Eboo Patel, the President & Founder of Interfaith Youth Core, delivered the Fifth Annual DISC Distinguished Lecture “American Muslims in the Era of Islamophobia” to a virtual audience due to the COVID-19 pandemic on March 11, 2020. Drawing from his recent book Out of Many Faiths: Religious Diversity and the American Promise, Patel highlighted the various ways that American culture and American Muslims are responding to the rise in Islamophobia and bigotry since the 2016 election.
Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC) is a non-profit organization that is working to make interfaith cooperation a social norm in America. Eboo Patel is the author of four books and dozens of articles, has spoken on more than 150 campuses, and served on President Obama’s Inaugural Faith Council. A key figure on issues of religious diversity and democracy, Eboo was named one of America’s Best Leaders by U.S. News & World Report in 2009. In addition to Out of Many Faiths, he is the author of Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation; Sacred Ground: Pluralism, Prejudice, and the Promise of America; and Interfaith Leadership: A Primer. He also publishes a regular blog for Inside Higher Ed, called ‘Conversations on Diversity’.
This event was presented by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and is co-sponsored by U-M International Institute, U-M Global Islamic Studies Center, MSU Muslim Studies Program, U-M Arab and Muslim American Studies, U-M Center for Social Solutions, U-M Trotter Multicultural Center, and U-M Dearborn Center for Arab American Studies.