Student Union
Bin Laden is Dead - What Did it Mean and What's Next?
Everyone who was cleaning the dining room, studying or just having conversations in that area rushed to the common room next door. Our 40 inch flat screen, which is always playing some sort of sports, was now surfing all the news channels available. At that time nothing had been officially said yet. Most of the news anchors were cautiously saying that President Obama would soon give a speech addressing national security, but weren’t mentioning bin Laden’s name. A few others were speculating about what it would be but still not saying anything official.
The only thing that was certain was that Obama’s speech was going to be delayed for around an hour more. Probably to be aired at the same time of Donald Trump’s show, “The Apprentice” (he he). In the meantime I went back to the kitchen to finish my job, but it seemed like everything else had lost importance. Impressively for a house of 50 or so men, conversations about the NBA playoffs had stopped, and every conversation was guessing at whether Osama had been killed.
That was the first time this incident surprised me – although not the last. It wasn’t the fact that a well-planned and perfectly calculated military movement could have been successfully executed, but the fact that so many people would be waiting so anxiously for someone’s obituary. I finished my chore but I didn’t leave the area. I couldn’t; this was history in the making.
How many people heard the rest of it?
When the president started speaking, everyone went silent as if we were, ironically enough, at a funeral. And when he officially announced that Osama bin Laden was indeed dead, everyone in the room smiled. Some even let a quiet laugh escape out of their mouths.
Immediately most people in the room started typing incredibly fast on their smartphones or laptops, which were conveniently logged onto Twitter or Facebook, or in some cases both at the same time. Everyone was rushing, trying to beat the other guy and be the first one posting the news with a creative, clever or funny commentary. At the same time, fireworks could be heard from houses close to ours, even some people yelling “America” or things like that, all while the presidential speech was still on.
I wonder how many people, besides my hall where people were respectful enough, heard the rest of it. How many people heard that this is indeed a milestone in the war against terrorism but it isn’t over yet? How many people heard the pledge of their president to try and keep in mind that the enemy is not Islam and this is not a platform for hate crimes against other religions? How many people noticed that while President Obama was still speaking, the little scroll across the bottom of the screen read that the U.S. had officially increased the terrorism threat level?
I don’t know - probably too many people were too busy celebrating someone else’s death to care about that. Around midnight when Mr. Obama had just finished his speech, there were already drunk people chanting songs from “Team America.” I guess some college kids find an excuse to drink over anything.
[Read more responses to the reaction on American campuses]
A week later…
That was all nearly a week ago. Where do we stand now? As could be expected, both supporters and critics of the president have expressed their opinions on this matter. Supporters took this moral victory to forget about other important issues like the economy and unemployment….and the fact that the death of Osama doesn’t mean the end of al Qaeda. But still, this victory shows the strength of the U.S. military, and Osama’s death brings tranquility to 9/11 victims’ families and that is reason to celebrate.
On the other hand, the opposition is now showing skepticism over whether bin Laden is even dead! If showing joy on someone’s death (which was surprisingly common right after the president’s speech) isn’t morbid enough, how sick is it to expect that national or even international media show bin Laden’s body as “proof” that this operation was successful? Yes, a moral and patriotic victory for America is, what a surprise, deformed in the political game of who’s right or wrong; a political game blurring the operation that was originally a step forward on the war against terrorism.
But how did the people themselves react? More than ever the power of social networks was shown - how fast they can spread the word. In just the first couple of hours after the news came out, people were rejoicing, full of pride and patriotism, and showing it with new Facebook statuses or Twitter updates.
A brilliant tweet just the day after said something like: “What to expect with Osama’s death? 20% jokes, 50% of the same jokes stolen by others, 20% people sick of jokes, 10% statistics.”
Sure enough, in the days that followed, patriotism or pride were smoothly and slowly replaced by comic commentaries displaying less and less relevant information on the event and more made up (or even copied) jokes. The internet overflowed with these “witty” remarks. A lot of memes popped up either making fun of bin Laden or praising Obama’s action. Flash games emerged featuring Obama as a hero. I don’t have a smartphone but I’m sure someone must have come up with a silly “app.” Then the viral (and virus-spreading) Facebook posts claiming to have the real picture or even the real video of bin Laden’s death.
And now, as the opposition leads attacks against the office and asks for proof of bin Laden being dead, and Obama takes a tour of Ground Zero and tries to extend this well-needed boost of patriotism (right after Superman says he will give up his U.S citizenship), right now, where do we stand?
I don’t know about the rest of the people but I am one of the 20% sick of the jokes.
