“There’s a lot of very motivating ideas out there they could have chosen,” Adelman said. “Using such a contentious issue is unnecessary at this time.”
Adelman also said he finds questionable Yasin’s past support of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF).
While Yasin was president of HIS, the group raised funds for HLF at a November 2000 dinner. The U.S. State Department has alleged the foundation has ties to Hamas, an Islamic terrorist group.
Yasin defends HLF, saying while working in Albania three years ago, he witnessed the group’s “professionalism, compassion and dedication to helping people in dire need.”
Adelman said he has written to the senior class committee and Commencement Director Grace C. Scheibner, asking to see the speech in order to assess its content.
Levey also said she will wait to see the speech before taking further action. Yasin declined to release the text of his speech to students who inquired, although Hunt said that he would privately show the speech to concerned students.
—Staff writer Anne. K. Kofol can be reached at kofol@fas.harvard.edu.