Woke ASU students punished for harassing White students, allege 'discrimination'
Two students at Arizona State University (ASU) have launched a nine-minute attack accusing the university of "racism and discrimination" after they were punished. Mastaani Qureshi and Sarra Tekola were asked to hand in a three-page paper after they were found guilty of harassing two White students at the university's multicultural center in September 2021. Instead, the two have accused ASU of running a "racially-biased investigation" and "open discrimination".
According to reports, the two harassed their fellow students because they were wearing an anti-Biden t-shirt, carrying a Chick-Fil-A cup, and using a laptop with a pro-police sticker. It's just the latest example of how university campuses have turned into political battlegrounds. In March 2021, Columbia University was slammed for hosting graduation ceremonies based on race and sexuality. On the other hand, conservatives have become so furious with the increasing "wokeness" of higher education, that several joined together to create the University of Austin.
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As we previously reported, Qureshi and Tekola called the White students "racist" and "offensive" for their t-shirt and stickers. "You're White, do you understand what a multicultural space is? It means you're not being centered," one of them said in the video. Eventually, the two White students left the space, but video of the incident quickly blew up and led to an investigation by ASU.
Uni wants 'civil' dialogue, students claim 'racism'
The altercation between Qureshi, Tekola, and the White students occurred in September, and on December 2, it was reported that the university found them guilty of violating the university's Code of Conduct. In their ruling, the university asked the two to write a three-pager on how to deal with a similar situation in the future and "facilitate a civil dialogue" about the purposes of a multicultural space. They were given till December 15 to do so.
At the time, Qureshi vehemently refused to accept she did anything wrong. "I stand by everything I did and said," she told The State Press, adding, "I did it so our kids can study in peace just like White kids." On December 22, they further hit back against the uni by not just refusing to submit the paper, but also taking to social media to rant about the case. "We were forced to confront these men by ourselves," the pair said, calling the sticker and t-shirt "non-verbal aggressive gestures."
They then argued that they were being "persecuted for defending our multicultural center from racism and sexism," adding, "Dear White People, A.K.A. ASU — You openly discriminated against us on November 16 when you handed down your decision from your racially biased investigation." The duo went on to call ASU a "violent space" and "a recruiting ground for Nazis." As of January 3, the video has racked up over 5,000 views on Instagram. More importantly, a petition to have the charges dropped garnered over 4,000 signatures.
It's unclear what action they will face now, seeing as they have gone well past the deadline the university gave them. ASU didn't offer a detailed comment when the incident first went viral, and on November 16 only acknowledged "we are also committed to the free and robust exchange of ideas and to intellectual freedom and free expression, even on difficult topics." On the other hand, State Rep. Jake Hoffman slammed ASU for their "decision to give nothing more than a slap on the wrist," calling it an "example of the systemic double standard and institutionalized racism."