On Oct. 17, a man approached a group of pro-Palestinian protesters, calling them terrorists outside of Coffman Union. The incident was caught on video, posted to the Students for Justice for Palestine’s Instagram page and reposted on Al Jazeera’s Instagram page. “All you f—ing Muslim terrorists,” the man in the video said.

On Oct. 22, one day after the Morrill Hall takeover, a man in a crowd of a pro-Palestinian protest in front of Coffman Union yelled calling speakers and them terrorists. “Every time a speaker stopped talking, the man yelled terrorists,” Abouhekel said. Abouhekel did not report the incident to University administration or the University of Minnesota Police Department.

University of Minnesota spokesperson Jake Ricker said the safety of students, faculty and staff is the University’s top priority. “Acts of harassment, intimidation or bias — including these two incidents — are entirely unacceptable and will not be tolerated,” Ricker said. “We have and will respond promptly and fully to any reports of this behavior on campus.”

Fourth-year student Shahd Abouhekel took the Oct. 17 video. “I feared for my safety and feared this guy would like physically attack us,” Abouhekel said. “He kept saying, “You guys are terrorists, all of you are terrorists, effing Muslims.’” Abouhekel did not report the incident to the University of Minnesota Police Department but said she sent a direct email to Heather McGinnis, senior assistant to the vice president for Student Affairs, reporting the incident.

McGinnis responded to Abouhekel’s email and provided links for reporting bias concerns and additional resources for support.

“I told them the rundown of what happened, and they decided to turn a blind eye,” Abouhekel said.

Abouhekel said the University’s response raises concerns for the Muslim community.“ There has been a rise of Islamophobia in the past year, and especially the past few months,” Abouhekel said. “The University decided to just not bring it to light, and they don’t want to address it, and they’re just ignoring it.”

President of the Muslim Student Association (MSA) Ibraheem Fannoun said he wants to see more accountability from the University. “When they hear about these things, they don’t do anything about it,” Fannoun said. “The administration is making a big show of listening, but not taking action.”

Abouhekel said being called a terrorist is nothing new to her, and she has faced discrimination for wearing the hijab at the University this semester. “I was sitting with my friend and we were studying, and the student comes next to us and throws a crumpled piece of paper at me,” Abouhekel said. “We open it up and it says, ‘Your hijab is a disgrace to women.’”

Fourth-year student and President of the Undergraduate Student Government Rahma Ali said she does not feel safe on campus. “It’s not easy being a Muslim woman,” Ali said. “It’s not easy being a woman, and on top of that, a Black hijabi woman too.”

Ali said the issue goes beyond being called a terrorist. Islamophobia affects both the individual it is targeted towards and the community as a whole, negatively contributing to one’s mental health and identity, she added.

There have been issues with verbal harassment against Muslim women in the University community, especially since the Oct. 7 attacks, Fannoun said.

According to Fannoun, Islamophobia on campus has increased since the Oct. 7 attacks due to a misunderstanding of pro-Palestinian messaging.

“People see it as a show of hatred toward other groups,” Fannoun said. “It’s not accurate, and because of that, we see Islamophobia from other student organizations and even random individuals on campus.” Fannoun said his primary goal as MSA president is to prioritize his community and encourage people to do their research on Islam and Muslims.

“Look for somebody Muslim in your classes,” Fannoun said. “Ask them, and tell them to ask those who know, at the end of the day supporting Palestine is something we believe in and our religion is part of our beliefs.”

Source: The Minnesota Daily

The report is the result of two task forces charged with looking into the perceptions and feelings of Jewish, Israeli, Arab, and Palestinian students.

“The differences in perceptions of comfort and safety are rather stark depending on one’s own identities,” the report states in its findings. “Members of all affected communities perceived less openness to diversity of opinions compared to members of the broader campus community and expressed greater perceptions of discomfort and unsafety for those who share their identities compared to those who do not.”

The report states that students reported both Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia on campus, including anti-Israel bias and a “perceived alienation and lack of support for Palestinian and Muslim communities.” Insults, intimidation, and a desire to hide their identities were reported all around.

“The intent of this joint submission is not to equate antisemitism and Islamophobia, but to acknowledge that this particular moment puts into sharp relief the need to examine both in a shared context, as the present conflicts shine light on issues that impact members of our campus community who have experienced pain, isolation, fear, and discrimination,” the report states.

According to UW’s report, during the 2023-24 academic year:

• About two-thirds of Palestinian students said they had experienced insults and intimidation over the previous year. About half to one-third of Muslim and Arab/Middle Eastern/North African (MENA) students reported the same.
• One-third of Jewish students and 70% of Israeli students said they experienced insults and intimidation.
• 72% of Arab or MENA, 80% of Muslim students, and 78% of Palestinian students in the focus groups said they were unwelcome because of their identities.
• 60% of Jewish students and 92% of Israeli students in the focus groups said they were unwelcome because of their identities.
• 69% of Arab/MENA students, 74% of Muslim students, and 77% of Palestinian students reported a desire to hide their identity at least once (38% of Arab/MENA students, 40% of Muslim students, and 50% of Palestinian students said this happened frequently).
• 65% of Jewish students and 95% is Israeli students said they needed to hide their identities at least once (42% of Jewish students, 81% of Israeli students said this happened frequently).

Read the full 143-page report here.

In March 2024, UW President Ana Mari Cauce ordered the formation of the two task forces — one for gauging Islamophobia on campus, and the other for Anti-Semitism. Those task forces conducted a series of surveys with focus groups in May 2024 to develop the report released Tuesday. During that time, there were multiple protests and a pro-Palestine encampment on the UW campus.

“We recognize the importance of preserving public free speech; however, the encampment and campus protests, at times, were perceived to go beyond these lines of argument and advocacy to call, implicitly or even explicitly, for violence,” the report states.

“Many survey or focus group participants were distressed by the perceived alienation and lack of support provided for Palestinian and Muslim members of our community. In voicing concerns related to the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, they sought visibility for their cause and for the UW to provide a place where these local and global concerns could be focused on, feeling at times that their message and concerns were not adequately heard nor addressed.”

No information from these focus groups was looked into or confirmed for accuracy. UW says that the purpose of the task forces was more for “gathering feedback and gaining an understanding of the campus climate.”

Source: KUOW