Opinion: Letter

Anti-Semitic comments not representative of university

As Dean of Students, I’m a regular consumer of newspapers, blogs and websites containing news and opinions about the state of our campus community. I’m most proud of our students, faculty and staff when we engage in a thoughtful and productive exchange of ideas on even the most controversial topics. That is the foundation of our campus — the process of fearless sifting and winnowing.

There are rare instances, however, when I am deeply disappointed and disturbed with the level of campus discourse. Today, I am writing to call attention to a thread of comments in yesterday’s online version of The Badger Herald. (http://badgerherald.com/news/2010/02/08/aepiawaitsj-board_.php).

A handful of anonymously posted comments were vile, malicious and distasteful, singling out our Jewish students and community. I want to strongly state that anti-Semitism and hate speech are unacceptable and inconsistent with the values of our community.

I suspect some of those commenting were engaged in a misguided attempt to be amusing or outrageous by making references to “Lori Berquam’s final solution” or suggesting that a fraternity house “should be turned into an oven.” I can assure you that posting a Holocaust reference on a story concerning a Jewish fraternity is extremely offensive.

Encouraging respect, integrity and justice in our interactions with one another is a top priority for me, so I am particularly saddened to see my name linked with these comments in any way. I thank the leadership of The Badger Herald for attempting to moderate and address this conversation in an effort to keep it civil.

In the future, I would ask everyone engaging in these online exchanges, both in the Herald or elsewhere, to remember our shared commitment to discourse that is both open and respectful.

Lori M. Berquam

Dean of Students

Have a thought? We welcome your input, but please be polite and stay on topic wherever possible. Your comment may be deleted if it is inappropriately off topic or promotional or if it is unnecessarily rude or contains personal attacks. We may delete comments for other reasons as well. Just keep it simple and focus on your points as respectfully as possible.

We allow and encourage comments employing satire, wit and irony to make points. Do not flag comments just because you disagree. Flagged comments will be immunized from further flagging unless they stray far from the guidelines and do not add to the discussion. Before flagging a comment you think is offensive, consider your time might be better spent rebutting it than censoring it.

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87 older comments

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I don’t see why the comments aren’t monitored better. Badger Herald claims they approve them, but if Holocaust references, swear words, and personal attacks can get by I’m not sure what the point is. I’ve noticed on a number of articles personal attacks against the author writing it, as if they have a personal connection to the story. They were assigned to write on that story. It disgusts me that Badger Herald posts all the meaningless comments. I have no affiliation to the Badger Herald or any publication but I think both the Herald staff and the people who leave these comments need to think about the negative energy they are putting into the world.

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The truth is these comments were not being taken down until I personally called and yelled at the Badger Herald to do so. They may have a taken a few down, but at a pace that was unacceptable.

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The Jews of UW-Madison are at it again. They didn’t like the tone of a couple of internet trolls and did the only thing they knew how: call in and complain. Cmon, of course those comments weren’t representative of the student body. The hateful posts were written to get a reaction out of our skittish Jewish community.

Nevertheless, anti-Semetic comments, no matter how you try to justify them, have no place in any discussion between lifeforms at any level higher than prokaryote.

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Should Jews adopt the Muslim methods of arson and murder when dealing with “insults” instead of just calling in to complain?

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Can’t say I blame them. The rest of us just might join them. You liberals and Muslims have made a lot of enemies for yourselves lately. Maybe we should just storm the Badger Herald offices and tear the shit out of the place. Wow, did I just write something scary? Are you all about to hire a rent-a-cop to patrol the place? Install metal detectors? Require all your staff to submit to an eye scan and fingerprint? Remove their shoes at the front door before punching the clock? Sound familiar?

But seriously, it’s nice to see Muslims and liberals on the defensive for once. Bunch of chickenshits! Hey, one more thing: why is it that Obama is keeping our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq and none of you are protesting? He’s asking Congress for another $320 billion for the troops’ presence in both countries for the next two years. Think Congress ought to give him what he wants? Come on, let’s hear it!

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you need some therapy kid :) good luck

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 The fact that some of you think its a bad thing that the Jewish Community was outraged at this article is absolutely pathetic.  You only think this because you have a certain stereotype of the Jewish people on this campus which is definitely not reflective of the entire population.  How would you react if their were comments regarding the the slave trade and the African-American fraternity.  You probably would be outraged (as you rightly should).  Think about who you are targeting and why you are targeting them for once. I think Ms. Berquam's regards were very appropriate.  If you think making references to ovens and the holocaust is in good taste, then you are a very sad person.
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The Herald is not under obligation to remove those comments it feels are in bad taste. In fact, it would probably be wrong for the Herald to remove such comments. Rather, the Herald should limit its censorship to comments which are libelous or obscene. The remaining comments are protected by the first amendment and despite their distastefulness should be permitted to be expressed.

