Within the past six weeks there have been three major terrorist attacks in three different countries, targeting three different religions.
The attackers will remain nameless, as they are not the focus of this editorial, nor should words be wasted on perpetuating their story for those sympathetic to the violence wrought to enjoy.
The first attack happened on March 15 in Christchurch, New Zealand. The attacker, a 28 year old man from Australia who has a history of posting anti- immigrant and anti-Muslim sentiments on social media platforms, open fired with a semi-automatic weapon in two mosques. 50 people lost their lives to an act of hate and ignorance.
The second attack happened on April 21, or Easter Sunday for those who observe, in Sri Lanka. Approximately 253 people died in a series of bombings that targeted Churches and hotels in the cities of Colombo, Negombo and Batticaloa.
Sri Lanka’s Health Minister, Rajitha Senaratne, blamed National Thowheed Jamath (NTJ), a homegrown Islamist group, for the bombings. The Islamic State (IS) group claimed its militants carried
out the attack in a video published shortly after the bombings.
The most recent attack happened on April 27 in Poway, California. After celebrating the end of Passover, one of the most holiest of days in the Jewish calendar, a gunman entered Congregation Chabad synagogue and open fired, killing one woman and wounding three others.
The suspect is in custody, and while there isn’t an official motive announced, an anti-semitic letter was posted on a message board before the shooting, and its author claims to be the suspect in custody.
Why does all this matter? With a campus as diverse as St. Xavier, we as an institution can not afford to overlook the impact of these attacks on our student body.
After an incident on March 18, where stickers with the phrase “It’s okay to be white” were found in two men’s restrooms on campus, President Joyner reinforced the importance of diversity and freedom of expression stating in an email titled Saint Xavier University Supports Diversity and Inclusion, “We are stronger as a community for our diversity and strive to create a campus environment where differing ideas may be freely expressed and debated.”
On March 22, an event led by the Muslim Student Association held an event to discuss the attack in Christchurch, New Zealand. It’s not enough for the students to provide support to their peers.
Student led events are not enough to make the student body feel safe, supported and secure. St. Xavier’s administration must not rely on mass emails after tragedy, or simply supporting student led events to provide us with the support we deserve in such decisively political and ideological times.
St. Xavier must create events and resources stemming directly from faculty or administration that are reflective of the needs of the student body, so the student populace can clearly make the connection that St. Xavier as an institution supports those targeted by hate and prejudice.
It is not enough for the university to create a “campus environment where differing ideas may be freely expressed and debated.” There must be a line drawn. There must be ideologies that will not
be tolerated. After all, an unmoderated discussion does not inherently weed out poor or hateful ideologies, it just allows them to exist unmitigated.
In order to find strength in our diversity, there must be unity within our diversity, and such unity can not exist if we are divided amongst ourselves, or if St. Xavier as an institution does not provide resources and a sustained effort to overcome those divisions.
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