Critics demand that Gutmann atone

Sometimes, apologizing just doesn't seem to be enough.

A vocal group of alumni and academics continues to voice outrage at Penn President Amy Gutmann for posing in a picture with a student dressed as a suicide bomber.

And although the frenzy is dying down after a week of controversy about Engineering senior Saad Saadi's infamous Halloween costume, some critics think Gutmann still hasn't done all she needs to do.

Since the photograph surfaced on the Internet last week, Gutmann has issued two separate public statements addressing the matter. She is refusing to comment further.

But these critics have a range of instructions for Gutmann on how to handle the costume controversy.

Various proposals call for Gutmann to institute courses on the history and contemporary issues of suicide bombers, publicly take a harder stance on terrorism or impose a dress code for next year's Halloween party.

"I am glad to learn that President Gutmann was offended by a student's choice of costume . but . she did not do what should have been done," 1967 Penn alumnus Philip Zwick said.

Zwick suggested that Saadi - who is a Daily Pennsylvanian photographer - be suspended for a semester.

"I'd like to see some repercussions for this student," he said.

And even some with no connection to Penn at all are speaking out.

"It is [Gutmann's] responsibility . to show that free speech can be offensive and damaging" Michigan doctor Isaac Barr said in an interview.

Barr, who is unaffiliated with the University, wrote a letter to The Daily Pennsylvanian expressing his opinion about Gutmann's response.

"Penn should be teaching . what free speech is," said Barr, adding that Gutmann should "tell the people that want free speech that they cannot offend other people while doing so."

Barr is not the only one to say that teaching relevant lessons would be a suitable reaction.

Laura Gutman, a Duke professor emerita who also wrote a letter to the DP, said in an interview that Penn should bring in Middle East experts to teach about terrorism and its political history.

Beyond a revamped course catalogue, she - and others - are condemning President Gutmann's approach to the issue in general, specifically her statements that Saadi "had the right to wear the costume" and that she personally was offended by it.

"The fact that [Gutmann] brings this up as a legal issue indicates that there's no thought given whatsoever to the issue of maintaining standards of behavior which will lead to an ethical and peaceable society," Laura Gutman said. "I view this as dumbing down the egregious nature of these acts."

And several academic groups are echoing these sentiments.

"There's no real statement of [Gutmann's] understanding the impact of the message that was sent out" by Saadi's costume, said Edward Beck, president of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, a pro-Israel group that focuses on current events in the Middle East.

"This was an official function in her house on University property, [and Gutmann] either acted independently incompetent or was surrounded by some incompetency," he said.

Others are less concerned with Gutmann's administrative actions and are more focused on Saadi - and what they see as the implications of his actions.

Gutmann's "rebuke of [Saadi's] wearing that costume should be stronger than her saying she's offended," said Barry Morrison, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, an organization that monitors international anti-Semitism.

"This subject can only be dealt with in a serious vein," Morrison added, urging the University to educate Saadi about terrorism and further investigate why he thought the costume was funny.

In the meantime, many remain content with Gutmann's responses thus far and say that further action is unnecessary.

"There is no other thing for [Gutmann] to do," said Penn alumnus Philip Darivoff. "Because of her strong credentials in the area, she does not have to establish herself as a defender of democracy or a supporter of Israel."

Comments (33)

[QUOTE id="82f86300-e676-47ed-b4e0-94bf34dc0bd6"]Am i the only who noticed that all those "outraged" are Jewish? I am sure some are going to take my comment as anti-Semitic but I think these Jewish Alumni are outraged because they percieve Saadi as Muslim, when in fact, he is not. This is their way of expressing their hatred towards Muslims.[/QUOTE] This is like saying people would be outraged at someone dressing up as a Nazi due to their hatred toward Germans or Europeans. Outrage would have been absent if he were dressed in traditional Muslim dress and coiffure, or a woman dressed in Jilbaab. It's not the Muslim aspect that offends here - it's the murderous violence that is represented by the costume. In addition, your sweeping depiction of Jews being the only ones offended is an ironic addition to your condemnation of prejudice. But many (thankfully) are unlike you and will not assume that all Muslims are like you and all Muslims always try to turn "bad press about Muslims" into "the Jews are out for us."

