Flier Controversy Update

GW has been engulfed in heated controversy since fliers were hung around campus on Monday, October 8th. The fliers read "Hate Muslims? So do we!" and cited the Young America's Foundation (YAF), a conservative group on campus, as the group responsible. Seven students unaffiliated with the group later admitted to hanging the posters to oppose Islamo-Fascism Awareness week, which is sponsored by YAF and will begin October 22nd.

Despite the group responsible for the poster's intentions, many on campus said they felt the fliers were offensive. "I think that the post they were trying to make was a good one, that there is a lot of racism towards Muslims. IT goes on event if its not talked about. The way that they went about it maybe went a little bit tot far because viewers didn't realize it was satirical. If that wasn't obvious, then the point wasn't clear, because no one knew," said one GW sophomore.

In response to the fliers, President Knapp issued a statement saying that "any violations of university policies that occurred in connection with the incident will be handled through the Student Judicial Services process without regard to the political views or affiliations of anyone found to be involved," and reiterated that "there is no place for expressions of hatred on our campus."

The enraged YAF responded by having two full page ads in the Hatchet. One was titled "A Forgery and A Hate Crime," and the other, "Stop Profiling Conservative Students." Both ads expressed their concern over anti-conservative sentiment at GW and the lack of action taken by the university int he hanging of fliers.

Lawrence Slocum, a GW senior, said, "As a conservative, I think the Young America's Foundation's letter to Knapp is very true. I think there's extremely liberal bias in terms of professors in the classroom and it's reflected in the student body. There's a stigma to being conservative here on campus."

- Julie Hyman