UNC-Qur'an Controversy
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The ''Yacovelli v. Moeser'' case was a result of a summer reading program for new students implemented by the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which r ...
in 2002 that was objected to by several groups and was referred to by the media as the UNC-Qur'an Controversy.


Controversy

Professor
Carl W. Ernst Carl W. Ernst (born September 8, 1950, in Los Angeles, California) is the William R. Kenan, Jr., Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Islamic studies at the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was ...
of the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which r ...
(UNC) was asked if there was a good
translation Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...
of the
Qur'an The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , si ...
that would be suitable for its
Summer reading program Summer reading programs take place at 95% of public libraries in the United States.Bertot, J.C., Real, B., Lee, J. McDermott, A. J., Jaeger, P.T. (2015). 2014 Digital Inclusion Survey: Survey findings and results. Information Policy and Access Cente ...
of 2002. The program amounts to reading a short book, writing a short paper, and participating in small group discussion for two hours. He suggested Ernst noted that if it were not available he couldn't recommend one for the program. The book was adopted and the program set. On May 21, 2002, conservative commentator
Brit Hume Alexander Britton Hume (born June 22, 1943), known professionally as Brit Hume, is an American journalist and political commentator. Hume had a 23-year career with ABC News, where he contributed to ''World News Tonight with Peter Jennings'', ''N ...
of
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released the first known news story on the forthcoming program followed by
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on May 29. Early responses from parents directly to the university were generally negative though others said it was a courageous choice. Initially the
ACLU The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". ...
and conservative commentators were concerned that a favoritism in religion was being shown. The then Chancellor of UNC,
James Moeser James Charles Moeser (born April 3, 1939) is a musician and university administrator who served as the ninth chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is a trained concert organist. A native of Colorado City, Texas, Moeser ...
, began to appear in various news outlets reporting some of the negative feedback his office had received but supporting the program noting most of the incoming students were assumed to be Christian or Jewish with a comparative lack of understanding Islam and that part of the mission of the university, its "great function", was to help expand understanding of other cultures. In July
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covered the controversy followed in August the television shows
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and
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as the time of the reading program approached. Public talking points included whether the effort respected the suffering in light of
September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...
or that was an initial approach to the subject of Islam, a natural subject for review in light of 9-11. Under pressure, the university changed the implementation of the program for the incoming class of 4,200 freshmen and transfer students by asking those who objected to reading the book to write a one-page essay explaining their reasons. Ultimately 2,260 freshmen took part on August 19 (after a court case ruled in favor of the university) in some 160 small group discussions led by one or more of 178 faculty and staff. Significant news coverage began in July and continued through November 2002, while further analysis and recall of the experience continue to be published.


