Across city campuses, effective discourse has taken place on socially relevant issues, pulling them out of the “taboo drawer” and placing them into the limelight. From gender equality to immigration, today’s student approach has consistently been “let’s talk about it.” And then there’s Israel and Palestine.

The idea that is being propagated by some conservative political leaders and media outlets is that Sharia is an imminent threat to American society. This is simply not true, and the recent legislative push to ban Sharia from th U.S. is not only a waste of time and taxpayer money, it's a fear-mongering movement that only creates divisions between Americans based on ideology.

On May 27th, 2011, President Obama signed the renewal of the USA PATRIOT Act. The purpose of the bill was to enhance domestic security against terrorism in response to the September 11th attacks, but it has gone far beyond its preventative purpose and encroached on our constitutional rights.

Netanyahu's speech did not pave the way for peace, it did not put in motion any new strategies that could be implemented to promote peace, nor did it address the dire concerns of the Palestinians. His victimization of his nation—despite having the strongest regional military force—is quite disturbing.

The passing of the Illinois DREAM Act not only shows that Illinois is an immigrant friendly state, but also that the political power of immigrants in this country is growing stronger. The state of Illinois holds the honor of being the first state in the nation to opt out of the “Secure Communities” program and is the first state in the nation to actually implement a version of the DREAM Act.

Ahmed Rehab gives NPR updates from the ground. He’s the executive director of the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. He flew to Cairo to participate in the protests.

Welcome to CAIR-Chicago's Opinion Corner, a new initiative designed to encourage an honest intellectual exchange of diverse perspectives on various subjects of interest to our constituents. In doing so, we hope to help provide balance to the public discourse on issues that often receive one-dimensional coverage in the public domain.