ACTA List Items Breakdown By Type Shows Academia Doing Its Job In A Democracy
ACTA's report, "Defending Civilization: How Our Universities
Are Failing America, and What Can Be Done About It," pretends to
present a picture America's campuses as the "weak link" in
responding to the terrorist attacks of September 11. ACTA's attack
on America's colleges and universities is
based on the assumption that academia's role should be that of a
cheerleader—an assumption quite compatible with a monarchy or
a dictatorship, but diametrically opposed to role of academia in a
democracy.
Democracy is the one form of governance in which criticism
is seen as a positive good, and learning from past mistakes is
encouraged. By creating a place for asking tough questions, and
offering unpleasant answers, the academy has the potential to serve
as an invaluable source of warnings that can help us avoid terrible
disasters. It's far better to hear things we don't want to hear than
to have them creep up on us silently in the dead of night.
That's why
people who understand both democracy and the academy know that it's
only the weak link when it turns itself into a brain-dead chorus of cheerleaders.
When that happens, democracy loses it's biggest edge over monarchy ,
dictatorship, and theocracy. That's what ACTA wants us to do, whether
they realize it or not—give up a strategic edge, not a luxury, that our
forefathers died for.
Those who appreciate the true role of academia will be pleased to
Discover what ACTA has actually found. Although the items it selected
were intentionally chosen to generation more heat than light, they give evidence
that (except for some possible administrative actions) the academy is doing precisely the sorts of things it ought to be doing.
Consider:
- Are moral precepts important to consider? Eleven items
concerend invocations of moral precepts.
- Is historical understanding important to have? Five items argued
that it was; another 24 items sought to provide it.
- Is seeking alternatives in thought and action important? Eight items addressed this need.
- Are warnings of negative consequences important to consider? Two items address these.
- Is an international law response worth pursuing? Three items
argued in favor of it.
- Are there problems with a military response? Three items argue
that there are.
- Is it important to criticize thoughtlessness, propaganda, inflammatory rhetoric and their possible effects? Ten items do so.
- Is cognitive analysis called for? There are two examples.
- Are observations of fact appropriate? There are two examples.
- Is racism a possible concern? Two items say 'yes.'
- What of the need for justice and a diversity of views? The questioning of democratic responsibveness? Or speculation about how terrorists are made? Each of these four is the subject of one item.
The above items plus another 3 items which cross categories total up to 79 items out of 117. They all fall into categories that should be totally unobjectionable in the academy, and
in a democracy.
I'm not saying that there's nothing to criticize among these items. Quite the contrary. Criticism
is the very lifeblood of the academy.
But ACTA isn't criticizing the content of what's being
said—whether it's accurate or not—instead it's attacking the very fact that anything at
all is being said that's not blindly supportive. These statements aren't important because
they're necessarily all true. They're important because they play a role in a larger process
leading to true insight and wise action. At least that's what people like Madison, Jefferson, Franklin and Paine believed.
There are another 19 items that relate specifically to political expression:
- Information/calls for action [1]
- Reports of protests & teach-ins - [5]
- Exercises of free expression - [4]
- Chants & slogans - [9]
Another 5 items are either unclear as presented (3) or of dubious relevance: one is about alleged faculty inaction, another statement is from the day before September 11.
Ironically, all these false alarms only serve to cloud the remaining 14 items involving administrative actions that really do legitimately warrant attention. Whether or not they accurately tell the whole story is another matter, since conservatives have a long history of misrepresenting such incidents in the past. But determining accuracy is what paying attention is all about.
It's also ironic to note that the 4 related items involving student administrative action seem very much like a mirror image of ACTA's own activism. Shifting funding to reflect political points of view is central to ACTA's agenda. But while the Berkley Student Senate may be talking in the thousands of dollars, ACTA is talking about billions.
Moral Precepts - [11]
19. Jesse Jackson, speech at Harvard Law School: "[We should] build bridges and relationships, not simply bombs and walls."
49. Wasima Alikhan, Islamic Academy of Las Vegas: "[I]gnorance breeds hate."
50. David Coleman, student, University of Oklahoma: "[I]ntolerance breeds hate, hate breeds violence and violence breeds death, destruction and heartache."