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1st Amendment does not apply to private regulation of speech. Badger Herald can censor anything it wants in its comments.

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Ms. Berquam:

With all due respect who are we kidding here?

Anyone with any common sense, and some understanding of history, knows your words will not change anything. Until the University enacts, and acts on, hate crime regulations; those filled with hate will ignore your thoughtful request.

It will take more than words to change those who experience a perverse thrill by behaving no differently than Hitler�s brown shirts did.

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I’d like to at least thank Ms. Berquam for taking the time to defend the Jewish community and what its been forced to deal with in the past few days. I do, however, think that this university needs to hold those saying this vile garbage accountable and do more than write a letter in the Badger Herald about it.

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These anonymous posters need to be held accountable for their words. I believe in freedom of speech, but not when it’s really offensive. People shouldn’t be allowed to express themselves in a manner that others disagree with.

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“People shouldn�t be allowed to express themselves in a manner that others disagree with. “

What? 1st Amendment fail…

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That is actually incorrect…it is against the law to act out in a way that persecutes any religion, race, or gender…it is called a hate crime…read a book

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That is actually incorrect…it is against the law to act out in a way that persecutes any religion, race, or gender…it is called a hate crime…read a book

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yes “persecuting” is a crime. Talking about it? Not so much.

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The overwhelming majority of the anti-Semitic comments come from liberals and Muslims. Of course, they’ll come out now and claim that they’re being singled out unfairly. Liberals and Muslims have been the self-designated good guys/victims in this town for the past 20 years. They think they’re always right and they are the only ones with a clue.

I support the Jewish community in Madison. They deserve better. All of Madison deserves better. Liberals and Muslims, keep your hatred and lies to yourselves. We don’t want to hear anymore of it! And Badger Herald, either achieve and maintain a higher standard of professionalism or shut down the paper and get out of the business. You wouldn’t last a day in the real world!

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you realize your singling out two more groups of people while trying to defend another, right? ignorant comments should stay off the threads as well….

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wait so jews deserve better treatment from our university but liberals and muslims don’t? this is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever read. I’m embarrassed for whoever wrote it.

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Hey asshole, liberals and Muslims have taken some pretty vicious jabs at Jews over the past few years! I don’t see how singling out liberals and Muslims to stop hating constitutes an attack on them. They have it coming. Liberals have taken swipes at whole racial, religious and ethnic groups that they claim are oppressive. Remember the 90’s, when liberals called poor whites trailer trash? Like they knew what they were talking about, yeah right! And then Muslims had to chime in by claiming that Jews never had a homeland, that Israel didn’t exist prior to 1948 and that Jews are trying to take over the world, they murdered Christ, that they control all the money and the oil, blah blah blah. It’s amazing how a religion that controls one third of the population of the world can claim that Israel, this tiny wedge of a country, is such a humongous threat to anyone, while Muslims are bombing the shit out of the rest of the world and then screaming that they are victims of genocide.

The more extremists Muslims and liberals become, the more distanced the rest of us become from the issues they care so much about. Today, I could care less what Israel does with the Palestinians. I could care less about gay marriage. I could care less about global warming, especially since it’s not supposed to make life miserable for us humans until the middle of this century, when most of us alive today will be dead by then. I don’t care about universal health care anymore. I only care about me and those close to me because I know for a fact that liberals don’t give a s*. So go ahead and spew your own hatred while you’re getting slammed for it. You’ve had it coming for a long time.

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The 1st amendment shouldn’t cover Anti-Semitic rhetoric. What those anonymous posters did is a crime. How can we exist as a civilized society if people are allowed to go around freely saying whatever crazy idea comes into their heads? Censorship is necessary here at UW if we’re too immature to make politically correct comments.

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Also, it should be pointed out that many of the comments in question may not have come from students at the UW, the comments are open to everyone (apologies if someone did an IP check and they all did in fact come from UW).

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The 1st Amendment covers all free speech, offensive or harmless. Here the question is why do the posters of malicious Anti-Semitic attacks feel the need to hide behind their computers? It is beyond cowardly. Man the fuck up and slap a name onto your post.

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Hey everyone, get over it and stop being so butthurt about some words that people wrote to piss you off!

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@12:31 PM—hypocrite much?

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The right to freedom of speech ends once that speech becomes offensive.

