Is it a hate crime for an American to voice his objection to Middle Easterners celebrating the September 11th attacks on America? At San Diego State University, it apparently is.
On September 22, Zewdalem Kebede, a recent immigrant to America from Ethiopia, was studying in the campus library when he overheard a group of Saudi Arabian students discussing the suicide bombings of the Pentagon and the World Trade Center. "They started talking about the September 11 action," Kebede recalls. "And with that action they were very pleased. They were happy." The anti-American group, speaking in Arabic, thought that no one would be able to hear what they were saying.
Kebede, who speaks fluent Arabic, surprised the anti-American students by interrupting their conversation in their native tongue.
"Guys, what you are talking about is unfair. How do you feel happy when those 5 to 6,000 people are buried in two or three buildings?" Kebede said to the students. "You are proud of [the terrorists]. You should have to feel shame." Kebede claims that he addressed his fellow students in Arabic because he didn't want to embarrass them in front of others.
A Saudi student sitting at a nearby table then angrily confronted Kebede in English. The ensuing conversation grew heated, with the Saudi accusing the recently naturalized American of objecting to students speaking Arabic. Shortly thereafter, Kebede and the Saudi students went their separate ways.
Thirty minutes later, the police came-for Kebede! They informed him that a complaint had been issued against him. Soon, the university's Center for Student Rights ordered him to attend a disciplinary meeting because, it was alleged, he had been "verbally abusive to other students." He received a letter ordering him to respond to his accusers or face sanctions. Outraged, the Ethiopian immigrant went public with his story in a class. The University subsequently backed off the charges and concluded the matter with an October 9th letter threatening disciplinary action against the political science senior.
"You are admonished to conduct yourself as a responsible member of the campus community in the future," San Diego State's missive warned. That's precisely what some would say that Kebede was doing on September 22nd when he castigated those who celebrated the mass-murder of more than 5,000 people.
In the topsy-turvy world of the American campus, expressing glee at the deaths of thousands of Americans is protected free speech. Objecting to such utterances is classified as "harassment." Appreciation for diversity, tolerance, and sensitivity is thrown out the window when it comes to dealing with patriotic students.
Unfortunately, what happened to Zewdalem Kebede at San Diego State is not an isolated incident. While the media is awash in stories about hate crimes-both real and imagined-committed against foreigners, there has been a complete whitewash of the harassment of patriotic students on campus by faculty and administrators.
At Marquette, undergraduates were blocked from holding a moment of silence around an American flag on September 11. The gesture, the school's president and advisors felt, might be "offensive" to foreign students. "[The administration] felt that it showed too much nationalism or patriotism in respect to foreign students," College Republican President Lonny Leitner said. "We wanted to gather around that symbol and express our sorrow."
At Lehigh, the vice provost for student affairs initially reacted to the tragedy by banning the display of the American flag. News of his decision led to outrage, which quickly forced a reversal of policy. "We have such a diverse student body and emotions are so high right now," a Lehigh spokesman explained. "The idea was to keep from offending some of our students, and maybe the result was much to the contrary."
When officials at Arizona State removed an American flag from a school cafeteria out of fear that it might offend international students, Syrian immigrant Oubai Shahbandar introduced a bill in the student senate paving the way for its return. Shahbandar's bill was defeated, but the ensuing bad publicity he generated against the school forced their hand. Alumni threatened to pull their funding for the school. Money talked and the flag was returned.
This aggressive intolerance is transformed into a sudden appreciation of civil libertarianism when those on campus are bashing America.
Professor Robert Jensen of the University of Houston pronounced, "my primary anger is directed at the leaders of this country." The attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center are "no more despicable than the massive acts of terrorism-the deliberate killing of civilians for political purposes-that the U.S. government has committed in my lifetime." We are "just as guilty," he concluded. University of New Mexico Professor Richard Berthold bluntly declared, "Anyone who would blow up the Pentagon would get my vote."
Undergraduates writing in campus newspapers echoed this hatred against the U.S. These anti-American students received none of the institutional hostility that greeted many students who displayed patriotism.
"We are kidding ourselves in thinking we have been 'wronged,'" Lisa Mann of Wake Forest University wrote, adding, "sometimes it is our fault." "We sponsor dictators who maim, we defend corporations that enslave and then we have the arrogance to pretend we're safe and untouchable," professed West Virginia University's Joshua Greene. In light of the current "destructive" nationalism that calls for war, a Duke student opined, "the sight of the flag burning would be preferable to its display." An article in NYU's student newspaper was bluntly titled, "Take a Look in the Mirror, America, and Ask Why." A University of Colorado student maintained, "we had it coming."
If you hate your country, the campuses are indeed a very tolerant place. If you love America, places like Madison, Amherst, or Ann Arbor are not much more accepting than Kabul, Baghdad, or Nablus. Zewdalem Kebede found this out the hard way at San Diego State, where he was harassed by the university simply for disagreeing with people who welcomed the killing of Americans on September 11th.
All that he is guilty of, Kebede insists, is loving his adopted country. "Is that a crime?" he asks.
At San Diego State, unfortunately, some people think that it should be.
Daniel J. Flynn serves as the executive director of Accuracy in Academia and editor of Campus Report.
