A Zewdalem Kebede Reader: Ethiopian-American at SDSU Confronts Saudi Students

This Ethiopian as a Christian ie dhimmi has no right to make critical remarks to the pro-jihad Muslims and his word cannot count in the court.

It seems the only thing that Kebede did wrong was to speak loudly in a library. If there was such a concern about the volume of his voice, the reasonable action from the University would be for a librarian to approach him and tell him to please lower his voice. Since when is it a "threat" to speak in a loud voice? I can't tell you how often I've heard parents out in public yell at their kids and tell them to "shut the f*** up" --wouldn't it be great if we could protect innocent children from the verbal abuse of their parents. Obviously we can't take children away from parents every time a parent offends their child. That would just lead to social chaos, wouldn't it? This PC stuff has got to find an end soon. People need to realize that our constitution protects free speach. It does not protect people from being offended. Where do we go as a society when we try to protect everyone from being offended? I get seriously offended by hateful and ignorant things that liberals say. Seriously, some of the things they say about America -some of the disparaging remarks about the middle or upperclasses- really hurt and I take it very personally. Muslims in America who sympathize with the Taliban --also people in the Taliban-- have shown that they can use the PC mentality for their own use. I would really like to see conservative-minded people start fighting against the PC movement by using it. If some protestor burns the American flag in public, I would like to see someone threaten them with a law suit for offending them and insulting their country!!! I'd like to see a conservative sue a liberal for hate speach. Make them come right out and admit their hypocracy, that it's okay to express hatred and negative opinions toward America, toward successful, hardworking Americans, toward Christian beliefs, and toward Conservatives --but it's not okay to criticize or offend so-called "minorities," whose votes they are trying to win and keep.

"Somehow I doubt we will ever see such a statement. Their silence is deafening.
The silence of Saudis everywhere is deafening.

Interesting link to McPeaks article. I don't agree with the parallel between McCarthyism and the deportation of the Saudi students. The students are not citizens and if they do sympathize with Bin Laden and if they're at all any kind of risk to our national security, they should be deported. The United States is not obligated to allow everyone and anyone entrance into this country. Also, his criticism of McCarthyism, devalues the very really and ellusive threat that Communism was --and still is. Found some other articles that refer to McPeak and the way that he has handled a retirement letter from a AF safety director, who complains about the way the AF investigates accidents: "Hall's letter depicts an Air Force safety system hampered by politics, meddling generals, stonewalling, conflicts of interest, and Orwellian "convoluted manipulation, distortion, and misuse of the English language." Hall also insists "the fix is straightforward" and he spells it out in remarkable candor" http://www.wweek.com/html/hall.html And here is McPeak's very short response to the complaints: http://www.wweek.com/html/mcpeak.html McPeak sound like a big fat Military bureacrat.

Excellent post Shermy, stay with the story.

One line caught my attention...""There's a fine line between aggression and debate"...Al Gore didn't think so, in fact he was rather proud of himself.

What Algore did to Bush during one of their debates was aggressive and down right rude. I don't think Kebede meant to be rude, perhaps a little outraged and defensive for his country.

#18 you are right on the mark with ALL STATE AND FEDERAL EDUCATION FUNDS being denied this school and the Saudi students. By the way, what are their ages? They should most likely be sent home, deported. Seditious remarks and behavior during the time of War, is not to be taken lightly. Maybe Stephen Weber would like to accompany them. The FBI should take a long hard look at the entire school, how it is run and have a look at the student visas and the students.

Thanks Yoe and everybody.

"For the record" and for your own interest perhaps, I'm adding here a bunch of letters printed in the Daily Aztec. Found them via the Dailyaztec.com search engine. As an aside, I get the feeling reviewing all the Daily Aztec reports is that the journalist students sympathize with Z.K., and can't stand the SDSU administration.

OCTOBER 23, 2001

It takes guts to allow free speech, patriotism on campus

I have heard through a forwarded e-mail that a student by the name of Kebede has been threatened with disciplinary action for speaking his patriotic views on the war against the Taliban leadership in Afghanistan.("Student: Attack praised," Jason Williams, Oct. 17.)

While not protesting to know all the facts in Mr. Kebede's case or what the ruckus is all about, I pray that SDSU has the intestinal fortitude to allow students to exercise their 1st amendment right to free speech AND their patriotic duty to our country. --Phil San Filippo, San Diego, Calif.

