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Battle over Muslim group name ends;
financial mess remains to be resolved
By Daralyn Trappe
Lrnwaid Assoc.ate f dilor
An ongoing dispute between two
groups of Muslim students that has re
sulted in n day in court anti the re
organization of the Muslim Student Asso
ciation took a new turn recently when
one group removed itself from the fray
After numerous legal threats and a
court appearance, the former leaders of
the MSA formed a separate organization
and gave way to new leaders of the MSA
and Islamic Society of Kugene, the com
munity mosque.
The year-long controversy is one that
many Muslims in the Kugene would like
to [nit in the p.ist Although some prob
lems remain, they are trying to do that
The conflict surfaced in October 1'JttO
when several students filed a complaint
with the ASUO claiming that MSA lead
ership had unfairly excluded some peo
ple from voting in group elections and
from full participation at the IS!!, whit h
is closely til'd to the MSA
An ASUO investigation substantiated
the voting chorgos. In addition, the
group s bylaws were found to lie uncon
stitutional because only Sunni Muslims
were given membership The religion in
cludes two major sects, Shi'1 and Sunni
Rather than conform to the ASUO poli
cy that all Muslims should l>e included,
many members left to form an off campus
group But they claimed ext lusive right to
the names MSA-UO anti MSA-Kugene,
and hired attorney Charles Porter in an ef
fort to retain them.
The students who assumed leadership
ol the campus organization believed they
had a right to the names
A court date in mid-June resulted It
ended quickly, however, when Lane
County Cirt uit Court Judge Maurice Mer
ton dismissed Porter's complaint
Porter stated at the time that he would
refile on behalf of his clients, but never
did.
The latest twist in the story revolves
around the sudden dec ision by Porter's
clients to cease involvement in the
mosque and drop tin? pursuit of exclusive?
right to the names
Fida Mohammad and Ali Atoui, the
m?w director and assistant director of the
MSA. think they know why
They claim Porter's clients used ISK
funds to pay his legal foes and that the
budget is now nearly depleted In addi
tion, because Porter was essentially repre
senting the ISK at the time, the court costs
have come back to the ISK, they said, not
to the individuals who were involved
‘Since we’ve gotten over
some of the legal battles,
some of the difficulties of
the past, we need to look
ahead and think of the
future and what we can
do positively for the
community, rather than
dwell on what happened
in the past.’
All Atoui
MSA asst director
The budget books were left in the
mosque, and when the new committee
took over, they found that nearly S14.01X)
of ISK funds had lx?en used to pay Porter,
Mohammad said
The former directors could not be
reached for comment Porter said he has
no knowledge of where the money came
from to pay his fees, but addod that "my
clients have nothing to hide
The ISK is funded mainly through do
nations and membership fees, Atoui said.
Mohammad and Atoui, along with
many others, have now formed the Mus
lim Reconciliation Committee to create a
more harmonious atmosphere among
Muslims in the community and to deal
with the finnne ial bind.
The group is working to raise money,
some of which will he used to pay Eugene
attorney Harold Daughters, whom they
have hired to look into the possibility of
recovering money from Porter’s clients.
Daughters said he will review books
and ledgers from the ISE and then decide
how to proceed.
What remains to be determined is
whether the former leadership of the ISE
was within its rights if group funds wore
used to finance Porter.
"If the then-executive committee oper
ated beyond the scope of their (authority),
then there are methods of obtaining that
money,” Daughters said.
Several of the former MSA leaders have
now formed their own organization and
have rented a place to hold their worship
services, Mohammad said.
Porter said his clients were simply tired
of the ordeal.
“They changed their minds, and decid
ed to let some others" run the mosque, he
said. The court proceedings and legal ac -
tions ure complex, Porter said, "and they
have other tilings to do. It took a lot of
time."
Meanwhile, Atoui, Mohammad and the
rest of the current leadership at the MSA
and ISE are trying to move those groups
in a new direction.
"We are telling everyone in this com
munity, from whichever school of
thought he or she might be. that they are
welcome," Atoui said.
"Since we've gotten over some of the
legal battles, some of the difficulties of
tiie past, we need to look ahead and think
of the future and what we can do posi
tively for tiie community, rather than
dwell on what happened in tiie past," lie
said.
“Right now tiie legal issue that is taking
place is a side issue," he said. "We would
like to resolve it, but this is not where our
energies are being focused.”
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