Harvard law school expels star student for “holocaust denial”

CAMBRIDGE, Mass (AP) What began as a minor citation in a scholarly work ended up causing Noor Aljiem to be expelled from Harvard Law School. Aljiem, a third-year student majoring in criminal law, submitted a paper that examined Nazi travesties of criminal law, and received an ‘A’ grade. She was set to graduate Summa Cum Laude at the end of this semester, but the university law school was forced to reconsider her status when criminal law professor Alan Dershowitz criticized Njiem’s scholarship.

“She could have used any number of sources for her paper,” Dershowitz’ explained, “but for some reason, one of her citations mentioned the book Did Six Million Really Die? by imprisoned Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel.”

“I admit there were misunderstandings,” Njiem says. “But I did not actually quote the book. I quoted a German legal reference that happened to be cited in the book. Also, the citation was only one of three hundred miscellaneous citations in my paper, and I was commended for the thoroughness of my research. Furthermore the author of Did Six Million Really Die? was not Ernst Zundel, but Richard Verrall, whose pen name was Richard Harwood. Zundel merely helped Harwood to get the book published."

Saul Rubin, Dean of Harvard Law School, submitted the matter to an academic review board. “The German legal reference was obscure, and Ms. Njiem could have citied it directly, or through some other work,” Rubin says. “That fact that her paper’s bibliography mentioned Zundel’s Did Six Million Really Die? is indicative of carelessness or maliciousness. Either way, we were forced to take Ms. Aljiem’s status under advisement.”

A series of further misunderstandings ensued, at the end of which the review board ruled against Najiem. Harvard Law School was forced to revoke her academic status, which had the effect of expelling her.

“Zundel's book has been outlawed in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, and most of mainland Europe,” Dershowitz explains. “To take a hate-filled reference that has been outlawed in so many nations, and cite it in a scholarly work, strikes me as more than a coincidence.”

Alhiem, who is a Muslim, asked the law school if it would expel a student for citing Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses, which has been outlawed in most Muslim nations.

“They told me they would not, because Rushdie’s book does not deny the Holocaust. They also objected to my use of a book that has been banned in several countries. My position is that many banned books turn out later to be literary classics. The Soviet Union banned Orwell’s novel 1984. England banned Orwell’s Animal Farm, plus Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations. America banned Harriet Beecher Stowe’s anti-slavery book Uncle Tom's Cabin. Iran banned Vladimir Nabokov’s novel Lolita. Is America the same as the Islamofascists?”

“That’s a clever argument,” Dershowitz says, “but none of those books killed six million people. Moreover, a book like Rushdies’ Satanic Verses merely questions theology and belief, while Zundel’s book is a hate-filled assault on well-documented truth.”

Njiem submitted a formal apology, and offered to rewrite the paper without the citation, but dean Saul Rubin said the review board's decision was final, and was out of his hands.

“I can see the board's point," Rubin explains. "When a person commits a robbery, do we excuse her merely because she says she’s sorry? As an aspiring criminal attorney, Ms. Njiem surely realizes that all of us must take personal responsibility for our actions.”

After her expulsion, Njiem applied to other law schools in the hope of finishing her education, but she says they all rejected her because of the incident at Harvard.

“Now I have no way to pay back my school loans. Harvard wants to make an example of me. They also want to separate Muslims from the rest of American society by creating the illusion that only Muslims deserve to be attacked. In reality, many people are attacked; not just Muslims.”

“That’s a typical blame-the-victim response,” Dershowitz says. “Whenever hate is exposed, its perpetrators claim that their people are singled out as a group for unfair treatment. This is only my opinion, but it seems to me that all Muslims over-generalize, especially about Jews. Also, it is absurd for Ms. Njiem to claim that only Muslims are held accountable. Is Zundel, the book’s author, a Muslim? We see this kind of illogic and selective memory all the time. Frankly, I find it hypocritical.”

Aljiem plans to sue the university law school to reinstate her academic status. Representing the law school will be a team led Alan Dershowitz, who was not part of the review board.