University of PA - Halloween Party

[Backstop]

Brick by brick, these f*ckers are tearing down the U.S.

If the President of an institution of higher learning - whose father fled Nazi Germany - can't see that, we're doomed.

Saad Saadi's 'mock attacks' would've mandated 'unspecified acts' on my part.

TheJerusalemPost

Nov. 5, 2006 0:03 | Updated Nov. 5, 2006 16:19

US university president poses with 'suicide bomber'

By MICHAEL FREUND JERUSALEM POST CORRESPONDENT

The president of one of the leading universities in the United States last week posed for photographs with a student dressed as a suicide bomber, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

In copies of photos obtained by the Post, University of Pennsylvania president Dr. Amy Gutmann is seen standing with engineering student Saad Saadi at the annual Halloween costume party held at the president's home.


Caption: University of Pennsylvania president Dr. Amy Gutman stands alongside engineering student Saad Saadi, dressed as a suicide bomber, at the Halloween party at her home last week.


Saadi is seen with a keffiyeh around his head, a toy Kalashnikov rifle in hand and six plastic sticks of dynamite strapped to his chest. Gutmann beams alongside him, dressed as Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, a character from L. Frank Baum's novel The Wizard of Oz.

Gutmann, who is herself Jewish, was inaugurated as university president in 2004. Her father, Kurt, fled Nazi Germany with his family in 1934.

In other photos taken at Gutmann's party that evening, Saadi can be seen carrying out a series of mock hostage executions, evoking images reminiscent of the series of abductions and murders of Westerners in Iraq in 2004.

In one instance, Saadi stands over a fellow student crouched on the ground, and points a gun at her head while reciting verses from the Koran.

In another image, Saadi poses with an unidentified child as he points Saadi's toy gun at the camera.

The day after the party, Saadi was quoted in the Daily Pennsylvanian, the campus newspaper, as saying that he attended Gutmann's affair dressed as a "freedom martyr."

Founded in 1751 by Benjamin Franklin, the University of Pennsylvania is based in Philadelphia and has over 23,000 students, including a large percentage of Jews. It consistently ranks among the top 10 schools of higher education in the country, and is a member of the prestigious Ivy League.

[eversman]

i dont think if anyone from these boards was there it would have stood up. i think each and everyone of us knows what this piece of $#%! deserves, and what actions warranted.

if he wants to play freedom maytr, i would gladly have shown him how a soldier responds to such 'freedom' 'martyrs'. this POS woulda been laying in a pool of blood and subsequently been rushed to the ER for treatment of life-threatening injuries. my response woulda been "im sorry officers, i thought it was real, it looked real enough." and that woulda been that.

ev

[Aplomb]

Gutmann, who is herself Jewish, was inaugurated as university president in 2004. Her father, Kurt, fled Nazi Germany with his family in 1934.

In other photos taken at Gutmann's party that evening, Saadi can be seen carrying out a series of mock hostage executions, evoking images reminiscent of the series of abductions and murders of Westerners in Iraq in 2004.

In one instance, Saadi stands over a fellow student crouched on the ground, and points a gun at her head while reciting verses from the Koran.

In another image, Saadi poses with an unidentified child as he points Saadi's toy gun at the camera.

The day after the party, Saadi was quoted in the Daily Pennsylvanian, the campus newspaper, as saying that he attended Gutmann's affair dressed as a "freedom martyr."

This is beyond disgusting, and I personally can never get a grasp on why so many Jews go left and forsake and betray their own. So consider the option of just telling the student tactfully that this is her home and his actions are offensive and won't be tolerated here. Do you think Gutmann would lose popularity and be thought of as intolerant and biased? Well, considering that you can't please everybody, why not take a stand for what is right and have those with integrity standing beside you, woman? Geeze. And to have this publicized--what do your relatives think of you now, President? What about your religion's fine example of Esther in the Bible, --who knows that God may have you in such a high position to take some action in favor of your people? To allow this kind of thing right in your own home is a horrible display of cowardice and appeasement to those bastards that are killing Jewish civilians in Israel. Mock hostage executions my ass, nobody unless they are acting the part in a play or a movie role, is going to do that unless they approve of it. With Israeli soldiers still being held after capture by Hezzbollah and Hamas, and with suicide missions going into Israel daily, even if she isn't a Zionist, how does she even have the right to call herself Jewish? Antisemitism at it's worst. Thanks for sharing this Backstop. I am highly pissed!

[Backstop]

Something stinks in this entire situation.
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Is she back-peddling, doing nothing more than apologizing amid public outrage?

Regardless, I believe she should have expressed immediate outrage over Saad Saadi's costume, and refused to pose for even one photo.

Apologizing post-event surely makes me wonder.

http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews/article.php?id=1047

Statement by President Amy Gutmann

November 03, 2006

Each year, the president hosts a Halloween party for Penn students. More than 700 students attend. They all crowd around to have their picture taken with me in costume. This year, one student who had a toy gun in hand had his picture taken with me before it was obvious to me that he was dressed as a suicide bomber. He posted the photo on a website and it was picked up on several other websites.

The costume is clearly offensive and I was offended by it. As soon as I realized what his costume was, I refused to take any more pictures with him, as he requested. The student had the right to wear the costume just as I, and others, have a right to criticize his wearing of it.

http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews/article.php?id=1049

A letter to the University Community from President Gutmann

November 05, 2006

As many of you have heard or seen by now, there was a photograph from our annual Halloween party that has taken flight over the Internet. The photograph is embarrassing for the University and me alike. I posted a formal response on our website last week.

However, I wanted to provide more context.

Following a long standing Penn tradition, I host an annual Halloween party at the President's House. Hundreds of students show up dressed in every imaginable costume -- witches and warlocks, Jasons and Michael Myers, ax murderers and Frankensteins. In keeping with the spirit of the event, I appeared as Glinda, the Good Witch of the North. In this context, it's hard to imagine that someone could create an actually offensive costume, but at least one of our students did.

Part of the Halloween party tradition is the opportunity to be photographed with the President. This year, one student holding a toy gun was photographed with me before it was obvious to me that he was dressed as a suicide bomber. As soon as I realized the full extent of his costume, I refused his request for additional photographs.

Some have mistakenly interpreted the photograph as my support for terrorism. Nothing could be further from the truth. I abhor terrorism, suicide bombers and everything they do. My record is unabashedly clear on this point.

The student has since apologized, and I accept his apology. I too apologize for the offense this photo has caused. Some images are too horrific even for Halloween.

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Well lookee here, Saad Saadi has his own site: http://www.saadsaadi.com/


Above is the pic from that above link. Nice, eh?

Also on that page is his explanation regarding his costume and behavior on Halloween:

My friend, Jason, and I express our condolences and sympathy to all offended by our costumes. We wish to make it clear that we do not support terrorism, violence, or anything that is against society. There is no agenda or statement associated with our behavior shown in these pictures. The costumes are meant to portray scary characters much like many other costumes on Halloween. We are deeply sorry for anyone who has been hurt or upset. Additionally, we strive for all societies to instill healthy non-violent values.

From his site is a link to a video entitled "Four More Years." I'm gonna label this Not Work Safe, Graphic Language, etc.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...+fight+club%22