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actually thats wrong, offensive speech has to be protected too.

regardless, I don’t condone anti-semitic speech, but the aepi president made it a race issue by claiming they represent the 6,000 jews on campus, when that in fact is not that case. jews play the race card more than even blacks. its disgusting.

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offensive to who? Just about anything can be construed as offensive to some group. Should we just stop talking altogether?

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The Jewish students responding to the malicious posts and borderline slanderous article are standing up for themselves because they are feeling personally attacked, as well they should. It is unfortunate that when these students stand up for themselves, their personal defense is portrayed as some kind of “typical Jewish behavior” by posters like the one who said:

“The Jews of UW-Madison are at it again. They didn�t like the tone of a couple of internet trolls and did the only thing they knew how: call in and complain.”

This is hate speech. The Jews of UW-Madison are at it again??? Are you kidding me?? What if a black fraternity was under this sort of fire? Would you then have said “The blacks of UW-Madison are at it again?”

We are talking about KIDS who are out of nowhere being attacked by this publication and by it’s posters. Of course they are going to stand up for themselves. Let’s just hope that this is the worst anti-semitism these kids will have to face in their lives.

And please, before posting any nasty, hateful comments, put yourselves in the shoes of these Jewish students who are reading these posts and think about how that hatefulness would feel if it were personally directed at you, rather than at these few students.

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@ Anonymous 12:24PM:

You should be happy, because clearly Dean Berquam agrees with you. She’s “disappointed and disturbed” that students would make their anti-semetic feelings known so obviously on a public forum, but she doesn’t give a rat’s ass about the prejudices that are the daily reality for jewish students. You’ll notice that she specifically never addresses the Badger Herald’s history of jew-baiting articles or the issue at the heart of the of monday’s controversy: that a jewish fraternity is being publically humiliated for a charity event that raised $2,000, drew no police complaints, and required only $80 out of the security deposit to clean up.

This letter is meaningless. The jewish students want the respect afforded to any other minority, and we want an end to the university-approved harassment of campus jewish institutions including AEPi.

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playing the race card again. Jews are not discriminated against at this university. if they are, it’s because they happen to be coasties who are out of touch with reality and flaunt everything they have. but they will certainly cry foul when called out.

plain and simple, AEPi was on social probation for the semester and tried to get around this by having a “charity event”. everyone in the greek system knows it was their formal, look at all the facebook albums of “AEPi Formal 2009”. It’s like Sigma Chi’s Derby Days: It’s not a philanthropy if there’s alcohol involved. AEPi got caught breaking the rules and shouldn’t throw a hissy fit because every other frat has had to go through the same stuff the last 5 years.

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@2:14PM:

Thank you for presenting yourself as the perfect example of the everyday bigotry on campus against jews and AEPi.

Besides your obnoxious comments about “coasties” and your protocols-of-the-elders-of-zion influenced “knowledge” of AEPi’s “cynical” motives, I have to point out to everyone that you are CLUELESS as to what the actual rules are regarding philanthropies and alcohol.

In the IFC risk management guide, under “philanthropies” are the following four tenets:

1: Alcohol cannot be present at any co-sponsored philanthropy AT A FRATERNITY HOUSE [emphasis added]

2: Money may not be exchanged when alcohol is served- GO TO A THIRD PARTY VENDOR [emphasis added]

3: Even though you are not the Philanthropy Chair this will apply to your chapters and it is your responsibility to make them aware of it

4: PLEASE have no alcohol at your philanthropy event [emphasis added]

Tenets 1 and 2 clearly indicate that alcohol is allowed at philanthropy events when they are held at third party vendors who handle the alcohol transactions. Tenet 4 conflicts with tenets 1 and 2, but: (1) it is distinguished by the use of the qualifier “please” which is not used on the other tenets and which may imply that tenet 4 is a suggestion to avoid problems as opposed to a hard rule; (2) considering the other tenets, the overall philanthropy policy is too ambiguous to be enforceable.

AEPi has done absolutely nothing wrong. The anti-semetism on this campus will not slow down our efforts to achieve academically, to strengthen the greek and jewish communities, and to raise thousands of dollars for worthy charities through fundraisers such as the Overture Center event, Humorology, and everything else that ambitious members of AEPi put their minds toward.

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The coastie issue is a class issue rather than a race issue. The campus has a problems with groups like AEPi not because they’re Jewish, but because they acted like privileged douchebags. A couple people made offensive jokes trying to get a rise out of the Jewish community and got his/her wish.

Although you may occasionally run into racism here on campus, bile and entitlement of your post makes me think that the problem is you rather than your race/religion.

Life is not a bed of roses and ignorant bigots will find a way to offend all of us, but anecdotally I don’t know a single Jew who has run into anti-semetism problems while living in the dorms while those living in the Statesider/Towers/Lucky/the frats seem to have huge issues.