51. "Hate breeds hate."—sign at University of Maryland
33. "An eye for an eye leaves the world blind."—Molly McOwen '02, Harvard University, holding sign at peace rally, Sept. 20, 2001
52. "An eye for an eye makes the world blind."—sign at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
67. Jack Kyung, student, Hunter College: "A lot of people are saying we created this monster. What goes around comes around. People are forgetting about the past."
69. Amonika Kumar, student, Columbia University: "[It is] ridiculous for us to go and kill more people because of what Bin Laden did."
71. Sarah Norr, junior at Wesleyan University: "For this to turn into an excuse to have a war and kill more people, it seemed like it would just be too horrible."
89. Jim Casteleiro, freshman at Oberlin College: "War created people like Osama bin Laden, and more war will create more people like him."
114. Senwung Luk, student, Yale University: "Just because a grotesque act was committed against this country, does not mean any response is justified; it does not grant this country special license to use the sword."
Need & Responsibility For Historical Understanding - [5]
38. Douglas J. Bennet, President, to Students, Alumni, Parents and Friends of Wesleyan: "… Disparities and injustices are there, all the more intolerable because they are embedded in some of the most fundamental aspects of our society and the world we live in. Addressing these disparities and injustices will not be possible if the world community continues to block its own progress and destroy its people in conflicts generated by prejudice and hatred. In this time of crisis, we have an unusual opportunity to see past stereotypes, identify and diminish our own prejudices, and experience a complex world through the sensitivities of others.…"
63. Barbara Corrado Pope, professor emerita of women's stud-ies, University of Oregon: "[W]e need to hear more than one perspective on how we can make the world a safer place. We need to understand the reasons behind the terrifying hatred directed against the United States and find ways to act that will not foment more hatred for generations to come."
64. Richard Falk, Princeton University emeritus professor, at town meeting: "[D]emocracies, because they have a sense of self-pride and moral consciousness, can often act without restraint and be destructive of the values they are trying to promote. The thinking is to find the perpetrators and engage in a military response and feel that that solves something. But there needs to be an understanding of why this kind of suicidal violence could be undertaken against our country."
77. Fred Hitz, Director of the project on international intelligence, Woodrow Wilson School's Center of International Studies, Princeton University: "We need to think about what could have produced the frustrations that caused these crimes. To have that kind of hatred is a phenomenon we will have to try to understand."
78. Rania Masri, speaking at "Understanding the Attack on America: an Alternate View," University of North Carolina– Chapel Hill, Sept. 17, 2001: "The question we should explore is not who we should bomb or where we should bomb, but why we were targeted. When we have the answer to why, then we will have the ability to prevent terrorist attacks tomorrow."
Historical & Cultural Understanding - [24]
Rights Of Minorities
12. Michael Rothschild, Dean of the Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University: "There is a terrible and understandable desire to find and punish whoever was responsible for this. But as we think about it, it's very important for Americans to think about our own history, what we did in World War II to Japanese citizens by interning them."
Comprehending Islamic POVs
10. Hugh Gusterson, professor of anthropology and science and technology studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology: "[I]magine the real suffering and grief of people in other countries. The best way to begin a war on terrorism might be to look in the mirror."
57 . Unidentified speaker at Haverford College Quaker Meeting: "No matter how desolate the World Trade Center site was, there was a place even more desolate—Afghanistan."
97. Paul Kennedy, professor of history, Yale University: "How do we appear to them, and what would it be like were our places in the world reversed?" "Suppose that there existed today a powerful, unified Arab-Muslim state that stretched from Algeria to Turkey and Arabia. In those conditions, would not many Americans steadily grow to loathe that colossus?"
Root Causes
5. Adil Najam, Tufts University professor of international relations, at Brown University panel discussion: "…the U.S. was basically using Pakistan the way you use a condom. That is, you use the condom to avoid getting dirty, but then you throw the condom away after you've used it and don't think about it again—well, the condom certainly thinks about it."
6. William Keach, professor of English, Brown University: "What happened on September 11 was terrorism, but what happened during the Gulf War was also terrorism."
