The University is organizing a meeting between several student groups on campus in the wake of the controversy surrounding Hillel at Stanford’s co-sponsorship of an event entitled “The Trouble with Islam” on Monday. After the talk, one student published an Op-Ed criticizing the event, and in today's Daily, the executive director of Hillel responded.

Dean of Religious Life Scotty McLennan said that he has been wary about the role the media has played in the controversy.

“Part of respectful dialogue is not playing things out in the press and in Op-Eds,” he said. “They should be sitting down and talking to each other.”

The University Offices of Religious Life and Student Activities are hosting the private meeting, and according to Ibrahim Al-Mojel, president of the Islamic Society of Stanford University, or ISSU, invitations have been sent to all the groups that co-sponsored Monday’s speaker event featuring Irshad Manji, author of “The Trouble with Islam Today: A Muslim’s Call for Reform in Her Faith.”

In addition to Hillel, the co-sponsors were the Institute for Research on Women and Gender; the Jewish Community Relations Council; the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Resources Center; the Women’s Center; the Stanford Jewish American Alliance; and Chabad at Stanford.

McLennan confirmed that there would be a meeting, although he did not wish to speak at length before it takes place.

“My perspective is one of trying to make sure that we have conditions of mutual respect between Stanford Associated Religions groups, and that the Office of Religious Life is included when speakers come to campus that raise issues that effect our constituent organizations,” McLennan said.

Stanford Associated Religions, or SAR, is a group of campus religious organizations, including Hillel and ISSU.

On Wednesday, McClennan met privately with Al-Mojel, a third-year graduate student in management science and engineering, to discuss how to uphold SAR’s code of conduct.

McLennan is also scheduled to sit down individually with a representative from Hillel.

The SAR Web site states that member groups have pledged to “[treat] with respect the ministries [and the religious traditions] of others.”

“For me, that means to make sure there is good dialogue between groups, especially when there are controversial speakers coming to campus,” McLennan said.

Al-Mojel said he was not notified that Manji was coming to speak until less than a week before the event. McLennan also agreed that they should have provided earlier notice.

Adina Danzig, executive director of Hillel, defended Manji’s talk. In an interview with The Daily, she also said that “there should be some kind of courtesy or protocol to notify when speakers come to campus who criticize other religions.”

Al-Mojel said that he was particularly surprised by Hillel’s decision not to notify in much advance his group of Manji's talk because Hillel is a major religious organization and, more importantly, a member of SAR. He also said he has received calls from Jewish speakers who wanted to give talks about Judaism on behalf of ISSU, but that he has turned down these offers.

Danzig said that Hillel has had its own concerns about past speaking events, but she would not identify these events.

She said she wrote her Op-Ed to counter the “misrepresentations” contained in an earlier piece submitted by sophomore Omar Shakir, who criticized the Manji talk. She also wanted to respond to The Daily’s decision to publish Shakir’s opinion without covering the event itself.

“In general, Hillel takes an inclusive approach to its activities on campus and looks forward to continued open communication and cooperation,” Danzig said.

McLennan pointed to last year’s release of the Mel Gibson film, “The Passion of the Christ” as a time when religious groups engaged in constructive debate about a controversial subject.

Al-Mojel said that the upcoming meeting would focus on moving forward rather than assigning blame. He said he would be open to working with Hillel in the future to coordinate events such as one that would address anti-Semitism in the Arab world.