As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words.
And according to several student groups, so is a cartoon.
Weeks after an Iranian newspaper announced a contest for cartoons that mock the Holocaust, groups at Penn are working to get students talking about the issue.
The recent controversy was sparked when a Danish newspaper printed cartoons caricaturing the Muslim prophet Muhammad and, some say, depicting him as a terrorist.
In response, Hamshahri -- a prominent Iranian newspaper -- started accepting submissions on Monday of cartoons about the Nazi genocide.
At Penn, student groups -- ranging from the American Civil Liberties Union to the Holocaust Education Committee -- are speaking out on the issue.
The Fox Leadership Program and Penn Forum are planning a discussion on the controversy tonight, with representatives from several of these student organizations.
Muslim Students Association Communications Chairman and College and Wharton sophomore Samir Malik -- who will sit on tonight's panel -- said that the discussion will focus mainly on the exchange of ideas.
There are "obviously two sides to this issue, and hopefully people who are adamant about one side or the other will understand other's reasoning," he said.
On Saturday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations will host a town-hall style panel to discuss the balance between freedom of speech and offensive material.
Malik said that while the Danish cartoons "struck at the heart of a lot of Muslims" because of their portrayals of Muhammad, he feels the Holocaust cartoon contest is a "fatalistic way of approaching the situation" that is also hypocritical.
The Iranian paper is targeting a population "that had nothing to do with the printing in the first place," he said.
Co-Chairman of the Holocaust Education Committee and Engineering junior Andrew Schissler expressed anger about the contest, calling it extremely disrespectful. But he added that he was "clearly not shocked."
Schissler said that he feels the contest is just the latest of a series of actions by Iranians insulting the Jewish community, including Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's expressing doubt last year that the Holocaust occurred.
The "concept of publishing a cartoon that mocks the Holocaust ... that's not something new," Schissler said, adding that the Holocaust Education Committee will keep the recent controversy on its agenda in an effort to educate the Penn community about the Holocaust.
Other Penn students feel that the debate boils down to freedom of speech and freedom of expression.
Vikas Didwania, president of Penn's American Civil Liberties Union chapter, said that the ACLU believes that both freedom of speech and freedom of expression are "vital tenets of democracy." However, "democracy becomes a responsibility ... when these rights are granted. People have a responsibility to use them in way that is tolerant."
Regarding the Holocaust cartoon contest, Didwania said that he is "not sure of what [Hamshahri] hopes to achieve out of inciting more intolerance and more anger."
