Hate your country? Then attend San Diego State

Human Events, Oct 29, 2001 by Flynn, Daniel J

Is it a hate crime for an American to voice his objection to Middle Easterners celebrating the September 11 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

Thirty minutes later, the police camefor 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 9 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 22 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 are 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 the administration's 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.

Prof. Robert Jensen of the University of Houston pronounced said that "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 Prof. 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 United States. These anti-American students received none of the institutional hostility that greeted many students who displayed patriotism.