To SLU administration:

We are very disappointed to see SLU’s approval of Allen West on our campus under the guise of free speech on Tuesday, March 26, 2024. Allen West is not just a speaker who happens to be aligned with conservatism and Republican values. In 2010, West, in reference to ‘coexist’ bumper stickers, alleged that those stickers indicated an enemy present in the United States, and “…that enemy represents something called Islam. And Islam is a totalitarian theocratic political ideology; it is not a religion. It has not been a religion since 622 A.D., and we need to have individuals that stand up and say that.” In 2011, in an NPR article, a CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) representative from Florida reported that West stated, “There is talk about killing infidels,” in the Quran, along with stating that the people considered threats to America were doing exactly what the Quran has told them to do. West has never apologized or accounted for these comments, affirming Islamophobic sentiment, of which we have witnessed a rise in the United States in the past year of over 180 percent.

As a collective, we reject the associations that West has made regarding Muslims alongside his other bigoted commentary. Islam is a religion best understood by asking the people who actually practice it, of which there are many avenues to pursue on campus through faculty, administration, and students. We are appalled and concerned that during the holy month of Ramadan, at a time when the Muslim community prioritizes the best of acts and remembrance of the blessings given to them by God, SLU has made the decision to allow this speaker on campus during this time. We find this particularly problematic given that just weeks before, Provost Mike Lewis sent out a campuswide letter urging our community to be cognizant of the various significant religious events forthcoming for the school year, Ramadan included. In BSC173, on the same day and in the same building, the SLU American Muslim Medical Association chapter held a free Iftar event to break their fast while this event was conducted just upstairs. This letter seeks to hold the university accountable for its own vetting process. According to section 3.4.E.2 of the Performance, Presentation, and Speaker Policy, the University will not approve events that “encourage or celebrate hatred, violence, abusive behavior, religious intolerance.” Considering the comments from Mr. West previously in 2016, the SLU community echoed similar sentiments when he was brought to campus prior, at that time calling SLU’s own Muslim Student Association a “stealth jihad radical Islamic campus organization.” A walk out protest was conducted by students at this event, just as a walk out was conducted this year, 8 years later. These comments directly violate the University’s own policies as Mr. West’s comments were emphatically Islamophobic. We are disappointed in this oversight by the University.

Allen West being brought to campus during the month of Ramadan directly opposes the compassion Provost Lewis called our community to hold alongside undermining the very Jesuit values of Cura Personalis, or care of the mind, body and soul. We are concerned that this oversight has allowed a space for hate speech to persist on campus that is directly sanctioned by SLU themselves. We urge SLU to consider a vetting procedure of their speakers on campus of this nature and urge student groups to be more cognizant of their timing and intention in choosing to bring speakers of this nature to campus. Free speech is an important component of any campus as an institution; however, when that free speech encroaches upon allowing others to live in their campus community without a threat of violence, then that should be called into question.

In solidarity,

Saint Louis University MSA, 2023-24 Executive Board

Samiha Khan, Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Saint Louis University SGA Diversity Leadership Cabinet Committee

Saint Louis University SGA International Affairs Committee 

Saint Louis University PSA, 2023-24 Executive Board 

Saint Louis University HSC, 2023-2024 Executive Board