RICHARD DORFMAN
Plaintiffs,
Case No. 02-
v.
Hon.
MARY SUE COLEMAN, PRESIDENT,
THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, and DAVID A. BRANDON, LAURENCE B. DEITCH, DANIEL D.
HORNING, OLIVIA P. MAYNARD, REBECCA McGOWAN, ANDREA FISCHER NEWMAN,
Defendants.
________________________________________/
DEBORAH K. SCHLUSSEL
(P56420)
Attorney for Plaintiffs
29477 Laurel Woods Dr.
Southfield, MI 48034
(248) 354-1409
_________________________________________/
NOW COMES the Plaintiffs, Richard Dorfman et al, by and through their attorney, DEBORAH K. SCHLUSSEL, and for their Complaint against the Defendants, state the following:
1.
Plaintiffs, Richard Dorfman et al (hereinafter, “Plaintiffs”) are
residents of the City of Ann Arbor, County of Washtenaw, State of Michigan.
2.
Defendants, Mary Sue Coleman, President of The University of Michigan,
and David A. Brandon, Laurence B. Deitch, Daniel D. Horning, Olivia P. Maynard,
Rebecca
McGowan, Andrea Fischer Newman, S. Martin Taylor, and Katherine E. White, The
Regents of The University of Michigan, (hereinafter, “Defendants”) are officials
of The University of Michigan (hereinafter, “Michigan,”), located in the City of
Ann Arbor, County of Washtenaw, State of Michigan.
3.
The
amount in controversy is in excess of $25,000.00, exclusive of costs, interest,
and attorney fees.
4.
On
October 12-14, the University of Michigan will allow its facilities, including
the Michigan League, Michigan Union, and other property owned by the University
of Michigan to be used for the Second National Student Conference on the
Palestine Solidarity Movement, a/k/a “Divestment Conference” (hereinafter,
“Conference”).
5.
The
University of Michigan, while officially claiming to be neutral and not
endorsing the stated goals of the Conference, features a link to the Conference
website on The
University of Michigan’s official website, http://www.umich.edu, at: http://www.umich.edu/palestineconf.html#safety. Links to opposing
organizations’/conferences’ websites are not listed on the official University
of Michigan website.
6.
Defendants have authorized
the use of Michigan facilities for the Conference, and Defendants have the
authority to deny the use of Michigan facilities for the Conference.
7.
Defendant Mary Sue Coleman,
in various e-mail communications to the public, and private e-mail
communications to Defendant Regents, has stated that she will allow the
Conference to proceed on, in, and around Michigan facilities.
8.
In an
incredible lack of independent, responsible judgment and leadership, in one such
private e-mail communication, Coleman stated that, because the first annual such
Conference was allowed to proceed at the University of California at Berkeley
(hereinafter “Berkeley”), Coleman would allow such Conference to proceed at
Michigan.
9.
After
the Conference at Berkeley, as a direct and proximate result of inciteful speech
and language uttered by speakers, several incidents of violence were committed
against Jewish students on the Berkeley campus and nearby campuses, and citizens
of the surrounding metro areas.
10. Fadi Kiblawi, a Michigan
Senior (hereinafter, “Kiblawi”), heads Students Allied for Freedom and Equality
(hereinafter, “SAFE”), a Michigan student group, and the sponsor of the
Conference.
11. Kiblawi, is the author of an
article in a University of Michigan student publication, in which he writes of
his desire “to strap a bomb to one’s chest and kill . . . . The enemy is not just overseas, the
enemy is also amongst us.”
(Kiblawi, Fadi, “A Perspective on Palestine while High on Vicodin” (sic),
Al-Risalah, University of
Michigan (sic), Spring Edition II, June 24, 2001.)
12. Conference speakers
(hereinafter, “Speakers”) announced by Conference organizers include a “Who’s
Who” of supporters of terrorism and violence against the United States of
America, Americans, and Jews.
13. Plaintiffs are all
Americans, and many of them are Jewish.
14. Speakers include Sami
Al-Arian (hereinafter, “Al-Arian”), the founder of and a Majlis Shura (“ruling
council’) member of the terrorist group Islamic Jihad, which murdered New Jersey
college student Alisa Flatow and countless others.
15. This year, Al-Arian was
fired from his position as a professor at the University of South Florida
(hereinafter, “USF”) by University President Dr. Judy Genschaft and the Regents
of the USF. Security and safety of
students were cited as reasons for Al-Arian’s dismissal. He is banned from the USF campus for the
same reasons.
