As a recent graduate from UC Berkeley, I have always been proud of my university. However, the decision to bring Bill Maher as a speaker is offensive to me and my community of Muslims and Arabs. Free speech should always be protected, however when you use this speech to spread harmful stereotypes, you should not be honored for your speech. He has dehumanized Muslims numerously, he has used generalizations to speak about us, he disrespects those who speak out against his bigotry, and his views are toxic to audiences in that he only discusses Islamic extremism as if its representative of all Muslims, perpetuating fear and hatred of American Muslims in the US. Berkeley knows better than to support hate speech and bigotry. This campus would never support a speaker who has made anti-semitic or homophobic remarks, so I really wish it would give its Muslim and Arab constituency the same courtesy. Please find someone whose shares Berkeley's values, this man definitely doesn't.
