Mr. Ahmed, as Executive Director of ACCESS (the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services), in 2002, ACCESS sponsored and funded the Second Annual Palestinian Students Divestment Conference at the University of Michigan. The conference's keynote speaker was Sami Al-Arian, the now-indicted, alleged leader of the Islamic Jihad terrorist group. His activities were well known at the time, including letters stating that "the merger with the brothers in Hamas" was almost complete and bragging of a successful bus-bombing in Israel. Other conference speakers included assorted anti-Semites and anti-Westerners who had previously exhorted violence against and murder of Jews.

When confronted on ACCESS' sponsorship of this conference, Ahmed - whose agency provides tax-funded "sensitivity training"-- told a reporter that it was a cultural activity for Arabic children in the area.