Controversy erupts over student in terror garb

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

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.

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! OhÑand, death to significance. P.S. has anyone seen my O'Reiley Factor coffee mug? I think I left it at training campÑ dork-training camp!

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.

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="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?

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

[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).

[QUOTE id="1b44b2be-c964-4438-8d84-f44fdc7ac6d7"]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] No, Hackney would have just allowed today's run of the DP to get stolen by Project Liberty people. Amy Gutmann, you're a great president of this university. Keep up the good work. ****************************************************** Go see the new Borat movie! Democracy is different in America. For example: women can vote but horse can not! -Borat

We as parents, can not even begin to comprehend WHAT was going through the heads of these people--ESPECIALLY Pres. Gutman. This is NOT acceptable behavior in ANY part of the world and to think about Amy Gutman posing for photos--turns our stomachs!! Costume, apology or whjatever--it should not have even been a thought. The other costumes mentioned by "Penn Professor" are no way comparable. They are not examples of destructive, hateful people. If she is that IGNORANT--she does not belong ANYWHERE on Penn. Not president, not custodian , nowhere. Get rid of her immedialtly. This is a SERIOUS problem that needs to be dealt with immediately.

I've attended these Gutmann bashes in previous years, and it's likely -- the fact that you're basically corralled into a receiving line with the president -- that she was with him for a second, took a picture, and moved on down the line. The article yesterday said there were 100 students waiting outside when the party started. I'm certain that they were trying to get these students in as quickly as possible. Also, Saadi is a former DP Phototog. I'm guessing photos of him would have been taken regardless.

penn students and the DAILY UPENN are hand in hand supporting terrorists. http://lamp.dailypennsylvanian.com/blogs?section=2 once again campus liberalism steals the minds of a generation and turns them into pawns of HATERS of America.

This looks to be the most-commented story in DP history. Second place goes to Michelle Dubert's Eagles bashing column probably haha.

Clearly, Saadi dressed as a terrorist to express his support for Islamofascist murderers! And President Gutmann posed with him to show her support, as well! This punk should be sent to Guantanamo!

The DP likes to advertise itself as a serious publication, but ths article gives (yet another) example of how amateurish it is. "University officials were not available to comment for this story because it developed late in the evening." Since when do you run a news story without attempting to receive comment from all parties involved? Just because you are doing your work at deadline hour does not excuse you from doing *real journalism*. I'm sure that the President would rather be awoken from her sleep than have a story like this run without her comment. Do you think reporters at reputable news sources fail to make phone calls because stories "develop late in the evening"? The editor of the news desk should be embarrassed for running such a potentially controversial story without covering all of the bases first.