Editorial | Standing by Gutmann

Almost a week ago, all Daily Pennsylvanian editors headed down Walnut Street to pay a visit to President Amy Gutmann's Halloween party.

It's an annual tradition, and one of the only where large numbers of students really get to interact with their president.

At the party, hundreds of students wander through a large, dark tent, sporting Halloween costumes from cheerleaders to mobsters. The students clamor around Gutmann, trying to get her attention long enough to get a picture snapped with her.

This year, one student, Engineering senior Saad Saadi, dressed as a suicide bomber and posed with Gutmann. The pictures of the two soon made rounds on the Internet and ignited a firestorm of criticism of both Gutmann and Saadi.

In Saadi's case, some criticism is certainly warranted. People have the right - as some were - to be offended by his costume and pictures of him conducting mock executions.

But Gutmann, from what we can tell, did nothing wrong.

She must have taken pictures with hundreds of Penn students that night. It's simply not feasible for her to examine every students' costume and measure where they were offensive enough to warrant turning down a picture request.

When Saadi really did cross the line, by asking Gutmann to pose in a photo as a hostage, she rightly refused to do so.

As Gutmann has said, Saadi undeniably had a right to wear the costume - just as others have the right to be offended by it.

But it's ridiculous to get angry at Gutmann because one of the hundreds of students she posed with wore a costume some find offensive. Moreover, most of the heavy criticism of Gutmann is coming from alumni and ordinary citizens outside Philadelhia - not from students who were actually at the event.

We hope, for everyone's sake, Gutmann will reveal more in the coming days about what actually transpired between herself and Saadi at the party.

But critics should temper their fiery comments. The true shame would be if this wonderful tradition came to an end simply because of a costume choice.

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