote:

"It is unconscionable for a teacher at any public school to abuse his or her position of trust by forcing such hate-filled, inaccurate and intolerant materials on students.."

In a initial response to an inquiry by the Muslim Public Affairs Council, principal Beth Cochran wrote:

"I assure you that teachers make sure that students know that his presentation was one person’s perspective and not representative of all Muslims," Cochran said. She also said that the school champions "the free exchange of ideas."

The ACLU expressed deep disappointment at the school’s response. "In the face of overwhelming evidence that proselytizing took place in this public school, school officials have insisted on miscasting this as a free speech issue," Jennifer Rudinger, executive director of the ACLU-NCLF told WRAL-TV.

Attorneys with the Wake County School Board are interviewing students, faculty, and school administrators about the incident.


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