16. In a highly unusual
instance, on February 21, 2002, U.S. Attorney Mac Cauley of the Middle District
of Florida stated that federal prosecutors continue to conduct an ongoing
investigation “into the conduct and activities” of Al-Arian. According to U.S. Department of Justice
spokesman Steven Cole, “In rare cases, especially when public
safety is an issue, the U.S. attorney is
allowed to acknowledge an ongoing
investigation. Mr. Cauley decided
this was one of those occasions.”
(Emphasis added.)
17. A 1995 letter by Al-Arian,
discovered by FBI and INS agents, just 10 days after Islamic Jihad suicide
bombers killed 18 people, sought "support to the jihad effort in Palestine so
that operations such as these can continue” and stated, “The link with the
brothers in Hamas is very good and making steady progress, and there are serious
attempts at unification and permanent coordination.” (Exhibit A, Attached)
18. A chilling FBI surveillance
video of Al-Arian’s fundraising tour of America’s mosques shows Al-Arian being
introduced as, “the president of the Islamic Committee for Palestine, . . . the
active arm of the Islamic Jihad Movement.”
While others in the video praise the killing of Jews and Christians,
Al-Arian states, “Let us damn America. . . . .Let us damn [her] allies until death.” Standing under Islamic Jihad banners,
Al-Arian talks of a Koranic “curse” against “those who are the sons of Israel
through David and Jesus, the Son of Mary. . . The Koran is our
constitution. Jihad is our path.”
(Exhibit B, Attached.)
19. Al-Arian is the author of
this speech: “We assemble today to
pay respects to the march of the martyrs and to the river of blood that gushes
forth and does not extinguish, from butchery to butchery, and from martyrdom to
martyrdom, from Jihad to Jihad.”
20. According to federal
prosecutor John Loftus, "The Saudi government was laundering money through
Florida charities run by University of South Florida (USF) professor Sami
Al-Arian for the support of terrorist groups in the Middle East. And through the
Al-Arian network, and others, the Saudi government secretly funded al Qaeda,
Hamas and Islamic Jihad."
21. While a professor at the
University of South Florida, Al-Arian employed Ramadan Abdullah Shallah, chief
of Islamic Jihad, and Tariq Hamdi, who provided a replacement battery for the
satellite telephone was integral to Al-Quaida’s 1998 bombing of two U.S.
embassies in Africa.
22. Speakers at the Conference
include Hatem Bazian. At a May 1999
conference in Santa Clara, Bazian stated, “The Day of Judgment will never happen
until you fight the Jews . . . . [T]he trees and stones will say, oh Muslim,
there is a Jews hiding behind me.
Come and kill him!”
23. Speakers at the Conference
include Mahdi Bray of the Muslim Public Affairs Council. In October, 1998, Bray coordinated and
led a Washington rally of 2,000 people, during which he played the tambourine as
the crowd repeated, “[L]et’s all go into jihad, and throw stones at the face of
the Jews.”
24. On December 22, 2000, Bray organized and spoke at a rally outside the White House, at which the emcee and crowd chanted responsively in Arabic, “oh Jews, the Army of Muhammad is coming for you!” The Nazi swastika was openly displayed.
25. On October 28, 2000 Bray
organized a march from Freedom Plaza to Lafayette Park in Washington, DC, at
which protesters were led into singing, “Victory comes from Allah, and Hezbollah
is our model.” Hezbollah murdered
over 241 U.S. Marines in the early 1980s.
26. Speakers at the Conference
include Adam Shapiro and Huwaida Arraf.
In
28. As officials of Michigan,
Defendants are subject to MCL 750.147b of the Mchigan Penal Code, covering
Ethnic Intimidation.
29. By allowing the Conference and by not responding to Kiblawi’s statements in a university publication, Defendants violate MCL 750.147b, which states, “a person is guilty of ethnic intimidation if that person maliciously and with specific intent to intimidate or harass another person because of that person’s . . . religion, . . . does any of the following: (a) Causes physical contact with another person. (b) Damages, destroys or defaces any real or personal property of another person. (c)Threatens, by word or act, to do an act described in subdivision (a) or (b) . . . .” (Emphasis added.).
