October 20-25th. According to the David Horowitz Freedom Center, it was "Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week". But to the Progressive Student Union, it was the Week of Tolerance.
The DHFC is a group started by a man who took out ads in college newspapers during the mid 90's stating that African-Americans should be thankful slavery happened. They organize events meant to provoke people on campus, so that they might say universities across the country are inhibiting their freedom of speech.
The WSU College Republicans decided to host the event. Handing out "information," they promoted a film and called shrilly for their voices to not be silenced by the "Stalinist" left on the WSU campus. Some of the "information" they handed out were pamphlets called - and I am not making this up - "The Islamic Mein Kampf". Including a picture of Hitler, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, with a Middle Eastern army on the left and Hitler's army on the right, the inside of the pamphlet included quotes from some of the most extreme Muslim voices in history. They also handed out pamphlets with a picture of a Muslim woman being buried alive - the caption said the photo was taken Iran. Too bad MSNBC exposed it as a fake picture taken from a Dutch 1994 film.
Understanding that this week was nothing but a fear-mongering technique by the CR's to scare everybody into voting Republican, the PSU (and nearly every other group on campus) decided to create another week instead. Introducing... The Week of Tolerance and Respect.
Co-sponsored by Muslim Students Association, African Friendship Association, Black Student Union, Young Democrats, VOX (Voices of Planned Parenthood), GLBTA (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Allies), with support from the K-House Common Faith Ministry, Campus Climate Response Team and numerous faculty and staff of University of Idaho and WSU, each day of the week was about a different theme. Monday was Racial Equality, Tuesday was Gender Indentity/Sexual Orientation Equality, Wednesday was Religious Tolerance, Thursday was Disabilities Awareness and Friday was Environmental Respect. Overall the week was a success. I was called "Stalinist" and vilified on the local conservative blog, but I consider things like that a compliment. It was a hellish week to organize, but I'm glad we did it. The local Muslim community appreciated the outpouring of support from the rest of the community, and seeing their gratitude made it all worth it.
