“[The students] have been trying to go about their business, doing their class shopping,” he said. “I think it’s very difficult for anyone to relate to this. What has happened is largely the stuff of fiction, the stuff of movies. And that can make us almost callous to the real disaster.”
Luke Stein ’02, an Adams resident, also sensed confused emotions. “I think people are having a hard time trying to decide whether they should be mourning, or whether they should be continuing with their lives,” Stein said. “It is easy to say that we should reflect, but it’s also important to try and move on.”
“Many of us have been made uncomfortable, personally or directly, because we don’t know what to make of the situation,” said Sean Palfrey, Adams Housemaster, at the opening of a discussion there last night.
After a number of faculty and students shared personal stories of discrimination, much of the dialogue centered on gaining an understanding of how backlash after Tuesday’s attacks have affected the community.
“I’ve felt a bit singled out,” said Harvard Islamic Society (HIS) president Saif I. Shah Mohammed ’02, who added that he has received one piece of hate mail since Tuesday’s attack. “In the media, the word ‘jihad,’ which typically means an internal struggle of religious devotion, has been turned into this idea of a violent holy war.”
Among almost everyone who spoke, the need to place blame was tempered by pleas for compassion and caution. Tawfiq Ali ’02, secretary of HIS, said he considered the terrorist strike an act of war, but added that anger “needs to go into a type of patriotism that isn’t about fighting a country so much as upholding and preserving our values.”
Some students also advocated sending letters to news outlets asking for more emphasis on Muslim-American hate crimes and leaving notes and flowers at local mosques. Stephen N. Smith ’02 touted a Harvard peace rally that will take place at noon on Thursday near Memorial Church, as part of a national peace movement centering on college campuses.
“The way I’ve found to funnel my rage and frustration is to advocate that another country doesn’t have to go through this, through the type of tragedy that America is preparing for someone else right now,” said Smith, a rally organizer. “There are other considerations besides revenge and retribution.”
Mark Edelman, a chaplain at Memorial Church and one-time terrorism analyst, emphasized the importance of activism.
“I know about the pressures the people in Washington are under right now. And those pressures are partly created by us. This is Harvard....If you have an opinion that you want to direct the conversation in another way, get out and get your voice heard,” he said.