Student meetings do not normally require security personnel to stand guard at the entrance -- at least until now.
In response to a recent newsgroup posting calling for the death of Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims, members of the Penn Arab Student Society decided that this was a necessary precaution for their open board meeting last night in Houston Hall.
On March 29, Linguistics graduate student Stephanie Winters posted a message on the upenn.talk newsgroup entitled "Time for Palestinians to Die." The post labeled Palestinians as "animals" who are "cognitively and genetically inferior to the rest of the human race."
"If every Muslim has to die, so be it," the post read. "If all Muslims die, then we can take over their lands."
Around 50 students gathered at last night's meeting to discuss student reactions to these inflammatory statements.
Political Science graduate student Amel Ahmed and Law student Angela Migally, both members of PASS, began the forum by presenting the official PASS platform on the issue.
"This meeting is called in order to disseminate information," Ahmed said. "We do not want this to be a witch hunt with PASS tracking [Winters] down."
Yet Ahmed was adamant that Winters should be relieved of her teaching duties at Penn and is not satisfied with the lack of action by administration.
And Migally, along with others in PASS, accused "the people with power in the academic realm," specifically Penn administrators, of being unresponsive to student concerns on this issue.
In a letter to PASS leaders yesterday, University President Judith Rodin wrote that although the comments may have been inappropriate, she stands behind a student's right to free speech.
"Racism at any level is unacceptable. We should challenge it head on," the letter read. "However, imposing limits on free speech is not an appropriate vehicle to combat racism."
"Penn is an inclusive community fiercely committed to free speech and open expression," Rodin added. "These principles have been held to encourage open dialogue on very difficult issues. I firmly believe that this remains our best educational response to controversy and conflict."
Ahmed, however, maintains that her concerns are not directed towards freedom of speech. She said she does not want to enact a speech code at Penn.
"We are not challenging the law," Ahmed responded.
She added, "We only express our concerns over the presence of a discriminatory, threatening, prejudiced atmosphere."
At the meeting, students voiced concerns over the influence Winters has as a TA, saying that it may impede student learning.
"We don't want to destroy this person's life, but she does not have the maturity to handle a teaching position at Penn," Ahmed said.
Migally expressed similar sentiments.
"If we don't speak up now, she may some day become a professor," she said.
Migally said that Winters has shown no public sign of backing down from her comments. She said it worries her that Winters continues to post messages on the newsgroup and has not expressed regret.
Ahmed said that she does not understand how the University can be so concerned with Winters' safety and not the safety of Arab students.
"We requested security for this meeting, but we had to call twice to get them here," Ahmed claimed as evidence of general apathy among administrators.
"I am saddened that my university is too afraid of political implications to come and talk to students who are scared, saddened and distraught over these events," College junior Melissa Byrne said.
But History Professor and noted free speech advocate Alan Kors has said he feels there is no disciplinary action that the University should take in this situation.
"You're allowed to say hateful things," Kors said on Sunday night. "And the appropriate response is more free speech."
While the messages posted by Winters were denounced by audience members last night, the body of students disagreed on the response that the University should take.
Penn for Peace spokesman Alan Bates, a Law student, said he is worried that PASS is becoming confrontational on the issue. He advised PASS to use this event as a means of pointing out discrimination at Penn and to express the group's condemnation of such prejudiced mentalities on campus.
"Technically, she is just a graduate student." Bates said. "We should use this to point out that there are discriminatory views rather than as a means of confrontation."
