U. Minnesota Student Government Deems 9/11 Commemoration Racist and Islamophobic

With terror scares occurring on a near-daily basis across America, our college campuses should be bastions of support for our nation and the freedoms she guarantees to her citizens. But when given the chance to institute an annual commemoration of the September 11 terrorist attacks, the University of Minnesota’s student government refused, charging that such a ceremony might be viewed as “Islamophobic” and create an “unsafe” space for Muslim students on campus.

On November 10, the undergraduate student government at the University of Minnesota—known as the Minnesota Student Association (MSA)—voted down a resolution that would have established a campus-wide moment of recognition on all future anniversaries of 9/11.

The resolution was introduced by Theo Menon, who is the “student group representative” to the MSA from the Minnesota chapter of the College Republicans. “I wrote this resolution because I think we need to recognize the victims of this world-changing event,” Menon explained. “The innocent men, women, and servicemen who died on that day deserve to be honored.”

Nothing in the terse language of the resolution suggests that it might be controversial.

In its entirety, it reads:

Concerning: September 11th, 2001 Memorial Moment of Recognition

Whereas, The tragic events of September 11, 2001 still have a lasting effect on many students and staff,

Whereas, The events of that date are of immeasurable importance to the world we live in today,

Whereas, There is currently no official recognition of this [sic] events on the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities campus,

Therefore Be it Resolved, That the Minnesota Student Association formally recommends to the University of Minnesota Administration that there be a moment of recognition on the morning of September 11th, 2016 and all years following.

But on a college campus in this day and age, nothing connected with terrorism is ever uncontroversial—even a paragraph-long resolution to honor the victims of the most deadly attack ever committed on American soil.

Student David Algadi, who is an at-large representative of the student government and also the director of its Diversity and Inclusion Committee, objected strenuously to the 9/11 resolution, claiming that it was Islamophobic and racist.

“The passing of this resolution might make a space that is unsafe for students on campus even more unsafe,” Algadi claimed, “Islamophobia and racism fueled through that are alive and well.”

Demonstrating a stunning lack of sagacity, Algadi argued that commemorating a horrific crime committed by non-whites might exacerbate racism on campus. “When will we start having moments of silence for all of the times white folks have done something terrible?” he asked, with no appreciation for the irony of his query which serves to highlight that the vast majority of recent terror attacks have been carried out by Muslims.

Algadi was not alone in his objections. Despite the support of the College Republicans and also the president and vice-president of the student government—as well as University of Minnesota President Eric Kaler—the resolution failed by a vote of 36-23, with three abstentions.

The University of Minnesota vote reveals how the leftist campus brownshirts use the language of “safety” and the charge of “racism” to oppose even the most innocuous measures to uphold and applaud America’s dignity. Meanwhile, the agents of Islamic terror in the form of Hamas-supporting Students for Justice in Palestine are plastering campuses with anti-Israel and anti-American pro-terror propaganda. Until we combat the evil festering within America’s campuses, no one in the nation will truly be “safe.”