Hate crimes up nationwide, but none reported on campus

On Monday morning Savraj Dhanjal '03 stood in front of his dresser mirror, carefully winding a long strip of fabric around his head into a turban.

He wrapped a folded length of black cloth around his head once, twice, then carefully placed a long royal blue ribbon along the side of his turban, wrapping the turban once more and adding a white ribbon. He wound the fabric once more, then a red ribbon and completed the intricate tucks necessary to secure his turban in place. The red, white and blue stripes stood out boldly against the black turban.

"I'm proud to be an American," said Dhanjal, who is a member of Sikh, a monotheistic religious group originally established in Punjab, India. "It's a great country that we live in."

Though Dhanjal added the ribbons to demonstrate his patriotism, he is concerned about the violence against people of Middle Eastern and South Asian descent that has occurred in the days following the terrorist attacks on the United States.

"So the ribbons have a protective aspect too," he said.

In the past week the Associated Press has reported apparent "backlash attacks" against people of Middle Eastern and South Asian descent, including the murder of a Sikh man in Phoenix, the murder of a Pakistani man in Texas and a number of assaults, firebomb attacks and other incidents.

The government has opened over 40 hate crime investigations since the September 11 terrorist attacks, including assaults, threats, arson and two possibly ethnically-motivated murders, according to the A.P.

To date there have not been any incidents of backlash attacks in Princeton Borough, according to Princeton Borough Police Captain Anthony Federico. However, the University Arab Society received three threatening e-mails on September 11 and 12, said Sally El-Sadek '02, president of the society.

El-Sadek filed a complaint with the Borough Police. The University Office of Information Technology is investigating the e-mails "very aggressively," said Associate Dean of Undergraduate Students Marianne Waterbury.

Students of South Asian and Middle-Eastern descent say they are not worried about their own safety at the University, though some are wary to venture far from campus.

"I don't feel under threat around campus," said Taufiq Rahim '04, an officer of the Muslim Students Association. "But I'd stay in Princeton because I'm afraid of going out."

Dhanjal, who is also president of the South Asian Students Association, said he found himself watching his back as he did errands on Nassau Street on Friday. "I'm not going to let this interfere with my daily routine," he said.

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University Public Safety has increased its presence in specific areas to ensure the safety of all students, said Crime Prevention Specialist Barry Weiser. Princeton Borough Police's only additional security measure will be to provide more officers at Jewish High Holiday services in the coming weeks, said Capt. Federico.

Some students of the ethnicities that have been targeted are concerned for the safety of family and friends outside the Princeton area. Naser bin Naser, a Jordanian first year graduate student, said that several of his Middle-Eastern friends in Massachusetts and New York had been threatened and attacked.

On campus the semester has begun in an atmosphere full of silent tension and often unvoiced concerns, according to some students.

Rahim said that some people seemed to be avoiding him because of his South-Asian appearance. "People would come up, say hi, and then quickly walk away," he said. "It's a subtle discrimination."

Dhanjal said he had similar experiences.

"People are already associating turbans and beards with Osama bin Laden," he said. Wary of assuming the worst of those around him, he added, "I get stares normally, so I can't really differentiate between people staring because I have a turban or because they think I'm a terrorist."

University Ombuds Officer Anu Rao said that she had spoken with several people who were concerned about reports of ethnically-motivated violence and about tensions in Princeton in the days following the terrorist attacks.

Many of those concerned were not of Middle Eastern or South Asian descent, Rao said. "I think people are on edge and sometimes that shows in how they talk to each other," Rao said.

"But people want to understand each other," she added.

At a University-wide memorial service on Sunday, President Tilghman warned against directing anger at people who share an ethnic or religious background with the assumed terrorists.

"To attack innocent people is to do what those responsible for these criminal acts have done, and to do violence to the ideals on which this University and this nation were founded," Tilghman said.

"We understand that these must be terrifying times for you compounding the feelings of grief all Americans and people of goodwill everywhere share," Episcopal chaplain Rev. Stephen White wrote to the Arab Society .

"We want you to know you have friends here on campus and we want to support you in any way we can so that you will feel safe and secure here."