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The race card? Jews are not a race, moron! Judaism is a religion, not a biological identity. The Jewish race myth was started by Jew-haters who sought to separate Jews from the rest of society by attempting to make a scientific distinction between Jews and everyone else. Fortunately, there are those who know better. Unfortunately, you aren’t one of them. Kind of sad for a liberal like you.

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that’s not true….

A Jew can be defined as one who believes in Judaism, HOWEVER, being Jewish is also descriptive of one’s race AND ethnicity- Jews come from the same bloodline that traces back thousands of years- it was not a belief system that suddenly people adopted, it was a group of biologically similar people living together that shared certain experiences that made them Jewish and passed on that belief system

Judaism is the religion Being Jewish can mean your belief (a convert can be jewish by belief but not by blood) or it can mean your ethnicity

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jew baiting!

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you people fail to grasp the point of the article. no one is saying that its wrong that they raised money. the problem is that they had a party when they were under orders not to. duh.

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All speech is protected whether it offends someone or not. Personally, I’m offended when someone tells me I need to be “Politically Correct” when talking. Eff that! I can express myself how I see fit and I apologize if my words offend anyone, as they are rarely intended to hurt.

Overall, I think people need to be more accepting of other viewpoints. The most revolutionary and changing ideas in the world are often very inflammatory to a particular group. We’re not advocating that Martin Luther should’ve been decried for his 99 Thesis because it singled out Catholics and made inflammatory comments about them? I know if I was a staunch Catholic at the time I would have been pissed. But seriously people, the government cannot regulate every single thing we speak or think and the notion of “Political Correctness” is causing our public discourse to be warped, distorted, and basically dumbed down to avoid offending anyone.

You fail to note an important point.

Martin Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses served a purpose: he meant to protest against what he felt were abuses by the clerics and leaders of the Catholic Church. This protest lead to a schism and the foundation of the Protestant sects of Christianity. It could be well argued that Luther’s Theses served a distinct purpose within a religious discussion.

Some yahoo that decides to crack jokes about turning a fraternity house into an oven or about a “Final Solution,” contributes nothing of value to the conversation of the matter at hand. The matter at hand is that AEPi is under investigation for an activity at the Overture Center.

“Political Correctness” has very little to do with the matter in reality. You either contribute to the discussion, or you don’t.

I’m pretty sure the 1st Amendment does not hold here. This is a private website owned by a private group of individuals. If they desire, they may delete comments at will and force commenters to register. Ultimately, the Badger Herald controls, and is responsible for the content on this website. That is why they should have, and did delete the blatantly anti-Semetic comments posted by others on this website. If the posters don’t like it, I’m sure stormfront.org has room for them somewhere with the rest of the skinheads.

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I completely agree with you (I’m the poster you just responded to). I was arguing about freedom of speech in general, whether it is helpful or not. My comments were directed more at those who decided to attack freedom of speech on a broad scale and not related to this specific issue.

I feel the Herald should only post comments that contribute to the discussion as well and that hate speech, while acceptable as an expression of free speech, is not contributing here.

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To Begin, if you are going to be ignorant enough to make anti-semitic offensive comments, be man enough and show your name…

Secondly, a “Hate crime” generally refers to criminal acts which are seen to have been motivated by hatred of one or more of the listed conditions. Incidents may involve physical assault, damage to property, bullying, harassment, verbal abuse or insults, or offensive graffiti or letters (hate mail)…

Finally, I don’t know about you, but it sounds like a “hate crime” to me. I don’t understand how you could be naive enough to say that this is not an act of hatred. Not only is it harassment and verbal abuse, but it is written documentation on a regularly available website.

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The constitution doesn’t guarantee a right to not be offended. People make dumb comments all the time, and chances are they were just internet trolls and your reactions are exactly what they wanted.

Fail controversy is fail.

To Begin, if you are going to be ignorant enough to make anti-semitic offensive comments, be man enough and show your name…

Secondly, a “Hate crime” generally refers to criminal acts which are seen to have been motivated by hatred of one or more of the listed conditions. Incidents may involve physical assault, damage to property, bullying, harassment, verbal abuse or insults, or offensive graffiti or letters (hate mail)…

Finally, I don’t know about you, but it sounds like a “hate crime” to me. I don’t understand how you could be naive enough to say that this is not an act of hatred. Not only is it harassment and verbal abuse, but it is written documentation on a regularly available website.

