By Christopher Chow

This September 11, Americans grieved for those lost one year ago in the terrorist attacks upon the U.S., but on some campuses across the country the anniversary was viewed not as a time of mourning but as an opportunity to exploit the tragedy for political purposes.

Cornell University's 9/11 anniversary gathering focused attention away from the 3,000 dead Americans and our troops in Afghanistan to such topics as "multiculturalism" and Japanese internment camps during World War II. University President Hunter Rawlings held a September 11 ceremony resembling an anti-war protest.

Reverend Kenneth Clarke, director of Cornell United Religious Work, professed to Cornellians that they must look at the terrorist attacks "through the eyes of other nations." He also accused America of exploiting the rest of the world through "colonialism and imperialism."

The Cornell Sun Daily, the main student newspaper on campus, published an editorial on the anniversary focused on racial discrimination and Japanese internment camps. "Sept. 11 has made Americans more fearful about the future and more paranoid about the day to day. It has forced Americans to accept a rhetoric of good and evil, and numerous members of ethnic groups have suffered discrimination because of it," read the editorial. "Sept. 11 may be the worst attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor but that does not mean, for instance, that the country should reflexively resort to measures as un-American as the Japanese internment camps."

Colorado College invited a Palestinian Authority spokeswoman who has served as an apologist for terrorism to speak at their "September 11: One Year Later" event. Hanan Ashrawi has served as spokeswoman for the Fatah and Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade terrorist groups, and as the Palestinian Liberation Organization's Minister of Higher Education.

Ashrawi has built her career on praising Yasser Arafat and his methods. "The only language [Ariel] Sharon understands is the language of violence," she's professed. "We've been very reasonable and very gentle and nonviolent, and look what they got us: more suffering for our people."

In her speech at Colorado College, she denied that Hamas was a terrorist group. Ashrawi also referred to Israelis living on the West Bank as "legitimate" targets for Palestinian attacks.

The selection of Ashrawi as a 9/11 anniversary speaker has drawn sharp criticism from Colorado politicians. Both of Colorado's senators, Wayne Allard and Ben Nighthorse Campbell, have condemned her visit. Governor Bill Owens commented, "It's outrageous to be bringing this woman, who has done so much to divide the Middle East and has applauded terrorism."

College President Richard F. Celeste justified Ashrawi's invitation by claiming it would, "provoke critical and engaging thought."

British reporter Robert Fisk, a cause celebre of the anti-war movement, was invited to speak at George Mason University's September 11 event. Only a few miles away from the Pentagon, Fisk gave his speech, "September 11: Ask Who Did It, But Don't Ask Why," in which he spoke out against any American military presence anywhere in the Middle East.

Fisk has made himself known in the British newspaper The Independent as one of the most outspoken reporters opposing the war in Afghanistan. "The problem is that America wants its own version of justice, a concept rooted, it seems, in the Wild West and Hollywood's version of the Second World War."

"This is not really the war of democracy versus terror that the world will be asked to believe in the coming days. It is also about U.S. missiles smashing into Palestinian homes and U.S. helicopters firing missiles into a Lebanese ambulance in 1996 and American shells crashing into a village called Qana," Fisk wrote last Fall in The Independent.

When Fisk was beaten last December while reporting in Afghanistan, he justified the assault. "If I was an Afghan, I too might have attacked Robert Fisk," he stated. "So why record my few minutes of terror and self-disgust under assault near the Afghan border, bleeding and crying like an animal, when hundreds-let us be frank and say thousands-of innocent civilians are dying under American air strikes in Afghanistan."

A heavily politicized tone was in evidence at University of Cincinnati 9/11 events as well. The school's ceremony, "Reflections on September 11th" featured an "Interfaith Walk Toward Peace" opposing the war in Afghanistan. Students marched through Cincinnati reading passages from the Koran. "Peacemaking can be the most dangerous of tasks, but it is of the utmost importance in our world today," announced Episcopal Reverend Jason Leo. "An eye for an eye is going to leave the world blind."

University of Cincinnati President Joseph A. Steger took the opportunity to attack the Bush Administration. "Let's reflect. What are we going to do? Are we going to shut off immigration in the country? Are we going to not let people come to the universities? Are we going to change the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence? No. One proud thing we have is freedom. We also have a lady that stands in the harbor of New York, that says, 'Send us your poor and your destitute.' America has been built on immigration."

Kansas State University held a "Remembrance, Hope and Commitment," ceremony planting three trees in the Student Union Plaza. The SGA chose to wrap the trees with the white "peace" ribbon rather than the patriotic red, white, and blue. At the observance, Don Fallon, coordinator of religious activities, focused his speech on praising Islam. "We have learned to understand Islam more, and we understand it does not teach the violence we have seen in terrorism. We have grown as a people."

Another speaker at Kansas State, Washburn University law professor Ali Khan, used the remembrance to attack the Bush Administration and the war in Afghanistan. "The President has acted as if there is a war…. We are saying to the President, 'You are the executor, the judge, and I think the Constitution does not permit that.' Upon reflection, I think it is dumb to try and separate good and evil, and I think the doctrine implemented by Bush will not survive."

White was also the color of choice to remember 9/11 at the University of Rochester, which lost six of its alumni. "We chose the color white to symbolize peace, hope and freedom," said Anne-Marie Algiers, the director of Wilson Commons. "We just wanted to make sure there were opportunities for members of the community to come together on this difficult day and to have hope for future peace."