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US campuses are battlegrounds in free speech debate
This week the University of Southern California canceled the graduation speech of its senior class valedictorian at a time when there is a growing debate over the limits of free speech on American college campuses.
USC’s Asna Tabassum, a Muslim biomedical engineer major, was selected from among 100 outstanding students to address the graduating class of 2024 this May. However, the school withdrew the invitation for her to speak at the graduation ceremony citing safety concerns.
Tabassum denounced the decision, which she attributed to her public support for Palestinian human rights. She said it is part of “a campaign of hate meant to silence my voice.”
The school maintains it is a safety issue, not about free speech. School officials say they received an alarming number of violent threats after selecting her as speaker.
USC is one of many American universities that have struggled with policies over free speech and campus protest since October’s Hamas terrorist attack on Israel and the continuing fighting in Gaza. After weeks or months of on-campus protests and rallies, schools have been taking more forceful action to punish protesters who administrators say have become disruptive.
On Thursday at Columbia University in New York, police arrested more than 100 students who had gathered on campus for pro-Palestinian protests. The school’s dean wrote that the protesters had been told several times that they were violating university policies and would be suspended. The students say they were exercising their free speech rights.
At Washington’s American University, protests in all campus buildings have been banned by the school’s president since January. Under the new policy, students may not hold rallies, engage in silent protests or place posters in any campus building.
Protests and safety
University students have a long history of engaging in political activism. From the Vietnam War to abortion rights, universities have played a key role in American political debates.
However, students now say that schools like AU with a long-standing protest culture are silencing protesters with new rules.
Arusa Islam, American University student body president-elect and current vice president, says the policies are preventing an open discussion about U.S. foreign policy.
“Indoor protesting was never a problem, it was never an issue before October 7th,” Islam said. “Students were allowed to put up posters in buildings and students were allowed to have a silent protest.”
“And now we don’t have that right anymore,” she added. “We have been silenced and it is affecting us greatly.”
American University’s president, Sylvia Burwell, says the school’s new policies are intended to ensure that protests do not disrupt university activity.
Burwell also referred to recent events on campus that “made Jewish students feel unsafe and unwelcome.” She added, antisemitism is abhorrent, wrong, and will not be tolerated at American University.
While administrators insist that they are making narrow restrictions in the interests of providing an education, critics say the policies have a far-reaching effect.
At Cornell University, where new rules took effect in January, Claire Ting, the executive vice president of the Cornell Student Assembly, said the policies have had an unsettling effect on campus.
“The campus climate at Cornell has been tense surrounding free speech in recent times,” Ting emailed VOA.
Ting said that both students and faculty feel the policy has had chilling effects on free expression.
“Students report facing arbitrary, escalating punishment for violating the policy, with the policy itself lacking clear outlines for the consequences of civil disobedience,” she added.
In its new policy Cornell warns students that disciplinary action may be taken if protests impede people or traffic, damage school property or interfere with the school’s operations in any way.
In its campus-wide notice explaining the new guidelines, the school wrote that the new policy would ensure that expressive activity is allowed but must remain nonviolent.
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, also known as FIRE, has tracked free speech issues on American campuses.
FIRE and College Pulse have produced an annual survey, since 2022, ranking colleges based on their policies and what students say about the free speech climate on campus.
This year the group reported that “alarming” numbers of students say they self-censor or “find their administrations unclear” on free speech issues.
“College campuses have always been places where students have been unafraid to express themselves and with the recent Gaza conflict after the 10/7 attacks, it’s been very heated on both sides of this issue,” said Zach Greenberg, the senior program officer of FIRE.
Harvard ranked last in this year’s survey. FIRE said the school punished some professors and researchers over what they had said or written, and students reported a poor climate for free speech on campus.
The controversy came to Congress late last year, when Harvard’s president testified over complaints of widespread antisemitism.
“I don’t think you’d find many students on campus right now that would say we are the model for flourishing free speech and ideas exchange in the country,” said J. Sellers Hill, president of Harvard’s school newspaper The Harvard Crimson.
“But I think you’ve really seen that be acknowledged by administrators and it seems to be something they are dedicated to taking on.”
As the head of The Harvard Crimson, Hill manages the paper’s 350 editors and 90 reporters, who’ve covered, in detail, the ongoing free speech/protests controversy and the resignation of former President Claudine Gay following her testimony to Congress.
“I think no one would dispute Harvard has work to do and progress to make,” Hill said. “I think it’s a tough sell, for me, that Harvard is uniquely in its own league in terms of intolerance of speech. That doesn’t square with what I have seen on our college campus or on other college campuses around the country. I think Harvard is held to a higher standard.”
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