Petition votes no to suspension

and GABRIELE MARCOTTI The Human Rights League, a group that wants to retain Section II of the Racial Harassment Policy, is conducting a petition drive and letter- writing campaign asking Interim President Claire Fagin not to suspend the so-called "speech code." "We were only out [on Locust Walk] for a few hours, and we got 300 signatures," Human Rights League founder Rashad Ibrahim said, adding that the group plans to continue to collect signatures at least through the weekend. The group wants members of the University community to sign both a petition and a form letter asking Fagin to retain the whole Racial Harassment Policy. Ibrahim said the petition and letters will be presented to Fagin sometime after this weekend. "I am convinced that the Racial Harassment Policy, as currently enacted at the University of Pennsylvania, does not prohibit anything beyond acts of racial intolerance designed solely to torment and degrade members of the University community," the letter reads. "Moreover, I am certain that the policy does not inhibit the free exchange of scholarly ideas throughout the University, since it merely restricts certain behavior intended only to inflict direct injury. "Indeed, I believe the policy enriches the University community by promoting decency and mutual respect," it continues. Ibrahim, an Undergraduate Assembly representative, and other Human Rights League members talked to students on the Walk yesterday, answering questions and asking for signatures. "There's more to it than this imagined threat to freedom of speech," Ibrahim, a Wharton senior, told a group of passersby. "It's about race." While the Human Rights League is a UA work group, UA Chairperson Seth Hamalian said the petition initiative has not been sponsored by the UA. "But the nature of what he's doing is something the UA supports in terms of gathering student support and helping to inform students on some of the issues," Hamalian said. "I would sign it." But Fagin said last night she does not know if the petition "will be helpful one way or the other." "Of course I will be interested in the petition – nothing is ever too late – but I'm really in the process of developing options," Fagin said. "There are huge numbers of people signing similar petitions on the other side," she said. "There is no consensus possible on this issue." But Fagin's remarks seemed to indicate a tipping of the scales. "There's a large silent group of mixed races who don't think this policy is worth anything," she said. "There is an extremely large group that believes it has a chilling effect, and there is a group that feels it should not be suspended. "This is such a highly divisive issue, it's taken me longer [to think about it] than I thought it would."

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