Students, Faculty Offer Perspectives
at Recent Discussion

On Sept. 20, students, staff and faculty from The Claremont Colleges filled the McKenna Auditorium at CMC for "International Perspectives on September 11^th," sponsored by International Place and the Office of the Chaplains of The Claremont Colleges.

Those in attendance heard from a panel of students from places such as Pakistan, Mexico, New York, Egypt and Bulgaria. The panel also included faculty members Lako Tongun, professor of political studies at Pitzer; Tahir Andrabi, professor of economics at Pomona College; and Morcos Massoud, professor of economics and accounting at Claremont McKenna.

With the Rev. Catharine Carlson of CUC's Office of the Chaplains moderating, the students and faculty members had five minutes to express their feelings regarding the recent events.

"What I would like to express here is the concern of people who are reacting to those who have done it. I'd like to say, 'Yes, some people who are identified with Islam have done it,'" said Tongun. "But that doesn't mean that all Muslims are responsible. That distinction has to be made." 

Tongun, who comes from the Sudan, said his country is in the middle of "a horrendous civil war that has cost 2 million lives." He said the war is being conducted by a government that has declared itself Islamic. Tongun said that while there are similarities to what has happened in New York and what is happening in the Sudan, "we have to differentiate as to who is doing it." Although some people who follow Islam have been identified as terrorists, he said, it doesn't mean all Muslims are responsible.

Tongun is particularly concerned about the fate of foreign students.

This is going to have immediate, and perhaps long-term, consequences for foreign people, foreign students in particular," he said. "The reaction of the U.S. government is going to be clamping down on foreign students who are coming here."