[QUOTE id="6b4686a0-1504-4669-b3ed-38f0a7278d0f"]Dear Outraged Alumni Mentioned in the Article, I petition that all of you be suspended from your jobs for speaking out against Saad Saadi and the Halloween costume matter. Sound a bit outrageous? Maybe that's because I'm trying to take away your rights to free speech. Rights that are available to all even on a Halloween party. I cannot even begin to you the number of distasteful and perhaps inappropriate costumes that we're seen on the Penn campus Halloween night. Those in skimpy, objectifying costumes have just as much of a right to wear there garb as Saadi did his. Gutmann has apologized, the simple story has been told in about 4 different Daily Pennsylvanian articles in the past week or so. I think it's time to move past this. Saadi deserves no punishment beyond the one he has already and is going through with the outburst of damning publicity against this University and it's President. Maybe it's time to worry about something more important than trying to unabashedly take away Constitution given rights. Maybe a class on the Constitution should be required at Penn, as it seems that it may be necessary because some are forgetting what freedoms we have in this country.[/QUOTE] However, I'm pretty sure if I showed up at my job dressed as a suicide bomber, I'd be fired. While this country has protections for free speech (I couldn't get arrested for wearing this costume unless I worked at an airport), my job is not protected. I am still Constitutionally open to criticism and consequences of my actions including being repremanded for being offensive and misrepresenting my institution. Yes, the government can't do anything, but both Gutman and the student are free to be punished, suspended, expelled, or fired - first amendment or not. I am not calling for their heads. I'm just pointing out the metamorphasis of the First Amendment into a cliche.

The University of Pennsylvania is a private university. It can do whatever it likes. There is a right to free speech within the United States, but this right may be restricted by private organizations. If Saad Saadi wants to walk around West Philadelphia dressed as he was, the government and police can't do anything to stop him, assuming he is breaking no other laws. By entering President Gutmann's house, he entered private property. The University of Pennsylvania has the right to punish him however it chooses, but that punishment can't be enforced by the courts. So, they could suspend him, expel him, compel him to perform service, etc. People who think that Saad Saadi has the right to free speech are wrong. He has that right in public, but the University of Pennsylvania can choose to restrict that right as they see fit. Apparently, President Gutmann does not see it fit to do so.

Mr. Horrock's on-target post should be supplemented by giving special thanks to Borat.

This whole situation is UNIMPORTANT, it's practically a non-issue. It's human nature to overreact, let's face it, it's fun. It's a simple as this: -The costumed student is a dimwit, an annoying attention-starved child. Ignore him, and he'll go away. -If the student has pro-terrorism propaganda on his website, report it to the authorities, and leave it at that. -Gutman posed with him *by accident*. Imagine yourself in a dark, frenzied room, having your photo taken every few seconds with different people. Your "mood" is one of amiability and great fun. In this atmosphere, even the sharpest of us would pause for a few seconds before realizing what a costume *is*, and by then, the picture had already been taken. Give Amy a break, it was an accident. Everyone - RELAX, there are important issues out there to ponder upon, and this one ISN'T.

President Guttman's condoning of Saadi's behavior as "free speech" is an insult to the entire Penn community, and is a transparent attempt to exculpate her own complicity. Had it been a minority group that been the butt of the joke, the student would have been expelled or forced to withdraw. This is what Penn�?s administration did in the notorious "water buffalo" incident of several years ago. I also note that President Guttman didn't see fit to meet with the Hillel students herself, sending an assistant to do spin control. Finally, President Guttman said that she didn't realize that Saadi was dressed as a suicide bomber. What exactly did she think he was supposed to be - Ben Franklin? Is she pleading ignorance or stupidity? On the other hand, since she did ask Saadi how he got through security, it is clear that she is being disingenuous when she claims she didn�?t realize what was going on.

Am i the only who noticed that all those "outraged" are Jewish? I am sure some are going to take my comment as anti-Semitic but I think these Jewish Alumni are outraged because they percieve Saadi as Muslim, when in fact, he is not. This is their way of expressing their hatred towards Muslims.