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I just hope that Jeff Herscott, and the 13 million people he represents, can find some place in this world where being Jewish isn’t a crime. People accusing the Jewish community on campus of being skittish, spoiled, and petty know nothing. Take a look at that shack called the AePi Fraternity House; it’s one of the biggest eyesores on campus. Our entire Jewish community has a modest and humble presence on campus, and I take attacks against such a weak group as a personal affront. We need to show our Jewish classmates that we understand their pain and frustration. Being a Jew in such a discriminating environment must be tough. I stand with my Jewish brothers, for as it says in Exodus 22:22

Do not take advantage of a widow or an orphan.

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modest and humble? what a joke. Same people riding bmw’s and land rovers are modest and humble? don’t act all “woe is me”. aepi’s house is a dump because they treat it as such, and its not even their house besides. im sure once they’re out of that house in a year or two they will be in something large and super nice

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“I just hope that Jeff Herscott, and the 13 million people he represents, can find some place in this world where being Jewish isn�t a crime.”

He does not represent 13 million people. He represents AEPi, a frat that many jews could not care less about.

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Jews need to stick with other Jews to overcome this terrible prejudice and discrimination.

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What persecution? Anti-semetism is a problem and should be stamped out wherever it rears its head, but I want to know what persecution are you talking about.

Are Jews under represented amongst the ranks of professionals? What about business leaders? Do they lack effective political representation? Are they still blacklisted from institutions of higher learning? Is your access to religious/social services impeded? Has the Dearborn Independent started publishing again?

Being a Jew in America isn’t easy, but I think you have blown the issue of one or two anonymous posters out of proportion.

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I’m disgusted by people who say that Jews too often “play the race card”. If an autistic child was being made fun of, would you tell him to “man up” and quit playing the “disabled card”? This is rediculous.

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Autism is a disability. Are you suggesting that persons of Jewish blood suffer a similar ailment and require special treatment as a result?

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damn, well can we at least agree that the chick who spread eagle in the overture center bathroom is a big whore? that’s what I take away from this whole thing. The Overture Center was soiled. It was a respectable place, until some skanky sorority slut decided to give into temptation, and now that building will never be the same! Shame! show yourself you skank! you should be ashamed!

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And how do you know she was in a sorority? That’s a pretty big assumption. It’s not fair to call sorority girls out if you don’t even know if they had anything to do with these allegations.

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aren’t most of the girls who would go to a frat boy’s formal in a sorority? oh wait I forgot it wasn’t a formal. Sure sounds like one though. Philanthropy. Damn. My mistake. Still a skank though. Getting it on on top of a toilet seat, where the damn conductor to the orchestra takes a shit! That’s low. You know who you are.

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Neither Jews, disabled people, blacks, whites nor any other group of people should be humiliated by others for being themselves. And they especially shouldn’t be reprimanded for standing up for themselves.

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if being yourself involved sex in a public bathroom during a charity event at a classy place, then yes, you should be humiliated by others for being yourself. Of course this applies only to that frat since most other Jews are unconnected to it.

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People I feel sorry for: people with physical/mental illnesses. orphaned children. people who are beaten as children. people who are hurt in disasters. people who lose loved ones to war.

people i don’t feel bad for: the jewish community as a whole. i completely agree with you that the remarks that were bad were uncalled for and disrespectful. but i don’t feel bad for you because you are jewish. because it is NOT RUINING YOUR LIFE. even if you are not one of the better off jewish kids on campus, your life is not terrible (unless you fall under the category above). you do not have to fight everyday to survive. so please don’t take this article, and the whole situation, as a reason to complain about how everyone hates you. everyone hates the kids who flaunt their wealth that their parents actually have. yes, most of the time these are people from out of state (because out of state tuition costs a lot more than our in-state tuition) and yes, some are jewish. but my god. time to start defining yourself by something OTHER than your religion.

So when you run into people who preface their opinion on some matter or another with “I’m a Christian, so…” do you harangue them for defining themselves by their religion? If not, why not?

And what would you recommend we define ourselves by? How are we supposed to deny something so integral to who we are? Do you seriously believe Jews don’t also define themselves as American, or Wisconsinite, or Badger?

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No, I do actually. While I understand that your religion/race is a large part of what makes a person, its not ALL that makes a person. And you should be proud of who you are! Its just not necessary that its the first thing you define yourself as, or what you think you are discriminated against. I think religion is such a touchy subject, that sometimes I wish it were just left out of the picture. but then…where would our belief system come from. its not like i have the answers here…since there probably aren’t any.

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There is a tremendous level of misinformation and general ignorance about the nature of free speech in a free society on this thread, starting with the idea that “hate speech” should be a criminal offense.