Blaming Kebede is blaming the victim

As an alumnus of S.D. State (class of 1979 - Telecommunications and Film), I have several questions and comments for President Weber, Crime Prevention Specialist Marc Fox, and the Center for Student Rights regarding the Zewdalem Kebede incident. ("Student: Attack praised," Jason Williams, Oct. 17.)

If a group of American students (preferably white males) were publicly celebrating the murder of thousands of innocent people, would that be considered "a free speech issue?" More likely, wouldn't they be the ones summoned to the Center for Student Rights to discuss their conduct, and admonished to conduct themselves as responsible members of the campus community?

The dogma of zero-tolerance PC speech codes has reached an absurd level. The connection between harassment and speech has been made so relentlessly over the years that disagreement is now depicted as a form of assault. For the Saudi students to pose as victims was cowardly and perverse. The real victim in this travesty is Zewdalem Kebede. I applaud and thank Mr. Kebede for his bravery in standing up to true hate speech. --Steve Provost, Roseville, Calif.

Kebede fiasco reason for sdsu 'roasting'

Did I really just hear on the news that an Ethiopian San Diego State University student overheard a group of Saudi students discussing how happy they were about the terrorists attacks? And that they were upset that they missed the "big house." And that, and this part CAN'T be true, the ETHIOPIAN is now in trouble with the university? Say it isn't so. And if it is true and your university expels a kid for shaming those people, then do me a personal favor (as a former managing editor of the Purdue Student paper, the Exponent) let your administration know how wrong they truly are. And let them know that they should resign for even suggesting this, if it is indeed true. (In other words, open a can of Whoop-Ass on these a**holes for being so stupid!)

Please show the rest of this country that you have the balls to roast these ridiculous a**holes in your paper. This is your first real test as journalists. The great ones had the courage to scream at the top of their lungs when they saw injustice. Otherwise I fear your school, your city and even your state will never be forgiven.

It sounds melodramatic, but I assure you, it is not. My brother lives across the street from the twin towers and I live in Chicago. How many people that died in that building or live in NYC have ties to your city and your school? You have an obligation to defend this student. I'm sick to my stomach over this as you can tell by the long e-mail. Make the USA proud!--Scott Brown, Chicago, Ill.

Free speech is a two-way street

The Kebede Case, as reported in The Daily Aztec ("Student: Attack praised," Jason Williams, Oct. 17) and now in the on-line source, the Opinion Journal (www.opinionjournal.com), raises many serious questions about free speech.

First, freedom of speech must be applied to both parties. If the Arab students have the right to talk glowingly about a terrorist attack on the United States, Mr. Kebede also has the right to tell these students that their words are offensive.

Mr. Kebede wasn't aggressive. Had he wanted to make a scene, he would have confronted these students and addressed them in English so that everyone in the library could have heard what was going on. Instead, as the Daily Aztec reported, Mr. Kebede spoke to the other students "in Arabic so as not to disturb others studying in the library."

Quite frankly, Mr. Kebede, as a citizen of the United States, had every right to confront these students. Quite frankly, I think Mr. Kebede showed great courage in standing up for his homeland. Mr. Kebede clearly takes his role as a citizen very seriously. Remember, the definition of citizen includes responsibilities, as well as rights.

I believe the University should reconsider its position and restore Mr. Kebede's good name and record.

While I clearly understand that the four Saudi students should not have been arrested for stating their opinion, no matter how offensive, neither should Mr. Kebede be taken to task for exercising his same 1st Amendment rights.--Sue Ferrara, Ph.D., Princeton, NJ

Kebede deserves praise, Saudis not victims

I would just like to say that I am appalled at the treatment of Zewdalem Kebede at San Diego State University.

First of all, I think he should be praised for having the courage to stand up to the two individuals who were praising the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, not punished. Right now, all people who consider themselves Americans have a duty to report and confront those who support the terrorists who killed over 5,000 people.

Sure, it probably was not appropriate for this young man to confront them like that, alone. First off, I would have made sure everyone in that library knew what these two Saudi students were saying, by addressing them in English just for the sake of having witnesses on my side.

It also was a mistake for him to not report these individuals to the police and FBI on the spot. But however ill-advised his conduct was, the spirit in which he did this important and should not be ignored. It seems to me that this kid is only guilty of being young and inexperienced.

Those two Saudi students are not the victims, they were only lucky. I don't care if their statements can be construed as merely "rhetoric," this kind of talk is no different than the statements that people in a certain Florida bar heard the night of September 10.