7. Walter Daum, mathematics instructor, at City University of New York teach-in: "The ultimate responsibility lies with the rulers of this country, the capitalist ruling class of this country."
11. Speaker at Haverford College meeting: "We are complicit."
13. Barbara Foley, professor of English, Rutgers University: "[W]e should be aware that, whatever its proximate cause, its ultimate cause is the fascism of U.S. foreign policy over the past many decades."
18. David Horn, student at University of Michigan and columnist, Michigan Daily: "…the actions taken by the terrorists on Tuesday are not completely unwarranted. We try to forget about the way this country behaves internationally—that we too often behave as terrorists."
25. Adam Goldstein, former Campus Relations Committee chairman, University of Wisconsin-Madison in a letter-to-the-editor in the Badger Herald: "…before you preach at us about the evil terrorists, why don't you try getting your facts straight and face up to the reality that our leaders are war criminals just as much as people like Hitler, Stalin, and other monsters of the 20th century."
28. Sunera Thobani, assistant professor of women's studies, University of British Columbia: "[The U.S. Government is] the most dangerous global force [with a] foreign policy … soaked in blood. [War against Afghanistan is] patriarchal racist violence."
35. William O. Beeman, professor of anthropology, Brown University: "A despicable act of mayhem such as those committed in New York and Washington is a measure of the revulsion that others feel at our actions that seemingly limit those rights [to self-determination]. If we perpetuate a cycle of hate and revenge, this conflict will escalate into a war that our great-grandchildren will be fighting."
36. Strobe Talbott, Director of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization: "It is from the desperate, angry and bereaved that these suicide pilots came."
53. Ivy League student: "What you have to look at is the underlying reasons. Poverty breeds resentment and resentment breeds anger."
54. Brown student activist: "I consider myself a patriot. I think this country does wonderful things for its citizens, but we must acknowledge the terrible things it often does to the citizens of other countries."
55. Bill Crain, professor of psychology, City College of New York: "Our diplomacy is horrible." Mr. Crain later told the Chronicle of Higher Education that his remarks were distorted: "I said U.S. alliances have shifted. We support one person, and then another, but the constant is violence. We need to address that and work for peace."
84. Journalist William Blum at University of North Carolina teach-in: "These acts of terrorism will not stop as long as we are intervening in civil wars that are none of our business besides serving the interests of U.S. corporations."
94 . Clement Henry, professor of government, University of Texas–Austin: "The United States policies toward the region , especially over the past 10 years (have) engendered serious grievances. Our actions were looking to much of Arab and Muslim public opinion like a re-edition of 19th century imperialism."
95. Robert Jensen, professor of journalism, University of Texas–Austin: "My anger on this day is directed not only at individuals who engineered the September 11 tragedy but at those who have held power in the United States and have engineered attacks on civilians every bit as tragic." "[The terrorist attack] was no more despicable than the massive acts of terrorism … that the U.S. government has committed during my lifetime."
99 . Haunani-Kay Trask, professor of Hawaiian studies, University of Hawaii: "The United States is angry because somebody came back and blew up their World Trade Center. I would be angry, too. But what made them do that? It is the history of terrorism that the United States unleashes against native people all over the world. … Everywhere, the United States has overthrown leftist government. Everywhere, the United States has overthrown native governments. Why should we support the United States, whose hands in history are soaked with blood?"
103. Group at Amherst College: "The United States of America is built upon a history of violence and repression. This began with the genocide of Native Americans who inhabited this land before the arrival of European colonizers and it continued as Black people were brought here as slaves to provide the labor necessary for the country's development. … The construction and maintenance of America depends on the marginalization and exploitation of those excluded."
108. Walter Daum, mathematics instructor, at CUNY teach-in: "American imperialism is responsible for this terrorist attack."
109. Carmen Candia, senior at Georgetown University School of Foreign Service: "The United States has to realize that what it's doing with its foreign policy is just as bad, at least, as what happened last week [Sept. 11]."
International/Rule of Law Response - [3]
62 . Faculty forum on alternative to war, Washington University of St. Louis:"[T]he United States would have done the right thing [by not going to war]: responding as a responsible member of the international community rather than as a vigilante gunslinger in the old West, riding out to capture the bad guys and bring them back dead or alive."
