Michael Abdelmessih intended to teach his course, “Understanding Militant Islamic Fundamentalism,” at Manchester Community College for six sessions on Saturdays, starting April 9.
But he taught only one class before the college told him it was reassigning the course to another instructor, he said Monday.
Abdelmissih said he believes the decision to replace him infringes on his academic freedom and freedom of speech.
He said complaints made by two students in the course led to his replacement. He said the two students, who are also MCC faculty members, disagreed with the content of his course and argued with him over points such as the definition of “jihad.”
Abdelmessih, a Coptic Christian who is originally from Egypt, said the two students, Fatma Antar and Diana Hossain, are Muslim.
Neither Antar nor Hossain returned calls seeking comment Monday.
Abdelmessih said six students signed up for the non-credit course. He said that several weeks ago, Antar and Hossain talked to Ann Bonney, the college’s director of non-credit programs and requested that some changes be made to the course as Abdelmessih originally proposed it.
He said he then met with Bonney and some changes were made to the course proposal as a result.
Bonney referred questions to MCC spokeswoman Charlene Tappan, who said Monday that she could not comment because this is a personnel matter.
The college’s spring catalog of noncredit courses describes Abdelmessih’s course, “Understanding Militant Islamic Fundamentalism.”
“This course is aimed at anyone who is interested in learning more about the rise of Islamic fundamentalism,” the catalog states.
“Examine the philosophy and the mentality of Islamic fundamentalists. Learn about the historical, religious, and political movement in the Middle East to understand the difficulty of stabilizing Iraq and other Arab nations,” it concludes.
Abdelmissih said his supervisor told him before the course started that the college would send police to protect him.
During the first class, he said, Antar threatened him and told him she would work to make sure he did not continue teaching the course.
Antar, who is also from Egypt, also told Abdelmissih she would contact the Egyptian government, he said.
He said Bonney called him at the end of last week and told him he would not teach the class again because grammatical errors had been found in notes he had handed out to students, but that the college would pay him for the rest of the weeks he was supposed to teach.
He said he has been told not to return to the college.
