by Christopher Chow

Conservative University 2002 featured a panel of students discussing their experiences with the campus politically correct, and offering solutions to fighting campus censorship.

In the aftermath of the September 11^th attacks, the overwhelming patriotism demonstrated by Americans was noticeably absent in academia. At many schools the American flag was banned as "offensive," and anti-American rallies were common. Conservative University's student panel allowed patriotic students to get the word out about what was going on in higher education.

The panel's first speaker, Allison Tar, a pre-med student at the University of Michigan, told students about militant anti-American rallies at her school after September 11.

Tar detailed in her speech, "Stars and Stripes Forgotten: Patriotism Suppressed at U Michigan" how the university held Islamic Awareness Week, and even offered positive lectures on the history of the 9/11 terrorist group al Qaeda. The radical student group, By Any Means Necessary, was also given a forum to connect the 9/11 attacks with their demands for affirmative action.

"The liberal's zest for media coverage and incessant cries of political correctness, effectively suppressed any hints of patriotism in Ann Arbor. This very fact is what is most appalling: the degree to which the liberal brainwashing was allowed to persist, cast a repugnant view of UM's campus," stated Tar. "The loudest protesters do not seem to represent a majority of campus opinion, or even a substantial minority."

Along with the anti-American and pro-Al Qaeda rallies, Tar also described how the university even went as far as to begin a local movement to free a suspected terrorist from prison. "They cannot engage in an honorable debate because they cannot see the honor on the other side," she explained. "Although the idea that the campus would actually warrant a debate on the heartless murder of thousands of Americans on our own soil is gut wrenching in itself."

"By downplaying 9/11 to an embarrassing extent, the administration and radical student groups allowed anti-Americanism to persist for weeks and months following this atrocity," Tar explained.

The next panelist, Zachary Spilman, explained to the conference attendees what a difference campus activism can make. "There is nothing more powerful than an army of free men and women fighting for their liberty," proclaimed Spilman. In his speech, "Promoting Patriotism at UMass." Spilman recounted his own experiences at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, considered to be one of the most liberal schools in the country, even naming its library after Communist W.E.B Du Bois. But conservative students made their voices heard after 9/11. "Amherst is a funny place," observed Spilman. "Amherst is twenty-five square miles surrounded by reality."

Spilman told of how UMass responded to the September 11 attacks by holding Palestinian Awareness Week. The school's newspaper, The Daily Collegian, blamed the 9/11 attacks on a U.S. government conspiracy. Journalism professor Bill Israel also blamed the attacks on the U.S.

When a student senator suggested that UMass display the American and state of Massachusetts flags, he was hounded out of the student senate meeting and called a "racist" and told that the flag was a symbol of "oppression." Thanks to patriotic campus activism, after years of lobbying, the motion passed and the flag was put on display. "Last we checked, this was Massachusetts. We're still part of the Union," commented Spilman.

The town of Amherst even voted to remove the flag the day before the attacks. UMass associate physics professor, Jennie Traschen had commented in the Boston Globe, "What the flag stands for is a symbol of terrorism and death and fear and destruction and repression."

Spilman told students that this rabid anti-Americanism must not be ignored. "We should have been standing outside every one of her classes, right out front, right inside," explained Spilman. "We were getting ready to hand out our own handouts at all the liberal professors' classes, refuting what they were going to say. We were going to cause trouble."

Spilman spoke about the importance of holding patriotic demonstrations against university-sponsored anti-Americanism and the difference it has made at UMass in recent years. "The campus has changed a lot. We're defiantly not the most liberal campus in America anymore."

"We should make more noise. A lot more noise." Spilman explained how organizing a conservative newspaper like UMass' Minuteman is a great way to get out the conservative message. "If there's not a conservative paper on your campus, start one." Student activism with the Minuteman persuaded the school administration to provide conservative student groups with the same funding provided to other student organizations.

The next speaker, Arizona State philosophy major Oubai Shahbandar began his speech "How to Overthrow Your Campus," by professing, "It's very simple. No intensity, no victory."

"I'm here to tell you about how I overthrew my university and in the process achieved inner Zen. Inner Zen, that's that warm fuzzy feeling you get inside at the end of the day knowing, that you just ruined the day of an enlightened liberal. It's a good feeling. It's better than chocolate," declared Shahbandar.

As an Arab-American, Shahbandar said he felt disgusted by the way Arizona State University assumed that all Arab-Americans would support the Taliban over the United States in the war in Afghanistan. Officials removed an American flag from the cafeteria fearing that it might be offensive to Arab students. "Do the leftists who hate this country, and it goes without saying that all leftists hate this country, do they truly know what oppression is? It's really sad. You should see the face of the average Lefty loser when I try to explain that contrary to the common Leftist slang, tyranny is not when Starbucks forgets to put skim-milk in your non-fat latte."

Shahbandar recounted his childhood in Damascus, Syria, and how his family came to America seeking freedom. But at Arizona State he found himself reliving the "tyranny" of his childhood with the school's anti-American propaganda and repression of patriotic views. "My family immigrated to this country when I was seven. And in a search of a better life, better opportunity and liberty, we inexplicably moved to Port Smith, Arkansas. But even at that tender age of seven I could already sense that sweet aroma of a free society," stated Shahbandar. "I found the American people to be better. America was better. I was only seven. Most on the Left will never come to understand the beauty I saw. I am a proud American of Arab decent. I have known tyranny. I have lived it. My family was lucky enough to escape it. And now after having served my time in a state university I find myself reluctantly reliving it."

This past fall, Ahmad Saad Nasim, an Arab-American Arizona State student faked two assaults which he claimed were provoked by his ethnicity. Nasim first claimed that he was beaten and egged by attackers yelling, "Die Muslim die," and also assaulted in a bathroom. Shahbandar discussed how the incident received national media coverage, and the school administration held "anti-hate" rallies, creating an atmosphere of paranoia. Yet when it was later revealed that the attacks were staged, they received little media coverage and liberal student groups refused to condemn Nasim. The school newspaper, the Arizona Daily Wildcat printed the opinion that Nasim was the victim of an international conspiracy by the FBI, INS, and the Italian government.

Upset with the university's removal of the American flag and its handling of the faked assaults, Shahbandar and his College Republican chapter took action. He contacted alumni and the local media to get the word out about Arizona State's anti-Americanism. The criticism of ASU by angry alumni was so overwhelming that the school was poised to lose over a million dollars in contributions, and ended up buying radio airtime to apologize. But the Marriott, which runs the dining hall, defended its flag ban.

ASU president Lattie Coor refused to address the issue of the flag, but continued to hold rallies supporting Ahmad Nasim, despite knowing that he had falsified two incidents.

As an outspoken journalist who works as a contributing writer for Phoenix News and other publications, Shahbandar warned of a growing culture war on college campuses. "It is not a war waged in the traditional sense against enemies abroad, against terrorists abroad, but it is a culture war waged against the very intellectual terrorists that lie dormant within the secure confines of our university."

Shahbandar has been the victim of numerous verbal attacks and even had his car vandalized. He believes that this is because of his campus activism. "They put sugar in my gas tank. It could have gotten me killed."

He also urged students to reach out to the mainstream student population by informing them about the campus left's true agenda.

Conservative University's student panel gave these student activists a greater voice to make others aware of the campus censorship and anti-Americanism persisting on college campuses.