83. Joel Beinin, professor, Stanford University: "If Osama Bin Laden is confirmed to be behind the attacks, the United States should bring him before an international tribunal on charges of crimes against humanity."
98. Catherine Lutz, professor of anthropology, University of North Carolina: "If one [of the perpetrators] is Osama Bin Laden, send the international police for him and pick up Henry Kissinger and Augusto Pinochet on the way home."
Need For Justice - [1]
111. Wayne O'Neil, professor of linguistics, MIT: "[Americans should] bring ourselves and our country to justice, not just the perpetrators."
Diversity of Views - [1]
39. Daniel Rothman '04, Brown University: "It's good for the government to know that there are people who want peace instead of bloodshed. Not all Americans want revenge."
Alternative Thinking / Courses of Action - [8]
2. Elin O'Hara Slavick, professor of art, at University of Nort h Carolina teach-in: "We offer this teach-in as an alternative to the cries of war and as an end to the cycle of continued global violence."
4. Kevin Lourie, professor of anthropology, Brown University School of Medicine: "[T]his war can end only to the extent that we relinquish our role as world leader, overhaul our lifestyle and achieve political neutrality. … Perhaps our best options now are to search for the origins of this new war, draw strength from understanding our own weaknesses, and make changes within ourselves and within our relationships to others. Many wonder if we are paying an accumulated debt for centuries of dominance and intervention far from home, retribution for our culture of consumption and exploitation. … We must … re-examine our place in the world, and begin to imagine a world without super-powers."
26. Pomona College, faculty panel discussing U.S. obligations in the Mideast: "[B]reak the cycle of violence."
27. Jerry Irish, professor of religious studies, Pomona College: "We have to learn to use courage for peace instead of war."
29. Noam Chomsky at MIT: "[T]he only way we can put a permanent end to terrorism is to stop participating in it."
34. Howard Zinn, professor emeritus, Boston University: "[O]ur security can only come by using our national wealth, not for guns, planes, and bombs, but for the health and welfare of our people, and for people suffering in other countries."
80. On Oct. 4, at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Campus Y, the Division of Student Affairs, and Sangam (South Asian awareness group), sponsors Arun Ghandi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi reiterates what he had written earlier: "We must acknowledge our role in helping to create monsters in the world, find ways to contain these monsters without hurting more innocent people and then redefine our role in the world."
92. Journalist William Blum at University of North Carolina teach-in: "… I would announce that America's global interventions had come to an end. I would then reduce the military budget by at least 90 percent and I would use the savings to pay the reparations to our victims and to increase social services."
Predictive Warnings - [2]
3. Panelist Stan Goff at University of North Carolina teach-in: "We will tumble from chauvinism into the abyss of recession and tribalism . "
105. Joseph L. Buttenwieser, professor of social science, Columbia University: "Contingent Predictions: … Bombing the presumed originator(s) of Tuesday's attacks and forcing other countries to choose sides will therefore aggravate the very conditions American leaders will declare they are preventing. … If so, democracy (defined as relatively broad and equal citizenship, binding consultation of citizens, and protection from arbitrary actions by governmental agents) will decline across the world."
Criticism of Militarism / Military Response - [3]
45. Shaun Joseph '02, Brown University: "We cannot simply go on with our daily routines as our country prosecutes an unjust war. Students are walking out in solidarity with the people of Afghanistan who must now suffer the double burden of a dictatorial regime and American bombs."
100 . Charles Kurzman, professor of sociology, University of North Carolina : " We're … playing into the hands of our own militarists, whose interests always lie, I believe, in the exaggeration of threats, armed responses, and so on. In fact, I would argue that there is tacit collusion among the militarists of all sides."
106. Nuriel Heckler, sophomore at City College of New York: "We don't feel military action will stop terrorism, but it will lead to racism and hate."