The comments may indeed have been offensive, but I assure you that you—whoever you may be—will get over it. The costs of censorship are far, far higher than the costs of a few hateful remarks.

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”Neither Jews, disabled people, blacks, whites nor any other group of people should be humiliated by others for being themselves. And they especially shouldn�t be reprimanded for standing up for themselves.”

Word up

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Our idea of hate speech is Islam’s idea of normal discourse. Does this sound a little bit like the quality of discourse heard in Germany in the 1930s?

I wonder why it is not one single Muslim country has agreed to sign the Universal Doctine of Human Rights?

Ayatollah Khomeini, the most important Moslem leader of the 20th Century, said: “Those who know nothing of Islam pretend that Islam counsels against war. Those who say this are witless. Islam says: Kill all the unbelievers just as they would kill you all! Does this mean that Muslims should sit back until they are devoured? Islam says: Kill them, put them to the sword and scatter their armies…. Islam says: whatever good there is exists thanks to the sword and in the shadow of the sword! People cannot be made obedient except with the sword! the sword is the key to Paradise, which can be opened only for the Holy Warriors! There are hundreds of other Koranic psalms and Hadiths urging Muslims to value war and to fight. Does all this mean that Islam is a religion that prevents men from waging war? I spit upon those foolish souls who make such a claim.”

“The meaning of the term ‘terror’ used by the media… is Jihad for the sake of Allah. Jihad is the peak of Islam. Moreover, some of the clerics … see it as the sixth pillar of Islam. Jihad —whether Jihad of defense of Muslims and of Islamic lands such as in Chechnya, the Philippines, and Afghanistan, or Jihad aimed at spreading the religion — is the pinnacle of terror, as far as the enemies of Allah are concerned. The Muhajeed who goes out to attain a martyr’s death or victory and returns with booty is a terrorist as far as the enemies of Allah are concerned… Jihad is the peak of Islam… Jihad, oh believers, is an integral part of our religion. The word ‘terror’ is used to damage this mighty and blessed foundation.” — Sheikh Wajdi Hamza Al-Ghazawi, Al-Manshawi Mosque, Mecca, October 6, 2001.

All of the following comes verbatim from the Reliance of the Traveler: Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law, (Amana Publications, Beltsville MD, revised edition 1994) approved by the highest ranking and most respected modern Islamic religious leaders and scholars. Islamic holy law, Sharia, defines jihad this way: “Jihad means to war against non-Muslims. .. The scriptural basis for jihad, prior to scholarly consensus, is such Koranic verses as “Fighting is prescribed for you ” (Koran 2:216) “Slay them wherever you find them” (Koran 4:89) “Fight the idolaters utterly” (Koran 9:36) and such hadiths as the one related by Bukhari and Muslim that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said: “I have been commanded to fight people until they testify that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah…” and the hadith reported by Muslim, “To go forth in the morning or evening to fight in the path of Allah is better than the whole world and everything in it.” In the chapter Objectives of Jihad, we read: “The Caliph makes war upon Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians…until they become Muslim or pay the non-Muslim poll tax…” and “The caliph fights all other people until they become Muslim.”

Sheik Yusuf Qaradawi, spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood: �Islam came to be followed, not to follow; to be dominant, not subordinate.” �Islam came with its complete, comprehensive and eternal sharia (law) for the whole of mankind.”

From Jihad in Islam by Sayyeed Abdul A’la Maududi, one of the most prolific and most widely read Islamic writer of the 20th Century: �The goal of Islam is to rule the entire world and submit all of mankind to the faith of Islam. Any nation or power that gets in the way of that goal, Islam will fight and destroy.�

Ali Gom�a, the grand mufti of Egypt, the highest Muslim religious authority in the world, supports murdering non-Muslims. In the daily Al Ahram (April 7, 2008), he says, �Muslims must kill non-believers wherever they are unless they convert to Islam.� He also compares non-Muslims to apes and pigs, not only the Jews.

Muhammad Sayyid Al Tantawi, president of Al Azhar University also approves of killing and maiming Christians, Jews, and other infidels. He added, �This is not my personal view. This what the Shari�a Law says, the law of Allah, the only valid law on the earth.�

Yousef Al Qaradhawi, the spiritual leader of the fundamentalist organization, the Muslim Brothers, urged on Al Jazeera TV (Jan. 9, 2009) Muslims to kill the Jews, not only in Israel but also worldwide. He added, �No peace can be made between us (Muslims) and the non-believers. This what our holy book says. This what Allah says.�

Abul Maududi, the most widely read and respected Islamic thinker of the 20th Century, said: “Islam wishes to destroy all States and Governments anywhere on the face of the earth which are opposed to the ideology and programme of Islam regardless of the country or the Nation which rules it. The purpose of Islam is to set up a State on the basis of its own ideology and programme, regardless of which Nation assumes the role of the standard bearer of Islam or the rule of which nation is undermined in the process of the establishment of an ideological Islamic State.” —Sayeed Abdul A’la Maududi (1903-1979 A. D.), Jihad in Islam p9

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Jews, eh? And what of Muslims?

