A campus rally held to promote unity in the college community brought both ominous and comforting comments from ASU President Lattie Coor Friday afternoon.
The “United Campus Rally,” attended by about 175 people, comes on the heels of the shooting death of Balbir Singh Sodhi at a Mesa gas station and the assault of a Middle Eastern student on campus.
“One of the painful ironies of life is that tragedy is often a necessary condition for us to look deeply within ourselves as individuals and as a society to grapple with things that, under more normal circumstances, we should have understood,” Coor said
Comments from Coor darkened when he recalled the week’s events.
“The tragedy we’ve already felt within our own campus of a student being assaulted, then, stunningly, one of our fellow citizens in Mesa, a Sikh, killed — others, I fear, will now be before us as a community and as a nation.”
Daya Singh Khalsa, a spokesman for the Sikh community and the Sodhi family, said there are about 400,000 Sikhs in the U.S. and about 2,000 reside in Arizona. Khalsa explained that the bereaved family was trying to make the best of the situation.
“The Sodhi family is taking the death of Balbir as both a tragedy and a blessing,” Khalsa said. “They have turned to God and are celebrating his life as a chance for other people to understand who Sikhs are.”
According to Sadhana Rajagopalan, spokeswoman for the ASU Unified Society of South Asians, the overall campus environment among Middle Eastern students is calm.
“People are a little bit nervous but far from paranoid,” Rajagopalan said. “I’ve been a little more cautious; I don’t go places without taking someone else with me. I have not changed anything in terms of my normal schedule.”
Associated Students of ASU Graduate College Senator Ignacio Espinosa de los Monteros said his efforts to promote tolerance on campus have been met with some negativity.
“Personally, I’ve had comments like, ‘Terrorist lover, go to Afghanistan; I’ll buy you a ticket to go back there if you want to live among them,’” Monteros said. ASASU, however, will continue its efforts without regard to religious or ethnic association.
“The face of terror doesn’t have a nationality or creed,” Monteros said. “The best example of that is Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City bombing. McVeigh was an American citizen, a Christian and white; still, he did a heinous crime.”
ASASU President Jeremy Helper said, “Don’t be afraid to go to class or school. The campus safety escort service is still working. Many of the clubs on campus are now having volunteers walk with students to and from class.”
The phone number for the Safety Escort Service is (480) 965-1515.
Additionally, the library skylight on Hayden lawn will serve as a memorial for the victims of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11. Students wanting to express grief or recognition of the victims will be allowed to leave mementos at the skylight until it is deemed no longer necessary.
Reach Victor Allen at victordallen@cs.com.
