Former Mayor Leans on NYU to Disavow Report on Terrorism

Edward I. Koch, a former New York City mayor, has called on the dean of New York University’s law school to disavow a report critical of terrorism prosecutions, according to The New York Times.

The report, published in May by the law school’s Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, accuses law-enforcement agencies of entrapping young Muslim men. It focuses on three prominent cases and characterizes the threat of domestic terrorism as “manufactured.”

The Times says that prominent alumni of the law school recently brought the report to the attention of Mr. Koch, who is also a graduate, and that he urged the school’s dean, Richard L. Revesz, to disavow it. He also asked Mr. Revesz to distribute a rebuttal written at the former mayor’s urging by U.S. Rep. Peter T. King, a Republican of Long Island who has held controversial hearings on the radicalization of American Muslims. When Mr. Revesz refused, Mr. Koch decided to take his beef to the news media.

“We provide a forum for a lot of different views, including controversial views,” John Beckman, a vice president of the university, told the Times.

“Academic freedom doesn’t mean you have the right to distribute false reports, and when called to your attention, to do nothing about it,” Mr. Koch responded. “The dean doesn’t seem to care whether it’s factual or not.”