Here is what Teddy Rosevelt said about Muslims:

�Christianity was saved in Europe solely because the peoples of Europe fought. If the peoples of Europe in the seventh and eighth centuries, and on up to, and including, the seventeenth century, had not possessed a military equality with, and gradually a growing superiority over, the Mohammedans who invaded Europe, Europe would at this moment be Mohammedan and the Christian religion would be exterminated.

Wherever the Mohammedans have had complete sway, wherever the Christians have been unable to resist them by the sword, Christianity has ultimately disappeared. From the hammer of Charles Martel to the sword of Sobieski, Christianity owed its safety in Europe to the fact that it was able to show that it could, and would, fight as well as the Mohammedan aggressor.�

The civilization of Europe, America, and Australia, exists today at all, only because of the victories of civilized man over the enemies of civilization�because of victories through the centuries from Charles Martel, in the eighth century, and those of John Sobieski, in the seventeenth century. …There are such �social values� today in Europe, America and Australia only because during those thousand years, the Christians of Europe possessed the warlike power to do what the Christians of Asia and Africa had failed to do�that is, to beat back the Moslem invader.��Teddy Roosevelt (1858 -1919) Twenty-sixth President of the United States

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What’s your stormfront ID again? I need some tips on getting stains out of my Klan uniform.

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And here is what Winston Churchill said about Muslims:

�How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia [rabies] in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. …The fact that in Mohammedan law [sharia] every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men. Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities�but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world.� �Winston Churchill (1874-1965) British Prime Minister

And what do you think a different British Prime Minister said?

�Qur�an� an accursed book� So long as there is this book there will be no peace in the world.� �William Gladstone (1809-1898) Prime Minister of Great Britain 1868 � 1894

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But I do not mean to be one-sided. Let’s see what someone with a different perspective said about Islam. This from the “Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution”:

http://www.homa.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=56&Itemid=53

Now let’s hear from some more Muslim apologists fabricating lies about Jews. Jews whose values are married with Christian values. Jews whose laws are integral to ours.

It’s a sign of a society in dceline that condones the sort of atmosphere present at UW/Madison. Congratulations Dean Berquam for enabling it.

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I could give two shits about AEPi, its just super annoying whenever the BH writes a seething hate article about a Greek house and places it on the front page, and then the comment thread of the article exceeds 100. So my question is this:

WHY DO ALL YOU LOSERS CARE SO MUCH ABOUT GREEK LIFE?? If you want to be involved in all the Greek drama, join a house yourself. Only then can you judge and make comments about AEPi, Sigma Chi, SAE, and so on. If not, go back to your crowded lame house parties with no girls and a million guys huddled around a keg, and shut up. I swear everyone ripping on AEPi is just jealous they weren’t invited to a fun event at the Overture Center, and that they aren’t able to say they banged someone other than their hand in a, lets say “interesting”, location. All the hate against the Greeks is based on gender;

Guys- You’re just super jealous because it sucks when you hear “No, I can’t hang out with you tonight, I’m going to a party at XYZ frat” from that cute girl you have a crush on. Also, every party you go to pretty much sucks, so you’re just bitter.

Girls- You’re just super bitter about the fact that when you rushed, the only houses you got back sucked, so you forever denounced Greek Life. And/or you’re super jealous of that hot girl on your floor whose in sorority XYZ.

That pretty much sums it up. Have fun not participating in an experience you’ll always look back on and remember.

FRAT

tl,dr: mind your own business, GDI

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this is ridiculous. please get off my campus. not everyone is jealous of the greek life. there are OTHER organizations on campus that provide the same kind of support that the greek system does, without telling everyone how jealous everyone is of them.

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damn son you seem to know a lot about getting blown off by the girl you have a crush on, and a hell of a lot about lame house parties. where did you acquire such knowledge?

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Great article and so true Lori, thanks.

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Judging from the anti-Jewish comments posted here, I’d agree with the ones that say Muslims and liberals are a total pain in the ass. I’ve always been leery of Christians and conservatives, but at least Christians for the most part are more supportive of Jews, conservatives are more supportive of Israel. Muslims, on the other hand, want all Jews dead and all liberals seem to want Israel wiped off the map. I’m through with being a liberal. I can’t take one more day of listening to bullshit, so I’m detaching myself from the liberal crowd until they get their act together. I’m graduating this year and the less BS I have to listen to, the more time I have to spend preparing for my midterms and finals. Peace out!

