Letter prompts student to leave
By Jenn Roberts | March 28, 2002Second-year College student Abdalmuhssin El-Yacoubi, who wrote a letter that helped trigger an FBI investigation against two alleged terrorists, is confirmed to have left the University. Patricia Lampkin, associate vice president for student affairs, said El-Yacoubi will be gone indefinitely. El-Yacoubi wrote the letter to his older brother, Mohammed El-Yacoubi, who was traveling with a friend, Mohamed Osman Idris, to Israel. The letter's references to jihad, or Islamic holy war, placed Mohammed El-Yacoubi and Idris under suspicion of planning a suicide attack. Lampkin said University faculty are struggling with how to respond to the issue. "We're on new territory here," Lampkin said. Faculty members still are considering whether to offer any support to Abdalmuhssin El-Yacoubi. "We want to be even-handed and fair to all," Lampkin said. Lampkin could not comment on whether the student left willingly or was forced out by the University. University spokeswoman Louise Dudley said faculty members will continue to look at how the case should be handled.
