Over 25 students gathered in the Miller Hall lounge last night to discuss safety and discrimination at a forum entitled "One Month Later... Safety at Tufts and Around the Nation," sponsored by the Miller Hall residential assistant staff. Present at the discussion were Provost Sol Gittleman, Dean of Students Bruce Reitman, history professor Gary Leupp, and leaders from campus Arab and Muslim groups.
While the national media reported a warning yesterday from the FBI about credible attacks on the US or its overseas interests within the next few days, the residence forum didn't focus on protection from terrorists - attendees were more concerned about being victimized by their fellow Americans.
Miller Hall RA Shaunik Panse began the forum with a few numbers, citing 645 reported hate crimes nationwide since the attacks, with 65 on college campuses. Panse also touched possible future attacks, especially given Tufts' relative proximity to Boston, but the issue didn't take hold during the discussion.
Gittleman quickly advised the students in attendance to think critically about the statistics Panse had presented, citing the large number of colleges nationwide.
"It doesn't sound like a heck of a lot to me," Gittleman said in reference to the number of hate crimes reported.
Reitman said that although there was no concrete reason for students of Middle Eastern descent to be concerned about being victimized at Tufts, he could sense a heightened tension on campus.
In tangible terms, Reitman explained, there has been no increase of "intolerance incidents" on campus since the Sept. 11 attacks, adding that there have been no reported hate crimes thus far this semester. But he cautioned the more sensitive global environment could still cause problems at Tufts.
"There haven't been people writing [hate messages] on doors, but that doesn't mean everything is okay," Reitman said.
Leupp went even father, calling the incidence of flying flags and unconditionally supporting President Bush's post-Sept. 11 actions "threatening." He described a local Islamic woman who was the only one on her block not displaying a US flag, and eventually was so worried that she got one.
"What the flag is saying is 'Please don't kill me,'" Leupp said.
The student representatives - president of the Muslim Students Association at Tufts Muzammil Mustufa, and president of the Arab Students Association Sarah Yamani - encouraged students to educate themselves about Islam and to see for themselves that the terrorists represent an isolated few from their religion.
"For anyone to say 'We have to fight a holy war against the United States,' that doesn't mean anything," Mustufa said, adding that Islam has no central authority to issue such edicts.
"We don't want our way of life to be associated with these terrorist acts," Mustufa said.
A question and answer session followed the talks. While some questions were in ways beyond the capabilities of anyone in the Miller lounge to answer - such as how a prolonged military conflict in the Middle East would turn out - Gittleman encouraged students to become aware of the historical context of religious conflicts and US foreign policy in the Middle East.
"You need to peel your own intellectual onion," Gittleman told the audience.
