Hundreds of students gathered on Keohane Quadrangle Thursday night at the Students Against Terror concert and rally headlined by Sister Hazel. The event sought to bring together a broad coalition of student groups to raise awareness of international terrorist activity.
Hundreds of students gathered on Keohane Quadrangle Thursday night at the Students Against Terror concert and rally headlined by Sister Hazel. The event sought to bring together a broad coalition of student groups to raise awareness of international terrorist activity.
Although the concert and rally were advertised as a decidedly apolitical event, many students and several organizations that endorsed the event expressed concern that it became an emotionally charged pro-Israeli forum. The event coincided with the controversial Palestine Solidarity Movement conference, which begins today at Duke, but organizers said the timing was entirely coincidental and they began planning the event before Duke was confirmed as the conference venue.
The Freeman Center for Jewish Life funded 90 percent of the $80,000 event through the private donations from parents and alumni. A variety of other campus groups also helped pay for the event. Several dozen student groups, including the Arab Students Organization and many greek and political organizations, endorsed the event.
Freeman Center officials stressed that they were set on not making a political statement with the Students Against Terror concert. “This concert is against terror. PSM does not condemn terror. That is the only connection,” senior Rachael Solomon, president of the Freeman Center, said at a press conference Thursday afternoon. “This event is solely intended to unify the campus.”
Many events at the actual rally and concert, however, were politically suggestive. Quitter John, the student band that opened the rally, made a political statement when it sang, “If you’re gonna carry pictures of Arafat/Ain’t nobody gonna support that.” The podium at which the speakers presented bore the Star of David.
The rally speakers infused their speeches with political messages. Rep. David Price, D-N.C., who is also a Duke professor of political science, explicitly addressed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and PSM in relation to the concert during his talk. Mohamed Yahya, who experienced state-supported violence in Sudan, polarized the crowd when he asked for help from his “Jewish brothers.” Brigitte Gabriel, who witnessed terrorist-type activities in Lebanon and founded the American Congress for Truth, angered many members of the crowd when she referred to Arabs as “barbarians.”
Junior David Gastwirth, who organized the event, apologized on behalf of the Freeman Center for Gabriel’s comment. “She went against what she was going to speak about. We by no means agree with what she said,” Gastwirth said.
Junior Mollie Lurey, spokesperson for the Joint Israel Initiative, noted that the rally’s dominant message remained consistent. “I think that some speakers went in their own direction. But I’m not going to criticize anyone for being emotional. The message that we are against terrorism was affirmed and that’s the message we wanted to get across,” she said.
Mo Sarhan, a junior and past president of the Arab Students Organization, said he felt like he had an “uneducated and unrealistic” idea of what the event was going to be about. “I was told that it was apolitical, and I encouraged the ASO to endorse this event. However, when I got there, I found that it was completely political in a pro-Israeli way and at some points anti-Islamic,” Sarhan said.
Sarhan added that he did not believe the concert and rally fostered unity or dialogue. “I feel like the rally against terror didn’t bring the campus together but instead brought together the pro-Israeli groups on campus to hear things that they wanted to hear,” he said.
Some students, such as sophomore Elizabeth Clarke, disagreed. “I felt that the stories [about terrorism] were more personal than political,” she said. “The stories crossed all political boundaries.”
Sister Hazel’s high-energy performance capped off the evening. “We are always excited when our vehicle can call attention to worthy causes,” lead singer Ken Block said. “We receive a lot of satisfaction from energizing people and getting them to find common ground.”
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.