Arab and Arab-American students on campus constitute a small but increasingly vocal community. In recent years, the Society of Arab Students has developed an increasingly strong presence on campus in an attempt to counteract insensitive jokes and stock images about Arabs perpetuated in student publications and by classmates. Arab students at Harvard complain that too often they find themselves...

When Haneen M. Rabie '95 read the latest issue of the Harvard Lampoon, she did not laugh. She got angry.

The Lampoon had published an article recounting a fictitious "near-death experience" of a character named Achmed Mohammed.

"My name is Achmed," read the article. "While fighting against the Zionist state, my commanding officer approached me and asked me to drive a truck full of explosives into a barracks full of imperialist United States forces. But I did not know how to drive stick. My brother Harouk took the mission, but I would have gladly died for the struggle."

Rabie, who is president of the Harvard-Radcliffe Society of Arab Students, says the Lampoon's article perpetuates existing stereotypes of Arabs as violent, American-hating terrorists. Rabie also pointed to a recent cartoon in The Crimson which a mouse named "Ignatz" Celebrates the bombing of New York's World Trade Center, a crime for which two Arab youths have been charged.

Many Arab and Arab-American students say stereotypes are the worst problem they face at Harvard. Though students interviewed last week said they had not encountered overt discrimination in their interpersonal relationships, they said the images perpetuated in publications recently have cast a racist pall over the campus.

"There is a lot of stereotyping," Rabie says. "You can't help but feel discriminated against."

Society Co-Secretary Luma Al-Attar '95 says she is troubled not only by stock images of Arabs depicted in campus publications like the Lampoon, Peninsula and The Crimson but also by racist jokes made by students.

"With the recent war, [with] a lot of jokes people make about Arabs and Iraqis you don't know whether to laugh or to be offended," says Al-Attar, who is Iraqi. "You are often faced with the conflict--should I laugh or says something?"

Nadim I. Salfiti '95, a student from Jordan, says comments by students, who may not have racist prejudices, still perpetuate an uncomfortable atmosphere.

"[Students] might not actually think every Muslim is crazy and wants to blow up the world, but many students make jokes about it anyway. It frustrates me," Salfiti says.

These problems may arise out of ignorance instead of racism, according to Arab and Arab-American students interviewed last week. Non-Arab students have misperceptions about Arab culture and tend to generalize from the images presented by the national media, the students say. In reality, Arabs are a diverse group whose culture and views on political issues vary widely.

"One of our main goals is to show what Arab culture is really like," says the society's former President Laila F. Sahyoun '94.

A Strong Voice

In recent years, SAS officers have established a strong voice on campus to combat stereotyping and insensitivity. Rabie usually writes letters to publications, and has recently written letters to the editors of both the Lampoon and The Crimson.