While walking near Coffman Union recently, I noticed that the Campus Atheists, Skeptics, and Humanists club is hosting “Everyone Draw Mohammed Day.” It shocks me that a group that is quoted in this same newspaper for denouncing bigotry and hate — see the article in the Sept. 13 Minnesota Daily, “Student groups join forces to protest evangelist’s visit” — would host an event so blatantly designed to target and anger a specific group of people on our campus. How can deliberately breaking one of Islam’s most passionately held tenets not be intended to mock or offend? How is this not spiteful?
Even though I am not of the Islamic faith, I am angered by this event. CASH is inviting the unrest that is currently rocking the Middle East to our campus by purposefully seeking to offend. While members of CASH are protected by freedom of speech in this expression of their views, I urge them and everybody else who plans on participating to find a more peaceful way to demonstrate their opinions. How can we have an inclusive campus if we, as students, allow intentionally inflammatory events such as this to persist?