UNC officials look back on Quran controversy

In the wake of a lawsuit challenge, legislative action and fevered controversy, discussions of the summer reading assignment Approaching the Qur'an proceeded calmly this week among freshmen at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

All first-year UNC students were required to read the book, by Haverford College professor Michael Sells, which presents an English translation of some of the Islamic holy text's main passages.

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But to some, the assignment looked like religious indoctrination. In July, three anonymous UNC freshmen and two taxpayer members of the Family Policy Network, a Virginia-based conservative Christian group, sued the university. And on Aug. 12, the state House approved a budget that included an amendment to cut public funding for the reading program, which costs the university about $15,000.

Carlton Tilley, a U.S. District Court judge, refused last Thursday to block the program, but the assignment remains controversial.

Monday's discussions were a great success, said UNC Provost Robert Shelton.

"What I wish is that some of the critics had an opportunity to sit in and see what a real academic exchange of ideas is," he said. "Nobody was converting anybody."

Wilson said he expects the resolution to pass unanimously in September.

Dudley Flood, a member of the committee that drafted the resolution, said there is "no question about its passage."

The misunderstanding about the Board of Governors' position on academic freedom serves as an example of how some say the controversy has been blown out of proportion.

"It's been one of the most overreported, overanalyzed and overstated controversies I've seen in a long, long time," Wilson said. "If we can't have an open and informed discussion of controversial issues at a university, just where can we do that?"

The UNC administration echoed that concern. "I don't see a serious threat to academic freedom," Shelton said. "The people of this state have a whole range of political views, some of them pretty far to the right. If you look over the history, this state has supported public higher education." He added the debate is an opportunity to show the public how universities exchange ideas.

UNC students also expressed surprise that their summer reading assignment has caused so much controversy.

Dan Schneider, a freshman from Charlotte, attended a discussion session Monday led by Chancellor James Moeser. He said he enjoyed the discussion, but found the idea of the book being controversial ridiculous.

"We're all here for the pursuit of knowledge," he said. "We weren't worshipping the book or anything."

Chuck Stone, a journalism professor at UNC who did not lead a discussion, took a similar view and called the issue a "built-up nothing."

"The students I talked to sort of shrugged their shoulders," he said. "It wasn't any great intellectual excitement."

But Stone did express concern over the reaction of the state legislature. He faulted UNC for failing to effectively communicate the program's aims to the lawmakers.

"We just didn't do a better job of trying to engage in a real dialogue," he said. "It was like two ships passing in the night."

Stone's colleague Harry Watson, a history professor who led a discussion Monday and was on the committee that selected the book, also expressed displeasure with the state's decision. He said, however, that he is confident the Senate will not support the amendment, which denies funding "unless all other known religions are offered in an equal or incremental way."

"I couldn't talk about the first Thanksgiving without including the religion of Australian aborigines in that same lecture," Watson said. "That's just crazy."