Criticisms of Thoughtlessness, Propaganda, Inflammatory Rhetoric, Possible Effects - [10]
21. Kathryn Duke, student, Duke University and columnist for The Chronicle: "The words 'freedom,' 'liberty,' and 'democracy' are great words. But when they are used by the media to summon a nationalism so potentially destructive as that being bred now—the sight of the flag burning would be preferable to me to its display across America, across the hearts of Americans."
22 . Wayne O'Neil, professor of linguistics, MIT: "What the U.S. calls counter- terrorism is terrorism by another name. Operation Infinite Justice—the Bush administration's code name for proposed military action against terrorists—is 'cowboy law. ' "
23. Verdell DeYarman at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee protest: "It disturbs me to see all the flags out supporting the slaughter."
32. Tim McCarthy, Harvard lecturer in history and literature: "[I deplore those] who are deploying rhetoric and deploying troops without thinking before they speak."
37. Neta Crawford, visiting associate professor (research) at the Thomas J. Watson Jr. Institute for International Studies, Brown University; assistant professor of political science, University of Massachusetts-Amherst: "We would justifiably resent attacks on New York or Boston in retaliation for those cities 'harboring' IRA terrorists. … The responsible thing for the President and Congress to do would be to lower the rhetorical temperature in Washington and halt the contest to sound more bellicose and patriotic than the last politician or official…."
46. Brian Rainey '04, Brown University: "To call this a just war is to ignore the mountain of injustice it is based on. People are just drunk on the cheap jingoism of the media and politicians."
56. Eric Foner, professor of history, Columbia University: "I'm not sure which is more frightening: the horror that engulfed New York City or the apocalyptic rhetoric emanating daily from the White House."
81. Christopher Phelps, professor of history, Ohio State University: "[I am] wary of wars framed for freedom, which in general have produced the exact opposite effect. … [D]uring the cold war, the 'Communist menace' became the basis for hysterical McCarthyist attacks on civil liberties."
91. Kayla Monroe, part-time student, University of California-Berkeley: "The media has stirred the country into a froth of hatred and revenge. All this so-called support for military action has been completely manufactured. I don't know anyone who thinks it would be a good idea."
107. Panelist Stan Goff, University of North Carolina teach-in: "The de facto executive branch and the compliant press are putting the historical spotlight right now on December 7, 1941, and Pearl Harbor. I think we need to aim that spotlight at February 27 in 1933 and the Reichstag fire."
Cognitive Analysis - [2]
8 . George Lakoff, professor of linguistics, University of California-Berkeley: "…the planes [were] penetrating the towers with a plume of heat. The Pentagon, a vaginal image from the air, penetrated by the plane as missile."
74. Jean Jackson, professor of anthropology, MIT: " To declare war, in this case, is a dangerous use of metaphoric language: it dignifies terrorist acts and implies a war with terrorists could end with a peace treaty. We must resist calls for revenge or retaliation."
Talk About Racism - [2]
86. Luke Massie, University of Michigan student member of the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action and Integration and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary: "We're linking the fight against racism against a racist war abroad."
113. Dominique, 22-year-old student at the University of California-Berkeley: "The main issue is racism in general."
Questioning Democratic Responsiveness - [1]
104. Troy, student, University of California-Berkeley: "I care about the anti-war movement to an extent, but I don't see how that's gonna stop crazy George Bush from going to war. He wouldn't even help us out with the energy crisis, so why would he give a damn about a few sons and daughters of hippies and Black Panthers protesting?"
Observations of Fact - [2]
68. Todd Gitlin, professor of communications, New York University: "There is a lot of skepticism about the administration's policy of going to war."
82. David P. Barash, professor of psychology, University of Washington: "[M]any people consider the United States to be a terrorist state."
Psychological Speculation - [1]
40. Taniq Banuri, Stockholm Environment Institute at Brown University panel discussion: "Many terrorists get their start being pushed around by a bus driver or abused by a police officer just because they are different."
Information/Calls For Action [1]
15. "How to organize actions against war"—teach-in sponsored by Political Science and Geography Departments, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
Free Expression - [4]
Routine Free Expression
47. 76 University of California-Berkeley professors joined with 100 other academics in an advertisement in the New York Times, calling the war unacceptable.
