Via Central Florida Future (student newspaper):

Branding him an “anti-Muslim extremist,” The Council on American-Islamic Relations recently protested against the recent appearance of UCF professor Jonathan Matusitz.

He is known for his studies in terrorism and globalization and CAIR rallied against the promotion of his book at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach.

Matusitz is a tenured associate professor who has worked at the Sanford and Lake Mary UCF locations.

Despite the group’s protests, he spoke at the President’s Speaker Series on March 6 at Embry-Riddle about his latest book “Terrorism and Communication: A Critical Introduction.”

When it was announced that Matusitz would speak there, the CAIR Florida chapter sent a letter to Embry-Riddle President John P. Johnson to withdraw the invitation for Matusitz’s speaking event.

The request came from Hassan Shibly, the Florida executive director of CAIR. In response to Matusitz’s appearance, Shibly has been invited and accepted a participation request to appear in a President’s Speaker Series later on in the year.

Despite the negative response from CAIR, Matusitz said he isn’t concerned with the organization’s action. He said he believes the organization’s allegations and calls to action against him are not just.

“What CAIR does is create ‘social noise’ to make themselves heard and to intimidate speakers and professors like me,” Matusitz said.

CAIR took its campaign against Matusitz further by releasing a video against the professor. In the video, Matusitz said that he has taught many Muslim students but claimed that they knew nothing about Islam.

He also said that “anyone with a fraction of a brain should be afraid of Islam” after explaining that he has also been called an “Islamophobe.”

Matusitz said the claims of him being anti-Muslim are untrue.

“I reach logical conclusions based on past and current facts and statistics,” Matusitz said.