‘It’s Like Holding Your Breath': Muslim Campus Leaders Describe a Charged Moment

Days after a rampage in San Bernardino, Calif., left 14 people dead, the Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump seized on the religion of the shooters, calling for “a total and complete shutdown” of Muslims entering the country. “Until we are able to determine and understand this problem and the dangerous threat it poses,” he said in an announcement, “our country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in jihad.”

Those remarks added new fuel to discussions that had already been happening over the last few weeks on many college campuses. Sometimes prompted by the verbal harassment of Muslim students, Muslim professors and student leaders began many of those discussions. At the University of Texas at Austin, Hina Azam, an associate professor of Middle Eastern studies, has brought up recent events in her courses, sometimes dedicating entire class periods to discussing the news.

“Based on verbal feedback, students have desperately been in need of spaces in which they can talk,” Ms. Azam says, “and where Muslim students of different ideological and sectarian backgrounds, and Jewish, Christian, and nonreligious students, can have conversations across these lines.”

Outside of class, meanwhile, Muslim students worry about safety. They worry about wearing head scarves — which make them visibly identifiable — and about walking alone at night.

They often turn to Muslim leaders on the campus — including professors and leaders of student organizations — for help. The Chronicle spoke with some of those leaders about their experiences over the last few weeks. Excerpts of the conversations, edited for clarity, follow.

Are you afraid for your safety?

Maheen Ahmed, former president of the Muslim Student Association at the University of California at Davis: “There’s a climate of fear for all of us around here. It’s been a bit difficult because I’ve never been afraid of even going to the airport or anything like that. I have to be a bit more wary, a bit more conscious of what’s going on around me. You’re trying just as hard as any other student at the university to focus on your education and have that be a priority. But then how are you going to be able to make it a priority when you’re also fearing for your life?”

M. Issam Eido, senior lecturer of Arabic at Vanderbilt University: “I see two worlds: the virtual one and the real one.” Mr. Eido emigrated from Syria two years ago with the support of the International Institute of Education’s Scholar Rescue Fund, and is “concerned about the media every day” and its effect on “coexistence.” That is a contrast, he says, to what he feels is a “healthy, peaceful environment” at Vanderbilt.

Khwaja Ahmed, student at the University of California at Berkeley and vice president of the Muslim Student Association West, or MSA: “I don’t feel the need to shave my beard off or trim it, but that’s me. I do know a lot of sisters who reached out to MSA who said they don’t feel safe.”

Hina Azam: “There definitely has been an increase in tension on campus. I don’t necessarily see it all directly, because conversations you have with a professor are different from what other students say on the street, but I read about it and hear about it. In perusing the student newspaper, to see comments — not all are from [the University of Texas], so maybe not indicative of where the UT student body is at — there is a lot of hostility that has developed in the last few weeks.”

Ihsan Bagby, associate professor of Arabic and Islamic studies at the University of Kentucky: “In casual conversation, there is great concern of what might happen. It’s like holding your breath and hoping there will be no crazies out here who will decide to enact retribution.”

Is your administration meeting the needs of Muslim students?

Hiba Vohra, president of the Muslim Student Association at the College of William and Mary: “There isn’t anyone in the counseling center who is Muslim or well versed in these issues. I think one of the biggest challenges is finding a support system that is beyond students.”

Khwaja Ahmed: “If they could maybe host counselors that have Muslim identities, that would help out a lot. Just having someone who really identifies a lot more so with the type of struggles you’re facing — it’s much better than talking with some random person who is qualified but who doesn’t know where you’re coming from.”

Maheen Ahmed: “We gave administrators a list of different things that we needed. I think the unfortunate thing is that even though we’ve sat there in front of them and given them these things that would be really beneficial, we’re still not seeing these things implemented.”

Ali S. Asani, professor of Indo-Muslim and Islamic religion and cultures at Harvard University: “On campus there hasn’t been, unfortunately from my perspective, any sort of major announcement reassuring students. The support and good will is there, but I think it’s been very slow. Universities are confronted with all these issues of diversity, and I think what’s most important is to give a sense of belonging to both the university and to the larger community. When that sense is threatened, I think the universities should be the first to step up to the plate for the sake of their own students.”

