American University Communications condemned recent social media posts by College Republicans at AU in a statement released Nov. 7, calling them hurtful towards AU's Muslim community.
“American University values and supports free expression and civic engagement and dialogue,” the statement, released by an unnamed spokesperson, read. “But violence, threats of violence, or related imagery are never acceptable parts of that expression.”
The two social media posts, both displayed on the story feature of College Republicans at AU’s official Instagram account Nov. 5 and 6, were denounced by multiple faculty and by AU’s Young Democratic Socialists and Muslim Student Association.
The MSA statement decried the posts as “deeply disturbing” and said they were indicative of a larger nationwide effort to undermine Muslim voices in politics. YDSA condemned “an attempt to encourage suspicion of fellow Muslim students.” Both organizations also criticized the AU administration for overlooking and not holding perpetrators of Islamophobia accountable for their actions.
One of the posts included a tweet by right-wing X account @EndWokeness reading “New York already forgot” over a graphic image of the September 11 terror attacks, posted after New York State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani won New York City’s mayoral election on Nov 4. The other post was a photo of Donald Trump Jr. holding a rifle captioned with the words ‘Almost Friday,’ a slogan commonly used in social media posts by an Instagram meme page and lifestyle brand Friday Beers.
Lily Wong, an associate professor in the Departments of Literature and Critical Race, Gender and Cultural Studies, said the posts insinuated violence in ways that are troubling. She said it’s important for the University to show that they see what is happening and that they have plans to support marginalized students.
“I think the University has historically not dealt with Islamophobia seriously,” Wong said. “[...] all students on this campus deserve to feel like they are safe on this campus, and deserve to feel like they are wanted and seen.”
Wong was among around a dozen faculty and students who gathered outside the Kay Spiritual Life Center on Nov. 7 during Muslim Friday prayers to show solidarity with the students worshipping inside. She said the fact that people felt compelled to be there illustrates a lack of confidence in the University’s ability to handle Islamophobia on campus.
Faizan Kashmiri, a freshman in the School of Communication and College of Arts and Sciences and an outreach and diversity and equity officer at YDSA, said the show of support at Kay sent a positive sign to students, and to Muslim students in particular, that their struggle against racism and hatred is not a struggle that they have to fight alone.
“As someone in the past who's been profiled for being Muslim in the United States, it's nice to see people who are not Muslim be willing to stand up for us politically and in the physical sense as well,” Kashmiri said.
University Chaplain Eric Doolittle was present for much of the gathering. He said it’s important for people to affirm a sense of community across divides, including different religious beliefs, to support AU’s Muslim community when they feel unsafe.
Doolittle said people need to be able to confidently say that ‘hate is bad’.
“I’m on the side of people, and when people are hurting, when people are scared, when people are suffering, I’m going to be with them,” Doolittle said.
In a statement to the Eagle, AUCRS Co-President Luke Brown said there is “nothing islamophobic” about criticizing a candidate who has met with a potential co-conspirator of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing Siraj Wahhaj, refused to call for the disarming of Hamas, declined to condemn “globalize the intifada” and associated with figures like Hasan Piker, who has publicly stated that America “deserved 9/11.”
“Mamdani has also failed to confront the genuine fears of Jewish New Yorkers, many of whom are justifiably alarmed that an individual known for such harmful rhetoric and troubling associations has been elected mayor,” Brown wrote. “These are legitimate concerns about Mamdani’s judgment and qualifications, which we illustrated by reposting. These concerns are entirely unrelated to his religion.”
Brown said AUCRS condemns any language that incites violence, including what he called “dehumanizing language from left-wing students on our campus who have referred to Republicans as Nazis, threatened members of our club, and celebrated Charlie Kirk’s death.”
Javier Benzan, a junior in the School of International Service, said he left AUCRS after the stories were posted. Though he said the ‘almost Friday’ post was just a picture the club thought was ‘cool’ and not intended to be threatening, he said the Sept. 11 post was Islamophobic.
“I mean, you look at the way that [the post] is done, it really leaves no doubt in your mind with what the post is getting at, what they're trying to say,” Benzan said.
Benzan was the club’s chief of staff at the time of his departure. After the posts went up, he said he advocated for taking the posts down and issuing an apology, a request which he said the club did not fulfill. When he contacted the president of the club, whom he did not specify, Benzan said he was labeled a RINO, or ‘Republican in name only.’
Benzen said the posts are the result of an “entrenched” mindset amongst the AUCRS e-board, who he said are more interested in trolling and ‘owning the libs’ instead of holding open discourse and changing minds. According to Benzan, this mindset results from the political minority status of conservatives on campus.
“We’re not trying to actually make strides. We’re just trying to make people look bad,” Benzan said. “We’re just trying to attack Democrats or whatever. We’re not doing anything productive.”
In a statement to The Eagle, Brown called Benzan a “nice guy” and a personal friend of his, but said he obviously disagrees with Benzan’s comments. Brown said doesn’t take the comments seriously, nor should anyone.
“It’s pretty obvious he only made those comments to save face, as he’s fearful about receiving backlash from his friends and professors,” Brown said. “I understand why he said what he did, but it’s an absolute shame that students have to profusely apologize anytime they go beyond what is deemed acceptable by the liberal thought police on campus.”
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly referred to College Republicans at AU as AU College Republicans. It has since been updated to correctly name the organization.
This article was edited by Cara Halford, Neil Lazurus, Abigail Hatting and Walker Whalen. Copy editing done by Sabine Kanter-Huchting, Avery Grossman and Ava Stuzin.
