Mideast violence strikes chord with students on campus

Mideast violence strikes chord with students on campus

Posters that the Islamic Society hung up around campus that called an end to Israeli attacks on Palestinians were taken down by student Katya Levitan who found the flyers "very, very offensive to [her] personally". Levitan then posted her own fliers that questioned the message of the original flyers that the Islamic Society had posted, as well as accused the student organization of spreading misinformation. The removal of the posters was viewed by the Islamic society as a violation of their freedom of speech and they found the wording on Levitan's posters "defamatory to their organization". Levitan's posters were titled "Is the Islamic Society inciting violence at Middlebury College?"

Volume 98, Number 6

Raegan Randolph

The Campus

10/18/2000

Wasim Rahman '02- President of the Islamic Society
Katya Levitan '02

"The posters included such phrases as 'Stop the massacre in Palestine.' one of the posters showed suffering and dying Palestinians and read 'Shooting Arab kids. Just business as usual for the Israeli army.'"- Levitan

"'It was our goal [in putting up the posters] to increase awareness on campus that civilians are dying at the hands of an army and that the United Nations opposes this excessive use of force' said Islamic Society President Wasim Rahman '02."

"Rahman said that his group is worried about the negative image and allegations in Levitan's posters, which have had more exposure on the campus than their own, might give to Muslims at the College. 'We are scared people will judge us by [Levitan's] posters,' he said."