Extreme, But Protected Free Expression
1. Freelancer Peter Zedrin at Brown University protest: "I was cheering when the Pentagon got hit because I know about the brutality of the military. The American flag is nothing but a symbol of hate and should be used for toilet paper for all I care."
14. Richard Berthold, professor of history, University of New Mexico: "Anyone who can blow up the Pentagon gets my vote." Berthold later apologized for making the comment.
48. Professional Staff Congress, City University of New York: "[Students and teachers] do not need to be fighting against fellow- workers under other flags and gods but rather against their own corporate or government employers, as we are at CUNY." The Professional Staff Congress is the union that represents the faculty and staff of the City University of New York. The City University of New York is the largest public urban university in the country.
Chants & Slogans - [9]
30. "What do we want? Peace! When do we want it? Now!"— chant at Harvard Rally, Sept. 20, 2001
44. "One, two, three, four—we don't want a racist war."—chant at Brown University war protest.
65. "Our grief is not a cry for war."—poster at New York University
66. "Recycle plastic, not violence."—poster at Hunter College
70. Chanting Students, University of Michigan: "No racist scapegoating, no racist war, we won't take it anymore."
72. Harvard Sign: "War Is Also Terrorism."
73. Student Protestors in Harvard Square: "One, two, three, four—we don't want another war! Five, six , seven, eight—stop the violence, stop the hate!"
76. Signs at the University of Michigan: "Revenge Is Not Justifiable" and "No Racist War."
112. "Stop the violence, stop the hate."—chant at the University of California-Berkeley.
NARRATIVE REPORTS
Faculty Inaction - [1]
117. At Williams College, a student organizes a public recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in honor of a Williams graduate who died in the September 22 attack. President Morton Schapiro urges the entire university to attend. Over two hundred students as well as maintenance and cafeteria staff attend. Only two faculty appear: the president and head of the Art Department.
Protests & Teach-Ins - [5]
16. "Anti-Americanism and anti-war sentiment raged yesterday during a 'teach-in' at City College of New York. The vast majority of the students and professors who spoke at the session, attended by about 200 people, ranted against any American military action—some of them even blaming the United States for the World Trade Center disaster."
43. Brown University: "Some 120 students walked out of class and gathered on the Main Green to protest U.S. military strikes in Afghanistan. At least two professors dismissed class early to allow students to attend."
75. "Students at several colleges walked out of classes and held protests Monday in response to U.S. military actions in Afghanistan. The rallies—at Bryn Mawr and Haverford Colleges, the University of California at Berkeley, and Wesleyan University—attracted hundreds of students although many students did not attend or held counter-protests backing the government's response to last month's terrorist attacks."
110. CUNY Forum: "It was a two-hour, hard-core America bashing festival. The terrorist attack on the trade center was referred to by faculty as 'the incident.' Terrorists were described as freedom fighters. One anthropology professor, M.A. Samad-Matias, framed the atrocity as an understandable Islamic response to Western imperialism." "Student government leader Kenneth Williams said African-Americans should be suspicious of 'rallying around the flag' and becoming 'tools of the ruling class' in a war."
115. University of California-Berkeley: "[M]ilitary uniforms were burned in effigy and faculty members conducted classes outside to protest the war."
Administrative Actions - [10]
9. Lehigh University vice provost bans the American flag on the University bus on the grounds that it is insensitive to foreign students. After a public outcry, the University retracts the policy.
20. The University of Massachusetts grants a permit for a student rally to protest any use of force in waging the war against terrorism. The University revokes a permit allowing a rally in support of America's policy. The students hold the rally and materials are vandalized with impunity.
24. Chairman of the College of Holy Cross Department of Sociology demands that a secretary remove an American flag hung in memory of her friend Todd Beamer. She refuses and the Chairman removes the flag himself. After unfavorable publicity, the College apologizes but the flag is moved to the Department of Psychology.
31. San Diego State formally accuses an international student of abusive behavior and warns that "future incidents [will result in] serious disciplinary sanctions" when the student takes issue with students who cheer the terrorist attacks.