Conference organizer Kiblawi
and the Speakers have, through their prior statements and the resulting violence
of the Conference at Berkeley, supra, demonstrated a record of inciteful speech,
and engaged in threats which violate MCL 750.147b, and Defendants, by allowing
such speech to occur on Michigan premises are also in violation of said
section.
30. Through their prior statements, supra,
Kiblawi and the Speakers, have demonstrated
desire and intent to incite violence against Plaintiffs and other
similarly situated parties. By
allowing the Conference to take place, complete with an organizer and speakers,
one of whom is a suspected terrorist, and several of whom have previously
announced their intentions of murder, supra, Defendants jeopardize the safety
and lives of Plaintiffs and are in violation of MCL 750.147b.
31. By failing to discipline Conference organizer Fadi Kiblawi and allowing him to remain a student at Michigan, Defendants jeopardize the safety and lives of Plaintiffs and are in violation of MCL 750.147b.
COUNT II-VIOLATION OF CIVIL RIGHTS STATUTES
32. Plaintiffs reallege and
incorporate by reference each and every allegation of Paragraphs
1 through 31, as though fully set forth herein.
33. By paying tuition and enrolling as
students of Michigan, Plaintiffs are entitled to free from discriminatory
practices, policies, and customs on the basis of religion or national origin, in
and around the Michigan campus, pursuant to the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act,
MCL 37.2101 et seq.
34. By allowing the Conference take place,
complete with an organizer and Speakers, one of whom is a suspected terrorist,
and several of whom have previously announced their intentions of murder and
violence against Americans and Jews, supra, Defendants are in violation of
Plaintiffs’ civil rights, pursuant to MCL 37.2101 et seq.
35. By failing to discipline
Conference organizer Fadi Kiblawi and allowing him to remain a student at
Michigan, Defendants jeopardize the safety and lives of Plaintiffs, in and
around the Michigan campus, are in violation of Plaintiffs’ civil rights,
pursuant to MCL 37.2101 et seq.
36. Plaintiffs reallege and incorporate by
reference each and every allegation of Paragraphs 1 through 35, as
though fully set forth herein.
37. By allowing the Conference to take
place, complete with an organizer and Speakers, one of whom is a
suspected terrorist, and several of whom have previously announced their
intentions of murder and violence against Americans and Jews, supra, Defendants
are allowing a clear and present danger to the physical well-being of Plaintiffs
and other similarly situated parties.
38. Because said Conference present a clear
and present danger to the physical well-being of Plaintiffs and other similarly
situated parties, Plaintiffs are entitled to injunctive relief against
Defendants.
WHEREFORE, Plaintiffs,
Richard Dorfman et al, respectfully pray that this Honorable Court enter its
judgment in favor of Plaintiffs and against Defendants Mary Sue Coleman,
President of The University of Michigan, and David A. Brandon, Laurence B.
Deitch, Daniel D. Horning, Olivia P. Maynard, Rebecca McGowan, Andrea Fischer
Newman, S. Martin Taylor, and Katherine E. White, The Regents of The University
of Michigan, and order the following equitable and legal relief:
A. Advance this case on the
docket, order a speedy hearing at the earliest practical date, and cause this
action to be expedited in every possible way.
B. Issue a permanent injunction
ordering Defendants to:
(1) Stop the Divestment
Conference from being held in any University of Michigan building, facility,
and/or property, on October 12-14, 2002, or at any other time; or in the alternative,
(2) To order that the Conference
be enjoined from allowing on the University of Michigan campus, Speakers, who
have a record of past inciteful speech which has fomented violence, including,
Sami Al-Arian, Hatem Bazian, Mahdi Bray, Adam Shapiro, and Huwaida Arraf, and
organizer Fadi Kiblawi, to make any public address under the auspices of said
Conference.
C. Award Plaintiffs costs of
litigation, including reasonable attorney and witness fees, pursuant to MCL
37.2802.
D. Judgment against Defendants
and in favor of Plaintiffs, together with interest, costs, attorney fees, and
other sums, such as this Honorable Court determines to be appropriate.
Respectfully submitted,
By: _____________________
Deborah K. Schlussel
(P56420)
29477 Laurel Woods Dr.
Southfield, MI 48034
(248) 354-1409
Dated: October 8, 2002
I have read the foregoing complaint, and I hereby certify that all allegations contained herein are true and accurate.
Signed:___________________
Richard Dorfman
Dated: October 8, 2002