"The Satanic Verses," perhaps the most controversial book of 1989, was used last semester in a graduate-level English course, outraging many members of the University's 1,000-strong Moslem community.

English Professor Katherine Hume said she is uncertain if she will use the book in the future, but Moslems here have promised increased pressure if it is assigned.

Hume said because the book is a post-modernist work it was an essential teaching tool in her English 597 B class -- a graduate course held last semester dealing with post-modern literature.

The late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini declared the book blasphemous to Islam, and last February placed a bounty on the head of author Salman Rushdie for the book's content.

Free-speech advocates, however, said such action is a dangerous act of suppression.

Throughout last semester, Moslem student leaders here approached both Hume and the English department with their concern about the book's use.

Mohammad Ghazal, president of the Moslem Student Association, said he felt the incident was a reflection of the University's double standards when dealing with Moslems.

He said he approached Hume two or three times to express concern.

Abbas Aminmansour, president of the International Student Council, said the use of the book was insensitive toward the University's Moslem community.

"I was shocked that this book was adopted, because of the controversy surrounding it," he said. "It was a very insensitive decision."

Hume said she considered the possibility that the requirement might be taken as offensive, but wanted to include non-Western works in her class.

"The course was post-modernist literature and I tried to use books that were not just British or American," she said.

Aminmansour said he also contacted Hume and asked her to reconsider future use of the book.

"She wanted me to prove that the book was offensive, but I couldn't do that because you have to be brought up in the Moslem community to understand," he said.

Hume, however, said she has not decided upon future use of the book in her classes.

Aminmansour said he did not formally request discontinued use of the book, but urged Hume not to assign it in future classes.

"Rushdie uses foul language which is not acceptable in the American culture and I don't think the book has any literary value," he said. "Despite this, the instructor still felt she had the right to choose the book."

In most University departments, professors have total control over choice of textbooks, said Christopher Clausin, head of the English department.

"Professors can choose what they want as long as it is not completely unsuited to the course," Clausin said. "It is not my place to tell professors what to teach in class."

"If you're going to have academic freedom and expose students to the real world you have to teach books that offend people," he added.

Hume said one of a University's functions is "to explore whatever is new, important, different and technically at the cutting edge of its field. The University would be failing in its mission if it did not make it possible for graduate students to study such developments."

Aminmansour, an instructor in the engineering department, said he recognizes the principle of academic freedom when put in the right context.

"I think it's wrong for people to do certain things under the banner of freedom," he said.

No complaints have surfaced over the use of text in a University class in a number of years. Clausin said it is unusual in a "serious" university for university-wide complaints to exist.

Philip Young, an English professor for 31 years, said it has been a long time since a serious problem with course books has occurred.

"One has to go back perhaps to the days when (J.D.) Salinger's 'Catcher in the Rye' came out to find controversy," Young said. "I remember parents objecting to the use of this novel because of the language."

Hume said some of the objections to 'The Satanic Verses' she has received have been based on misinformation about the book's plot.

Aminmansour said until now Moslems have been diplomatic on this issue, but warned of future confrontation.

"The lack of any collective action this time on behalf of Moslems should not be interpreted as indifference," he said.

Aminmansour said he did not know exactly what future action would be taken. But if the novel were used again, he said he was certain that the University's Moslems would exhibit a stronger reaction.

"If Professor Hume selects this book again there will most certainly be a bigger outcry from the Moslem community," he said.

Hume said she attended a session last month at the Modern Language Association where numerous Indian and Pakistani Moslems praised the book as "the great novel of their generation and as a book they all wanted their children and grandchildren to read."

The University's Moslem community held a panel discussion last spring to give the community a better understanding of the issue.