A young person made a bad decision and was lucky he wasn't mistaken for an actual threat while walking the streets of Philadelphia. This bad decision is going to affect him for the rest of his life. Yes he has the right to free speech but any prospective employer who "googles" him will see what he did as well as the very public response to his actions. That employer may feel that he lacks good judgement and choose not to hire him. There is no need to punish him as he has jeopardized his future himself.

It is completely ridiculous that this is an item of news. Perhaps the Daily Pennsylvanian should be suicide bombed.

More appropriate than classes on the "history and contemporary issues of suicide bombers" would be courses on the reasons for the need for protection of free speech, mass hysteria, and the McCarthy era. Already a President of an Ivy League school has been forced to pretend to be more contrite than any reasonably sensitive person would be under the circumstances. That ought to alarm everyone.

[QUOTE id="e945c41f-24ed-45f5-8725-01590f6a0e8f"]It is completely ridiculous that this is an item of news. Perhaps the Daily Pennsylvanian should be suicide bombed.[/QUOTE] That is disgusting...i can't even read these posts anymore. I'm sick of the free speech argument...i'm sick of liberal vs. conservative...i'm sick of whether saad is muslim or christian...none of it matters. what he did is offensive to American's...You can be anti-Bush/government all you want...but some things are just wrong...most things aren't black and white but this is. How can you make light of anything being suicide bombed?? please respond and answer...you are just as bad as saad. It's NOT FUNNY...go to Iraq for a year and come back and stand in the same room as Saad dressed like he was....i fu**in dare you...

Enough! Oversimplifying and/or interpreting the picture as President Gutmann supporting terrorism or as anything beyond simply posing with a student on Halloween is at best sensationalist and at worst ignorance. Issuing any sort of apology is pandering to either sensationalism or ignorance and I will be ashamed of this institution Ð a supposed center for reason and intelligence Ð if it continues to give in to such nonsense.

Amy Gutmann's mistake was ever apologizing in the first place. She should have taken Prince Harry's queu when he wore a distasteful nazi uniform at a private costume party. Partisan groups were demanding public mea-culpas, apologies, sensitivity training, etc. - exactly what is being demanded of Amy Gutmann. Instead, Prince Harry basically told them all to fuck off. Thank god he did. Because once you pander to these people, it will never be enough. These people will hold it over your head like the sword of damocles until they break you. See Amy, what happened when you wrote that pathetic apology? They said its not enough. IT WILL NEVER BE ENOUGH. But since you admitted guilt and shame, you have given them all the power. Now they want your head on a platter. You opened a pandora's box that you will never be able to close. Soon enough, some billionaire alumnus will pledge not to give another dime until you are gone. That will be the end of your tenor at UofP.......better get your resume updated Amy. You're gonna need it.

Since when have people had a right not to be offended. Actually it appears the writers are enjoying the chemical rush of self righteous indignation more than anything else. It represents the tendency toward victimization in our society. By declaring themselves victims, everyone is supposed to bend to their will. It started with genuine victims, but soon progressed to manufactured ones. The "victims" are trying to identify with other genuine victim groups to justify their positions and that is insulting to those groups. The negativity on this issue has become self reinforcing. The whole issue has become ludicrous, not that it wasn't so to begin with. Those writing all of these bombastic opinions are making Penn look ridiculous. I certainly hope that they really don't have any affiliation with the University. By the way, real suicide bombers tend to conceal the fact until they set off the explosives, otherwise their victims tend to get the hint and keep their distance. They don't parade the streets with dynamite strapped visibly their bodies and weapons in their hands. The symbol is not the thing symbolized. It was Halloween. Give it a rest!

at least it wasn't a girl dressed up as a scantily clothed, sexy suicide bomber. Now, that, i might have taken offense at.

What is this paper, a glorified opinion page? This is not hard news anymore, and it's not a "series." Don't splash this non-issue all over the front page just so it looks like you're dealing with Current Events rather than trite beer-drinking habits or what joe student happens to think about modern art. If you've got nothing substantial to say about this photo that hasn't already been said (the original article got 200 reader comments) then let the story die. Gutmann already made her stance known, you don't have to repeat it and add someone's counterpoint just so you can fill up your paper. Move On. We just had a national election. Huge changeovers that I'm sure people have opinions about. What was Penn's voter turnout? How many students voted on campus? How Many Provisional Ballots were cast? Your audience is your fellow students, so tell us things we don't already know.