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A book worth reading? I doubt anyone on the left is open enough to read it, for it would require questioning their core beliefs, which is not an easy thing for anyone to do.

http://frontpagemag.com/2010/01/25/united-in-hate-the-lefts-romance-with-tyranny-and-terror/

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Another Leftist standing by his man (Arafat, Ahmadinejad, and the like.)

http://97.74.65.51/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=36028

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posting in an epic thread

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If someone did indeed suggest “that a fraternity house ‘should be turned into an oven’, then that constitutes a terroristic threat of arson violence.

Intentional property destruction to intimidate or coerce Americans (or their government) is domestic terrorism.

Domestic terrorism [Title 18 USC 2331]: �the term �domestic terrorism� means activities that (A) involve acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State; (B) appear to be intended (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and (C) occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States.�

Q: How many civilans, firemen or peace officers must be injured or killed as a result of planned acts of �direct action� mayhem before Leftist useful idiot toadies become accomplices to domestic terrorism?

A: Zero. Mere intention to coerce or intimidate is sufficient.

So, go ahead and threaten your property destruction, you Leftist-fascist idiotarians. Now, having been advised (in writing) that you�re known domestic terrorism apologists, I�d be very careful about who you associate yourself, Mr./Ms. URL-isolated-by-NSA.

Good luck with that, useful idiots.

See also, Misprision of Felony [Title 18, Part I, Chapter I, Section 4]: �Whoever, having knowledge of the actual commission of a felony cognizable by a court of the United States, conceals and does not as soon as possible make known the same to some judge or other person in civil or military authority under the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.�

The University and The Badger Herald have a civil duty to identify and report the URL addresses of the perpetrators of these threats to the FBI.

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Of course, domestic terrorism apologists will claim that their threats of mayhem don�t hurt anyone. That�s exactly the kind of specious rationalization used (at first, anyway) by the miscreants of the Weather Underground and the SLA.

Always they claim the planned mayhem is justified by their politics. In fact, a few unrepentant miscreants (like William Ayers and Bernadette Dohrn) still make that specious claim.

And what exactly are the politics behind this? These Leftist-fascists who threaten to commit arson want to overwhelm peace officers and firemen to disarm the nation while it�s under attack by violent jihadists. Since anti-Semites can�t possibly achieve their goals through the democratic processes, they want to engage in intimidation (�direct action� in their parlance) to frighten people into acquiescence.

When this fails to achieve their goals, expect their property destruction to find human targets.

I am gratified to see the University is taking these threats with the seriousness that is required.

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@Anonymous 2/10 7:22: It is time to start thinking about the implications of encouraging peers not to identify based on a trait they select as salient. What are the dangers of this kind of forced assimilation? Is it not more important as a university to learn to relate across difference, to embrace difference? Who would really want a campus that was any MORE homogeneous instead of less— what kind of a post-college world would that prepare students for?

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Damn, I hate the Badger Herald.

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Then why are you on its website?

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I wish we could all get along like we used to in middle school… I wish I could bake a cake filled with rainbows and smiles and everyone would eat and be happy…

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Everybody come together, and love one another, right now. Thanks.

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just seein if its working, lori.

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Its no surprise that ignorant people will comment malicious and vile things. This is the nature of free speech. What is an issue is that this toilet paper swill of a newspaper allows this to happen. How many more times does this University need to see evidence that this paper causes more problems than good.

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dear dean lori, yours is the typical knee-jerk response of an over politically-corrected administrative stooge. everyone on this campus knows that the DOS is the last place any student of any background can go for help or to register a complaint about anything. your pretentious charade of caring for the members of the jewish community is the ultimate fraud. for starters, I would suggest you practice what you preach and hire staff that reflects all corners of the university student population and not continue to perserve the DOS as a bastion for hetero male-hating trolls with a couple of tokens thrown in to show “diversity” and preserve the abundant level of DOS its current status of mediocrity and ineffectiveness and this is well-known. thanks but no thanks for your transparent “support”.

Sign me “a campus Jew” who can’t wait to leave this cheap Disneyland of fake tolerance, fake inclusiveness and even more fake diversity.

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Madison IS like Disneyland compared to a town where the Muslims have it all their way:

Jews leave Swedish city after sharp rise in anti-Semitic hate crimes

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/sweden/7278532/Jews-leave-Swedish-city-after-sharp-rise-in-anti-Semitic-hate-crimes.html

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