Legal challenges

A conservative-Christian activist group, the Family Policy Network, filed suit in the
U.S. District Court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...
, Middle District of North Carolina, on July 22, 2002, representing several students who were allowed to remain anonymous seeking a preliminary injunction to keep UNC from conducting its summer program, alleging that it violated the
Establishment Clause In United States law, the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, together with that Amendment's Free Exercise Clause, form the constitutional right of freedom of religion. The relevant constitutional tex ...
of the
First Amendment First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...
and abridged students' rights to free exercise of religion by obliging them to study Islam against their will. The case was entitled ''Yacovelli v. Moeser'' (after James Yacovelli, a Family Policy Network spokesman, and
James Moeser James Charles Moeser (born April 3, 1939) is a musician and university administrator who served as the ninth chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is a trained concert organist. A native of Colorado City, Texas, Moeser ...
, the UNC Chancellor). The plaintiffs also asserted that the university through choosing Michael Sells book had misrepresented Islam by not by focusing on its more controversial elements. The university countered that the implementation of allowing students who objected to the reading to submit a single page report with their reasoning and thereby opt out of reading the book, but still participate in the discussions, insured that there was no violation of the Constitution and sought to continue with the program. The court ruled in favor of UNC, and Family Policy Network appealed to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, 'Yacovelli v. Moeser'', Aff'd, Case No. 02-1889, (4th Cir., Aug. 19, 2002)but lost again. Between the case and its first appeal North Carolina state government representative
J. Sam Ellis J. Sam Ellis (born April 30, 1955) is a Republican former member of the North Carolina General Assembly who represented the state's thirty-ninth House district, including constituents in Wake County. An electrical contractor from Raleigh, Elli ...
was among those that sought to limit funding for the summer reading program when on August 7 the House Appropriations Committee voted to bar public funds for use in UNC's 2002 summer reading program, unless "all known religions are given equal treatment." This proviso was removed when the state budget finally passed in mid-September. The overall conclusion of Chief Judge N. Carlton Tilley, Jr., was that the book was strictly academic, not religious in nature, and therefore did not amount to a religious activity despite claims that listening to the CD exposes students to "the spell cast by a holy man of Islam" for example. The judge ended his analysis with an application of the "Lemon test" deriving from the '' Lemon vs. Kurtzman'' court case. Chief Judge Tilley said:
Approaching the Qur'an" simply cannot be compared to religious practices that have been deemed violative of the "Establishment Clause", such as posting the Ten Commandments, reading the Lord's Prayer, or reciting prayers in school. The book does include surahs, which are similar to Christian Psalms. However, by his own words, the author endeavors only to explain Islam and not to endorse it. Furthermore, listening to Islamic prayers in an effort to understand the artistic nature of the readings and its connection to a historical religious text does not have the primary effect of advancing religion.
The university's lawyers observed that the
U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point ...
endorsed the academic study of religion in public schools and universities when Justice
Tom C. Clark Thomas Campbell Clark (September 23, 1899June 13, 1977) was an American lawyer who served as the 59th United States Attorney General from 1945 to 1949 and as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1949 to 1967. Clark ...
in 1963 declared, "one's education is not complete without a study of comparative religion or the history of religion and its relationship to the advancement of civilization." Based on this as it applies to the Qur'an specifically, university officials then argued that, in addition to being constitutionally permissible, one's education is not complete without a study of the Qur'an (as well as the history of Islam) and its relationship to the advancement of civilization. A revised challenge by the
American Family Association The American Family Association (AFA) is a Christian fundamentalist 501(c)(3) organization based in the United States.
's Center for Law and Policy, who had represented FPN all along, was filed in 2004, 'Yacovelli v. Moeser'', 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9152, (M.D.N.C. May 20, 2004)which also lost on appeal, otion granted by, dismissed by ''Yacovelli v. Moeser'', 324 F. Supp. 2d 760, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12815 (M.D.N.C., July 7, 2004)addressed various challenges of presenting material online related to the program by ruling it was in fact just focused on presenting the program rather than religious instruction.


Media

UNC's own count of news coverage includes some 41 days, with some days having many news stories – for example, August 28 has 31 instances of coverage. On August 27,
C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American cable and satellite television network that was created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a nonprofit public service. It televises many proceedings of the United Stat ...
covered Chancellor Moeser's speech at the
National Press Club Organizations A press club is an organization for journalists and others professionally engaged in the production and dissemination of news. A press club whose membership is defined by the press of a given country may be known as a National Pres ...
. He noted many of the objections his office had received. In addition to those already mentioned, many other news outlets covered the controversy, including ''
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in ...
''.


Further reading

* Michael Sell's bibliography of references �
UNC-Qur'an Controversy, Resources
primarily updated to 29 December 2002, with two additions c. 2004–05 * Carl Ernst's bibliography of references �


See also

* American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina v. North Carolina *
2015 Chapel Hill shooting On February 10, 2015, Deah Shaddy Barakat, Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, and Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha were killed in their home in Finley Forest Condominiums on Summerwalk Circle in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Barakat was a second-yea ...
* Persecution of Muslims in the United States


References

{{reflist Islam in North Carolina Islam-related controversies in North America 2002 in North Carolina 2002 controversies in the United States University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill