Controversy erupts over student in terror garb

Correction appended Updated Friday, 4:08 p.m.

A student says it was just a joke, but his Halloween costume has resulted in serious criticism for University President Amy Gutmann.

Engineering senior Saad Saadi dressed as a suicide bomber for Gutmann's annual Halloween party Tuesday night, and photos were taken of him with Gutmann and other school officials.

Now, the pictures are popping up on the Web and alumni and others around the country are contacting the University to voice their distaste.

Saadi told The Daily Pennsylvanian that Gutmann did not seem to take his costume too seriously. He said when he approached her for to the photo, she joked, "'How did they let you through security?'"

Gutmann released a statement yesterday, saying that she did not realize what Saadi was dressed up as until after she had taken the photo. She said that after she realized he was dressed as a suicide bomber, she refused to take any more pictures with him.

"The costume is clearly offensive and I was offended by it," she said.

However, she acknowledged that "the student had the right to wear the costume just as I, and others, have a right to criticize his wearing of it."

Saadi, who is also a DP photographer, initially posted the photo with President Gutmann on his Facebook profile, but sites including democracy-project.com and ivygateblog.com have since posted that picture, along with others. They show Saadi holding a fake rifle and explosives, mock-executing students and imitating other jihadist activity.

Saadi added that while some party guests expressed disapproval at the costume, more people were complimentary.

In addition to Gutmann, Saadi posed with University Chaplain William Gipson.

Since the photos have sprung up on the Internet, Saadi has made a public apology available on his Web site, in which he says that the costume was not intended to be offensive, and that he does not support terrorism or violence.

Boston resident Matthew Coletti sent an e-mail to University administrators and campus groups, including The Daily Pennsylvanian, decrying the costume.

"These pictures suggest UPenn not only admit some students who exercise poor judgement, but employs such individuals as well," he wrote.

Some students said the issue is one that the school must confront.

"It's an issue that is relevant to all of humanity and the entire Penn community," College senior and Hillel President Ezra Billinkoff said.

Check back tomorrow for more updates on this story, and visit The Spin for further responses from Saadi and our columnists' take on the issue. Correction: It is stated that University officials were not available to comment for this story because it developed late in the evening. University officials may have been available to comment, but the DP chose only to contact them via e-mail, not via phone, because of the late hour.

Comments (232)

Typical ivy league over-sensitivity and head-in-ass syndrome. Do they ever do anything but build their trust funds and try to be politically correct? How about some philanthropy for a change?

sad did something siily sad needs to donate $150 to hillel then sad will be back

The following comment [I received several] sums it up for me: "Not the brightest move..." US university president poses with 'suicide bomber'

There is alot of hatred shown on some responses to this post. Has anybody seen the suicide bomber t shirts selling in New York? I saw one in a magazine. Ask Bill O'Reilly to check out who those people are. I think that is a bigger issue than the PENN kid. Amy Gutman is a very nice person. I feel very comfortable that my child attends PENN where a real person is there to look out for her. A parent is mad and now won't send his kid to PENN? The kid loses out. PENN has been the greatest place in the world for my daughter. I hope she can get in to PENN Law and extend her stay at PENN.

One of the most important lessons for undergrads (or any member of a democracy for that matter) is that just because you have the right to say/do something does not mean you should do it. Often this relates to understanding the effect of your actions on others. That said, it's likely that college is where many people first learn this lesson; so I can forgive Mr. Saadi for his poor taste and sophomoric attempt at humor. There still lingers a question about President Gutman's decision to pose with the costumed undergrad. This was potentially a learning moment where Ms Gutmann could have declined the photograph and expressed her concern about the student's poor judgement. He's off the hook; she isn't.

Osama, is that you? Fellow dork-hadists, this is the zero hour! We can use this non-issue to blow our childish opinions out of proportion, and hijack the news. Know that the controvesy will not stop until we get brains. Soldiers: to field! Oh�?and, death to significance. P.S. has anyone seen my O'Reiley Factor coffee mug? I think I left it at training camp�? dork-training camp!

[QUOTE id="1b44b2be-c964-4438-8d84-f44fdc7ac6d7"]I am disgusted by Amy Gutmann's decision to pose with Saadi. What a despicable picture! Gutmann should apologize, and the trustees should start looking for a new president. Rodin would have NEVER done something like this, and neither would Hackney! Gutmann is a disgrace to the university, and should be removed from her position.[/QUOTE] I almost wish he'd blown himself up right then and there!

Amy Gutman was having fun too. Who says a college president can't forget the job and leave stress behiend for a few hours, once in a while. What kind of party would that have been if she threw the kid out? Is Amy Gutman criticized when she attends PENN basketball games and cheers like a fan and "high fives" her students? If someone stays politically correct 24/7 they burn out fast. Give Any Gutman a break, she is a great person.

[QUOTE id="542a699f-cbf1-4ba1-863c-ae9feabdf88b"]Ah yes, two wrongs make a right. I presume that you are a Philosophy Professor?[/QUOTE] If you must reduce my statement to simple minded aphorisms, then sure. I think my statement is more like: "when several wrongs are committed and only one becomes a "controversy", it points to the politicization of the issue rather than any real moral or ethical principles at play." I suppose that's too complicated and not as catchy as your retort.

[QUOTE id="25564dd6-2c87-4403-acde-4e20e91c1cec"]Amy Gutman was having fun too. Who says a college president can't forget the job and leave stress behiend for a few hours, once in a while. What kind of party would that have been if she threw the kid out? Is Amy Gutman criticized when she attends PENN basketball games and cheers like a fan and "high fives" her students? If someone stays politically correct 24/7 they burn out fast. Give Any Gutman a break, she is a great person.[/QUOTE] She was being politically correct. The Palestinian cause of suicide bombing is noble!

Wow noobs cry more please. The whole thing was a joke and if you really take this crap seriously, you should be more focused on much more serious issues, such as Middle East policy and Israel-Palestine relations. The costume was a parody, and Gutman had the insight to realize that. As for that pompous prick father who wants to take Penn off his son's list because they refuse to see things as a joke, go ahead, we don't need more asshats like your family at this school, we got enough rich conservative waspy kids for that.

[QUOTE id="9a60f42d-e62e-4f49-a2d2-c5851136198f"]Of course no one writes about the several students at the party dressed as Native Americans (which is exactly as tasteful as dressing in blackface), the students I saw dressed as crackheads, or the many women dressed in demeaning skimpy french maid outfits.[/QUOTE] This is perhaps the most intelligent and insightful post of all of them, because it reminds us of the things we overlook without a second thought. It shows quite a lot about our own culture that the very cultures we have violently suppressed we can now use for joyful, festive entertainment and see nothing at all wrong with that... but it angers all these esteemed alumni that a costume dared to make such a violent political message explicit. It is astounding that pimps and hoes costumes (if we call them what every student knows them to be... the French maid is the toned-down version) do not elicit a response from our conscientious alumni; it has to take someone with radical political views to get them riled up. And for what it is worth, anyone who has the motivation and desire to dress as a suicide bomber knows very well the consequences of that costume in the public arena. Those who aren't politically-minded wind up dressing as pimps and hoes.

[QUOTE id="6ff76269-85b1-4c43-a211-e79872ecb103"]Let's not make excuses for a deliberate act by someone intelligent enough to get in to Penn. How much more offensive can you get before someone in the administration will disown glorifying homicide bombers? As for the student, obviously intelligence does not come hand in hand with ethics and morality. I'm sure he can find a few good courses on the immorality of deliberately taking innocent life.[/QUOTE] Er, what? He didn't take anyone's life. The story is about a student who, you know, dressed as a terrorist. For Halloween. An American tradition where revelers dress as something scary. It's not about a student who was a terrorist. Read. Think. Then, and only then, should you bother opening your mouth.

[QUOTE id="0c770031-979a-4d27-a5bd-442a315c5ea5"]W As for that pompous prick father who wants to take Penn off his son's list because they refuse to see things as a joke, go ahead, we don't need more asshats like your family at this school, we got enough rich conservative waspy kids for that.[/QUOTE] How do you know he wasn't a black, Jew or Hispanic? Just curious. What is your ethnic background, and money background?

[QUOTE id="ef2f36d1-9e23-4260-91e2-34a33a18518c"]I guess it depends whose ox is being gored. You would be the first one to protest if a victim was a black being hanged or gay man being burned at the stake. Can't you see your own hypocracy?[/QUOTE] Wait, what? What victim? I think what you just said was, "You people who disagree with me would be the first to protest if an innocent man were being hanged or burned at the stake merely for his race or sexual orientation, yet you are being hypocrites by not protesting when a student dresses as a terrorist for Halloween." What what? Who was killed, here? What victim are you talking about? Or, perhaps writing isn't your strong suit, and you meant, "You'd be protesting if Saad had dressed as a Klansmen and pretended to hang a black man," a line you've all apparently been told to repeat by your marching orders at Free Republic or some other self-important Website. But that's not true. Alongside Saad Saadi at the party was someone dressed as the former Dean of Libraries, who was arrested for possession of child pornography, along with a fake child's head attached to his groin area. There were people dressed as crackheads, and there were any number of other offensive costumes. I'm not aware of any Klansman costume, but I think it would be thematically appropriate--Halloween is about dressing as things that scare you, and in the process removing some of their power to terrify. Dressing as Klansmen, as terrorists, and as child predators (well, the last one's just weird) are all good ways to do this. But you don't really care, of course. You didn't come here to share your opinion and listen to what others have to say. You came here to run your mouth off about Ivory Tower Intellectuals and how evil and hypocritical they are. Right?

I also dressed up as a terrorist for Halloween, though I feel that my constume was a bit wittier than Saadi Saadi's. What I did was wear a traditional Indian outfit (kurta) and a shawl, and then strapped myself with toiletries with a voice-recognition detonator attached to them. I received a positive response, even some free beers from a bartender who's boyfriend is Iranian. The motivation behind my costume was an insult I receieved the previous week by a security officer at JFK who gave me crap for not putting my toiletries in a zip-lock bag. I saw the costume as a parody of our security rules. No big deal. I expected to receive some negative feedback. In any case, I believe that the outrage against Saadi Saadi's costume, though understandable, is ultimately misplaced. Who in their right mind actually believes that "good taste" is among the criteria to gain membership to any elite institution?

From the kids, I guess I don't expect much more from the oh-so-clever, ironic, trust-funded pseudo-dissident, upper class Ivy League set. Eminent scholar Gutmann on the other hand, the alleged adult, shows complete lack of common sense on this one. Hey Amy, did you let the kids dressed as skinheads, Klansmen, Nazis, and in blackface attend the party? Get pictures? Note to telemarketing fundraisers: This alumnus is on the don't call list permanently.

[QUOTE id="98ebe54c-9d5d-46f6-9c21-95ca17d4c018"]From the kids, I guess I don't expect much more from the oh-so-clever, ironic, trust-funded pseudo-dissident, upper class Ivy League set. Eminent scholar Gutmann on the other hand, the alleged adult, shows complete lack of common sense on this one. Hey Amy, did you let the kids dressed as skinheads, Klansmen, Nazis, and in blackface attend the party? Get pictures? Note to telemarketing fundraisers: This alumnus is on the don't call list permanently.[/QUOTE] Good point, Jim. Would love to see some Penn students go to the next Halloween party in blackface make-up! LOL. And stupid Amy would grin and pose with them, while they are eating watermelons and doing the cakewalk. You know, Freedom of speech, and all the brave First Amendment advocaates will defend them. Right?

I know the student in question, and I understand his sense of humor. I'm not terribly offended by the costume; however, if he's allowed to dress as a suicide bomber (which I think is in bad taste), then I don't think it's a problem for someone to dress as Herman Goering, a KKK member, a Native American, a black man being lynched, Osama bin Laden, a Black Panther, Joseph Stalin, or an aborted fetus. I suspect that the same people who defend his costume would be outraged over some of my other suggestions above; likewise, someone who is outraged over this suicide bomber costume may look the other way for one of these other suggestions. It would most likely be liberals for the former statement, and conservatives for the latter. Btw, I would consider myself a non-rich, white, non-waspy conservative. I'm not offended by any of the costume ideas...probably because I watch too much South Park. Oh, and quit insulting people's parents for not wanting to send their kids here because of this and quit assuming they are rich, stuck-up, waspy conservatives. You show your ignorance too when you say this.

Maybe next year, Amy can dress as a castrated clitoris and go with Saadi as a matching set?

I'm a Penn parent. I think the photo displayed in the DP of the student dressed as a terrorist and posting with the President is not merely in "poor taste." I'm incredulous, if the quote is accurate, that the President fliply would joke about the student having gotten through security. There is a line crossed in this incident; the student should have been escorted out of the event at the President's residence and questioned regarding his poor judgement and incredible lack of sensitivity.

Amy, You got some 'splaining to do. See you on Bill O'Reilly tonight.

I'm not too concerned with this silly student...but more the lack of judgement and common sense of the president of the university. A responsible President and leader would have confronted the student, had him escorted from the premesis with a follow-up reprimand given him from her office.... This is not a free speech issue. Are Holocaust deniers acceptable speakers at Penn? I think not. This is as bad or worse. Get your act together Gutmann

[QUOTE id="45b87af4-d9c4-4eec-a01b-c0d52c88dc1e"]I am a father considering, along with my son, what university he should attend. The University of Pennsylvania is now off the list. The leadership's lack of moral clarity as regards posing with people dressed like our enemy and allowing mock executions by self described "freedom fighters" is telling. We hear all the time about leftists being in control of our campuses. This is truly proof of that. I wonder if Ms. Gutmann would have been so willing to smile for the cameras while posing with someone dressed as President Bush.[/QUOTE] Yes, people were offended. Yes, maybe it would have been wise for the "freedom fighter" and his friends to have considered the backlash they would face beforehand. But ultimately, it was a Halloween costume and legally it cannot and should not be punished. True, there are public consequences to every public action (just as dressing as a Nazi or a member of the Klan would most definitely cause an outcry...while dressing as Attila the Hun probably would not, although all three are famous for engaging in similar brutal atrocities). It's just a question of what "crosses the line" at what time, and what hits on people's anxieties and sensitivities at the current moment. This costume obviously crossed the line for a lot of people, but ultimately we live in a country where crossing the line is allowed via speech, costume, or any other kind of non-violent expression. And realistically, what would we have the administration do? Amy Gutman is, after all, a representative of the entire University- had she refused to take the picture, it would have sent the message that the University finds it acceptable to quiet the voices of students who make any controvercial noise. While she certainly would be justified in refusing to take a picture had she personally been very offended herself, she made no error in failling to act according to the above poster's individual version of "moral clarity." I personally saw a few of these guys walking around in costume and thought it was distasteful as well...but my second thought was that I sure as hell am glad to be a part of a campus where free speech is respected- even when applying to the distasteful. And if the above gentleman and his son are only interested in schools which will sell students down the river for exercising their rights of free speech, then maybe Penn is not for them after all. (By the way, everyone go check out Borat at The Bridge this weekend- another example of the American tradition of crossing the line).