Robby Soave, Daily Beast, November 22, 2015

The everything-is-offensive brand of campus activism has struck a new low: Students at the University of Minnesota killed a proposed moment of silence for 9/11 victims due to concerns–insulting, childish concerns–that Muslim students would be offended.

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Theo Menon, a Minnesota Student Association representative and member of the College Republicans, realized that the university wasn’t doing anything to memorialize 9/11; on Oct. 6, he introduced an MSA proposal to do just that. The very short resolution asked the university to institute a “moment of recognition” during the mornings of all future September 11ths.

The resolution proved weirdly controversial. According to The Minnesota Republic:

At-large MSA representative and Director of Diversity and Inclusion David Algadi voiced severe criticism of the resolution. He also made sure to emphasize 9/11’s status as a national tragedy in his response.

“The passing of this resolution might make a space that is unsafe for students on campus even more unsafe,” said Algadi. “Islamophobia and racism fueled through that are alive and well.”

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Believe it or now, Algadi was not alone in his opinion–a majority of student government representatives sided with him, voting down the resolution in a 36-23 vote this month. There would be no moment of silence at UMN on Sept. 11, 2016, if students had their way.

Showing insufficient mournfulness for the great national tragedy that was 9/11 is itself deeply offensive to many people, however, and UNM’s administration was quickly inundated with demands for a rebuke of the vote. UNM President Eric Kaler announced Wednesday that he would formalize the moment of silence anyway.

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