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Long Island U. settles lawsuit with fired resident assistants
RA's made video alleged to be offensive to Muslims
March 1, 2007
The details
of the out-of-court settlement, which were not publicly released, was settled to
the "mutual satisfaction of all parties," according to a joint statement from
the university and the students' attorney. Both sides declined to add further
comments citing the legal constraints of the agreement.
The ordeal began
last month when the five resident assistants were fired after a video they made
spoofing a hostage situation appeared on the Internet. During the two-minute
video, titled "A Duck Napping," four of the students appear in ski masks holding
a rubber duck as "hostage." They make ransom demands in broken English while
Middle Eastern-sounding music is played in the background, and the words
"Muhammad" and "jihad" are heard.
One of the students, Robert Bennet,
told Newsday that the lines in the video were taken from the 2004 film
"Team America: World Police."
The five students filed a $2.5 million
lawsuit in a state court, and in early February a judge ordered a temporary
restraining order reinstating the students until Wednesday's hearing. It has not
been revealed if the settlement awarded the students money or allowed them to
keep their jobs. The university's housing office declined to speak on the
students' employment status.
By Brian Hudson, SPLC staff
writer
© 2007 Student Press Law Center
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