The possibility of international or terrorist involvement in the New York City and Washington, D.C., tragedies has caused MSU’s international students to question the events.
Hours after the destruction of the World Trade Center, The Islamic Center of East Lansing, 920 S. Harrison Ave., received threatening phone calls.
“We are still keeping the building open today regardless,” Mahmoud Mousa, the center’s president, said. “We want safety in the whole community, and we are praying today for that and for the families and friends of those involved.
“We condemn this terrible action.”
At the 2 p.m. prayer service, one of five held at the center daily, 11 men showed up with more than the usual to pray about.
“We as Muslims are praying for families and others involved with this tragedy,” said Aimen Farraj, a pharmacology and toxicology graduate student. “Islam as a religion absolutely condemns attacks like this - killings of innocent people and especially suicide. That is forbidden.”
Farraj is originally from Brooklyn, N.Y., where he has many relatives working. By Tuesday afternoon he was able to confirm their safety, but said it was hard trying to reach them.
“It was just impossible to get a hold of people,” he said. “I was worried, and I am not going to class today - rather praying for those involved.”
With Farraj’s Islamic and Palestinian background, he said he was astonished to hear that Palestinians were parading around enthusiastically through the streets of Palestine.
“There is no reason to be joyous at a time like this, and we should all sympathize with those who have been injured and their families and friends,” he said.
Tom Nishi, a coordinator of Asian American and Pacific Islander Student Affairs, said the focus needs to be on the victims.
“You can’t emphasize enough that you have to remember victims,” he said. “Some senator said in an interview that this is the second Pearl Harbor, but it reminds me of the second Hiroshima.”
Nishi said it is important for students to remain together and use each other as support.
“We’re making ourselves available to any of our aides or students that want to talk to someone who looks like them,” he said.
But not all students have the luxury of campus counseling.
Even with only one student on study abroad in the Middle East, Jeff Riedinger, assistant dean of International Studies and Programs, said the Office of Study Abroad is taking precautions.
“Participants are being encouraged to take a low profile and to be cautious and take extra safety precautions in the coming days,” he said. “We’re urging students on campus to be calm and respect the diversity of our campus and not to jump to any conclusions about who may be involved or what culture they are from.”
All Study Abroad programs to Israel were canceled last semester because of an increase in tension there and a concern for students’ safety.
“Our observation has been that a large group of both international and national students are watching the events unfold on the TV in our lobby together,” Riedinger said. “A lot of folks just want to reach out to someone to help process this and make it more real to them.”