87. Penn State University Vice Provost informs a faculty member that his web page advocating military action against terrorists is "insensitive and perhaps even intimidating." "Intimidating" expression is grounds for dismissal at Penn State. Penn State President Graham Spanier later denies that the use of the term "intimidating" in any manner chilled the professor's free speech.
88. Duke University shuts down a faculty member website after he promotes vigorous military action as a response to terrorist attacks. After public uproar, the University reinstates the website but insists that the faculty member add a disclaimer that the views expressed in the article do not reflect the view of the University. Duke has never before required any such disclaimer.
93. Florida Gulf Coast Dean of Library Services Kathleen Hoeth instructs her employees to remove stickers saying "Proud to be an American" on the grounds that they may offend international students. After public pressure, President William Merwin revokes the policy.
101. Orange Coast Community College suspends Professor Kenneth W. Hearlson after several Muslim students complain they were called terrorists when Hearlson lectured that silence on crimes against Christians and Jews in the Middle East was consent to terrorism.
102. Administrator at Central Michigan University tells students to remove patriotic posters (an American flag, eagle) from their dormitory on the grounds that they are "offensive."
116. Johns Hopkins Dean Stephen Szabo demands a written apology and removes professor Charles H. Fairbanks from his position as director of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute as unfit after Fairbanks supports an aggressive campaign against states that harbor terrorists and bets "a Koran" that his analysis is correct. After a public outcry, the dean reverses his decision.
Student Administrative Actions - [4]
58. More than 100 students protest and demand a front-page apology and greater Arab and Muslim representation after student editors at the University of California - Berkeley Daily Californian publish a cartoon. The cartoon shows two bearded men wearing turbans and long robes, standing in what appears to be hell saying: "We made it to paradise! Now we will meet Allah, and be fed grapes, and be serviced by 70 virgin women, and…"
59. The UC Berkeley Student Senate adopts a resolution, 11-7, demanding a front-page apology and diversity training for staff members. Student senate member Jessica Quindel tells the Contra Costa Times: "It's not about being offended. It's about the implications of [running] an inflammatory cartoon at a time when there had already been more than 1,000 hate crimes against the communities depicted. Racism is not an American right." The editorial board issued a statement saying it would not apologize since the cartoon fell within the realm of fair political commentary.
60. UC Berkeley Student Senate member Sajid Khan said: "[Although the cartoon] did not outright call for violence, it promoted and perpetuated the same ignorance and intolerance that has led to the death of many across our nation."
61. UC Berkeley Student Senate proposes raising the school newspaper's rent after it runs a controversial cartoon.
Statements Whose Meaning Or Context Is Unclear - [3]
41 . David Kertzer, professor of anthropology, Brown University: "[The Pentagon] represents America's impregnable right."
42. George Borts, professor of economics, Brown University. "If people have some patriotic fervor, they are going to have to work for the CIA, slitting throats in dark alleys."
96. Josh Timmerle, student, Oxnard College: "I'll pretend I'm gay. I'm against war. It's scary."
Combination of Categories - [3]
17. Journalist William Blum at University of North Carolina teach-in: "If I were the president, I would first apologize to all the widows and orphans, the tortured and the impoverished, and all the millions of other victims of American imperialism." "[T]here are few if any nations in the world that have harbored more terrorists than the United States."
79. Elin O'Hara Slavick, professor of art, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, shows a slide show of her artwork, "Places the United States has Bombed" at a teach-in entitled: "What is war? What is peace?" The teach-in then divides into workshops: US Foreign Policy; Civil Rights in Time of War; Action Through Non-Violence; How to Organize Actions Against War; The Role of Armed Resistance; Community, Networking, and Outreach; Visual Strategies for Peace During War, and Arguments for Peace.
85. Catherine Lutz, professor of anthropology, University of North Carolina: "The parallel to [September 11] is not Pearl Harbor. It is February 1947, when a new war was declared." "Hunting the terrorists from their holes [reminds me] of the racial hatred that has preceded, stoked, and been inflamed by nearly every one of the 20th century's wars."
Statement Made Before September 11 - [1]
90. Jennie Traschen, professor of physics, University of Massachusetts-Amherst on Sept. 10: "[The American flag is] a symbol of terrorism and death and fear and destruction and oppression."