I don't know what's worse, these fanatics with no sense of humor or the fact that the DP has not only given them a forum to express their fascist views, but made them the top story at a time when there is so much REAL news happening.

[QUOTE id="e945c41f-24ed-45f5-8725-01590f6a0e8f"]It is completely ridiculous that this is an item of news. Perhaps the Daily Pennsylvanian should be suicide bombed.[/QUOTE] It is called satire, and it has been a common form of humorist expression throughout much of written history. But please, do not cease to be offended, as that is part and parcel to my statement.

[QUOTE id="b1c64ddc-2e2c-440a-8bf5-11fa4d77b070"]Amy Gutmann's mistake was ever apologizing in the first place. She should have taken Prince Harry's queu when he wore a distasteful nazi uniform at a private costume party. Partisan groups were demanding public mea-culpas, apologies, sensitivity training, etc. - exactly what is being demanded of Amy Gutmann. Instead, Prince Harry basically told them all to fuck off. Thank god he did. Because once you pander to these people, it will never be enough. These people will hold it over your head like the sword of damocles until they break you. See Amy, what happened when you wrote that pathetic apology? They said its not enough. IT WILL NEVER BE ENOUGH. But since you admitted guilt and shame, you have given them all the power. Now they want your head on a platter. You opened a pandora's box that you will never be able to close. Soon enough, some billionaire alumnus will pledge not to give another dime until you are gone. That will be the end of your tenor at UofP.......better get your resume updated Amy. You're gonna need it.[/QUOTE] it's not that amy opened a pandora's box by apologizing, it's that she created a box that now entraps her. first, she joked about his costume at the party, but when she discovered that there was a public photo involved, she immediately thought only of her own self and went into damage control, saying THAT COSTUME WAS OFFENSIVE. AND I WAS OFFENDED. and so she very clearly framed the whole incident as a serious, and public, issue. Gutmann has begun this process, but it was not with her apology. it was with her not wanting to appear wrong.

Would you be expressing the same support for that student's rights to free speech, or understanding with Ptresident Gutless, if the student had come to the party dressed in a white robe, with a big white hood, holding a noose and asked the President to pose for a picture? Would that student even have bbeen allowed into the party? Of course not.....and that's why your argument is a farce. It's ok to offend jews, but not blacks, or muslims, opr other protected classes? Why is that?

[QUOTE id="ec2ea154-671a-45eb-be00-90547875b7d5"]What is this paper, a glorified opinion page? This is not hard news anymore, and it's not a "series." Don't splash this non-issue all over the front page just so it looks like you're dealing with Current Events rather than trite beer-drinking habits or what joe student happens to think about modern art. If you've got nothing substantial to say about this photo that hasn't already been said (the original article got 200 reader comments) then let the story die. Gutmann already made her stance known, you don't have to repeat it and add someone's counterpoint just so you can fill up your paper. Move On. We just had a national election. Huge changeovers that I'm sure people have opinions about. What was Penn's voter turnout? How many students voted on campus? How Many Provisional Ballots were cast? Your audience is your fellow students, so tell us things we don't already know.[/QUOTE] Why do people keep posting this kind of thing? Asking people to NOT talk about this? So long as the DP keeps running stories and letters and opinion pieces on this, people have every right to respond.

[QUOTE id="33191def-5bf8-48ba-8cf8-b4cb3088295b"]I don't know what's worse, these fanatics with no sense of humor or the fact that the DP has not only given them a forum to express their fascist views, but made them the top story at a time when there is so much REAL news happening.[/QUOTE] Yikes - now a Penn PhD student is calling fascists those who are expressing their views, and suggesting that the DP shouldn't give those people a forum. Anyone notice the irony? Of far less importance, but worthy to note - internet space is not zero-sum. This story can have several hundred postings and it takes away nothing from other stories' space or DP resources.