How are you supporting Muslim students on your campus?

Hiba Vohra: “I actually reached out to someone at the Virginia State Police to talk about what can we do on college campuses to make sure that we’re safe, to know what our rights are. We might get someone from that office to come speak. I just want to take precautions now just in case something does happen.”

Maheen Ahmed: “Last night we had a virtual town hall for Muslim students across the West Coast. It was an open forum where they were all talking about what they were feeling and what was going on. A lot of them were just reflecting on and sharing their experiences. They’re a lot more fearful right now.”

What are the challenges you face as a Muslim leader?

Khwaja Ahmed: “I have to become a scholar and an expert on all the matters regarding Islamophobia, regarding international relations, just because people need to know, Does Islam say this? Or: Why would ISIS do this? When it’s like, Hey, I’m a student trying to get through college. I’m not an expert on this by any means.”

Aisha Y. Musa, assistant professor of religion and Middle Eastern and Islamic studies at Colgate University: “I’ve felt it a challenging time to teach because non-Muslim students have so many difficult questions. I’m not shy to deal with them, but as a Muslim and professor of Islamic studies, it can be challenging to have these conversations in class because the only thing that most of my non-Muslim students know about Islam is what they hear in the media. They look to us to give them answers and to give them some sort of perspective to understand what’s going on. It’s made it that much more pressing to talk about in class — something beyond just the intellectual exercise of reading ancient texts.”

Maheen Ahmed: “As students, one thing we realize is: We’re not all professionals when it comes to knowing what’s going on around the world. Why do we always have to defend our faith?”

What concerns are students — both Muslims and others — raising?

Aisha Musa: “It’s a very trying time to be Muslim. When I spoke to Muslim students, they said they have not encountered hostility with fellow students … but did ask those of us who are faculty and Muslim to hang out after Friday prayers and talk with them. There are five or six faculty members in the department who regularly attend. Students want to feel an affirmed sense of community with faculty members.”

Hina Azam: “On one hand, there’s a sense of being horrified at what’s going on. A second set of reactions have to do with fear of backlash, which occurred almost immediately. There’s not a chance to absorb the tragedy or develop a response because you immediately turn to thoughts of self-protection. The third set of reactions has to do with trying to understand: How do we make sense of this in light of traditional Islam, in light of the Quran?”

Ihsan Bagby: “The reaction I worry about most is the passive attitude — hiding one’s Islam, taking off the scarf, asking people to call you by an American-sounding nickname. I’m more concerned about that than about Muslims’ becoming overly angry and irrational in terms of their response. I haven’t seen this, but I have a sense that this floats in their minds as a possibility — that maybe we should be passive, not be too aggressive.”

In light of recent events and political tension, how has your role changed?

Ihsan Bagby: An opinion piece published in September in a student newspaper, The Kentucky Kernel, criticized Islam as a religion. The essay, Mr. Bagby says, “increased the temperature level on campus.” (The writer, the editor of the paper, apologized in a subsequent column.) The essay sparked a campuswide conversation on myths and misconceptions of Islam, facilitated by staff members from the Martin Luther King Center and sponsored by the Office for Institutional Diversity.

“I counseled students to not overreact and … to reply with thoughtfulness and not anger. I also advised that this is not the time to hide your Islam or think that being passive will somehow allow everything to blow over. I advised them be an activist but to be thoughtful and reasonable in your reaction. I think they’ve already understood that.”

Hina Azam: “What I have seen from my experience teaching Islamic studies for a decade is that the more students learn about the long and varied history of Islam, the less likely they are to take up extremist or one-sided ideologies. With greater understanding comes greater moderation. I consider it not only part of the public mission of higher education, but part of the specific mission of higher education, to create an informed citizenry.”

Correction (12/9/2015, 2:35 p.m.): This article originally reported that Hina Azam is an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin. She is an associate professor there. The article has been updated to reflect the correction.