Fuel to the Fire

Students beware! There are violent and barbaric elements in your midst. Or at least that is what a member of the administration seems to imply.

In response to the Harvard Salient’s printing of offensive cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), Associate Dean of the College Judith H. Kidd recently emailed the publication a warning that “some segments of the campus… may become dangerous.” Since those most directly offended by the Salient are Muslim students, the email would have you believe that they are ready to torch down Thayer Hall, home of the Salient. Don’t worry Thayer residents: your rooms are safe.

Kidd’s comment was not intentionally aimed at Muslim students, nor was it meant to offend. But the fact remains that many students on campus were hurt that a dean would insinuate that they were a danger to others. This insinuation is inexcusable. To intimate that Muslim students would become violent and act in barbaric ways has left them more vulnerable in a time of growing Islamophobia, a time when they are most in need of support.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time Muslims on campus have been alienated. In 2002, the campus was in an uproar because a commencement speaker, Zayed M. Yasin ‘02, was to deliver a speech entitled: “Of Faith and Citizenship: My American Jihad.” Based simply on the word “jihad”—which means “struggle”—and without familiarity of the actual speech, members of the Harvard community tried to pressure Harvard to have Yasin censored or removed as a speaker. Yasin even received death threats. And while President Summers did go through the motions of stating his support of Yasin’s right to speak, he also explicitly forbade all administrators at the College from publicly supporting him.In light of the Danish cartoon controversy, the irony that freedom of expression was not fully defended at Harvard is not lost on us.

Years later, Muslims continue to be marginalized. Late last November, as Huma Farid ’06 was walking past Lamont, she was chased by a woman screaming, “you filthy Jew-hater.” Two other incidents of hate crimes against Muslims have also occurred in Harvard Square in the last two years. Consequently, we no longer walk from the Yard to our houses after dark without feeling fearful.

But most disappointingly, there has hardly been a response to this growing trend of hate directed towards Muslims on campus. Even after Farid requested that a community advisory be sent out to inform the campus about her assault, the College did nothing. Dean David T. Ellwood ’75 of the KSG responded with an email to his students. It is troubling that no email was sent expressing the College’s “concern for the welfare” of Muslim students.

Islamophobia exists and it is very real; worse, it is growing. The administration needs to show more sensitivity to students who are becoming more vulnerable to attacks and harassment. Many Muslim students on campus were disappointed by the Salient’s decision to reprint the Danish cartoons. But Dean Kidd’s email to the Salient has deeply offended many. After being directly associated with violence by the Salient, the students would have appreciated an expression of concern for their safety by the administration in case they themselves became targets of violence. What they got instead was a suggestion that they would be the perpetrators of that violence. In the words of one Muslim student: “I am now in essence considered to be a threat by the college administration.”

Nura A. Hossainzadeh ’06 and Hebah M. Ismail ’06 are Crimson editorial editors; they live in Quincy House and Eliot House respectively.