I do not support any kind of racial profiling against Arabic or muslim citizens in this country, but for the sake of our security, statements like the ones that Mr. Kebede heard should be taken seriously and considered a clear and present danger to the security of those around them whether they are made in English or any other language. It sets a bad example for students that made those terrible statements to be treated as victims. The First Amendment must be protected but not at the cost of our security.--Tina Leone, Washington, DC

Kebede was threatened by a 'PC' university

(Dr. Kitchen's) implication that student Zewdalem Kebede was not harassed is ridiculous. A letter stating "that future involvement in 'confronting members of the campus community in a manner that is found to be aggressive or abusive' will result in severe disciplinary sanctions" is threatening by any common interpretation.

It saddens me that the PC industry may be as established in my daughter's alma mater as it is in mine (UC-Berkeley). Is this naive?--Frank Barley, Ph.D., Clayton, Calif.

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OCTOBER 24, 2001 LETTERS

SDSU alum no longer proud to be an Aztec A year ago, SDSU was faced with the ban and permanent removal of anything connected with the name Aztec or anything related to the Aztec culture. In a pathetic move, SDSU President Stephen Weber chose to compromise with the campus zealots (Taliban?) by neutering the virile warrior Monty Montezuma. Monty's image was then transformed into that of an ambassadorial wimp (hello, United Nations?)

I bit my tongue and renewed my SDSU Alumni membership.

Now, I read ("Student: Attack praised," Jason Williams, Oct. 17) that an SDSU student from Ethiopia has been admonished for defending America in the face of derision by some SDSU students from Saudi Arabia. this all occurred in the wake of the horrendous leveling of the World Trade Center and the attack on the Pentagon. The Saudi students were reported to have admired the kamikaze monsters' "courage and precision."

It would seem that in the ivory towers of San Diego State, the smug glee of America's pain and misery is a form of constitutionally protected speech. Yet, any defense of America and its traditions is a form of "hate speech" in which sanctions, from admonishment up to expulsion, is the standard.

I am truly embarrassed to be affiliated with SDSU. I am also truly embarrassed at the treatment of Mr. Zewdalem Kebede, the SDSU student from Ethiopia. As an SDSU graduate who is also a Navy veteran and who works in federal law enforcement, I would be proud to have Mr. Kebede as a fellow citizen and a neighbor. However, I am no longer proud to be an SDSU alum.-- Robert E. Reiss, Temecula, Calif.

Kebede chastised, but 'hate speech' unchecked

Mr. Kebede was doing absolutely the right thing to defend his country, and is to be commended for showing true patriotism. I tip my hat to him. If anything, the people who he "victimized" should be on the receiving end of your university's anger and admonishment, not Kebede.

In conclusion, I want this message to be seen by SDSU's administration and its students, so the good people in it can see how foolish and regrettable it is to let the P.C. police, in essence, hijack your university.

Were I an administrator, employee or student at San Diego State University, I would do everything in my power to reverse this tragic situation. I pray the good people of SDSU will have the courage to fight for Mr. Kebede, for their university and for America.-- Amit Kumar, Farfax Station, Va.

Kebede morally correct, should be 'running university,' says reader

The problem is, Kebede is right. What he did is morally correct, whether PC or not. Which just goes to show how far from center "PC" has become.

We need more citizens like Kebede who will stand up for the right, dare to speak the truth, whether it is popular or not, dare to challenge wrongful thinking. How else do you run a university?

That SDSU takes a position against him speaks very poorly for the university. That Kebede is being (warned) makes you a laughing stock for the nation.

Kebede should be running the university -- he has a great deal of common sense, which seems to be being "educated out" of students today. -- Bette Solomon Sierra Madre, Calif.

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OCTOBER 29, 2001 LETTERS

Kebede article will lead to fear and loathing

Jason Williams in his article ("Student: Attacks praised," Oct. 17) created tentions(sic) and hatred against Muslims in this campus and all over the nation. Especially against Saudis. It was an article that was based upon emotions rather than facts.

We all love America and (are) loyal to this country and history has proven that.

Mr. Williams (is) a journalist who did not gather any information whatsoever about those guys (the other side). He had no proof that they were really Saudis; he did not contact them; he had no evidence that what's been said about them was true or just a good excuse for the Ethiopian guy so that he would not be kicked out of the university because of being aggressive toward those unknown guys.

And what is their perspective about what is going on? God knows. Was it a new plot against Saudis in this educational institute? Unless Mr. Williams thought of the words of this Ethiopian student as equally as the words of God Almighty, he would not write such an article without making or pursuing any slight investigation about this confusing episode.

Mr. Williams, if I were to know those guys, I myself would admonish them and speak to the Embassy of Saudi Arabia about them so it would teach them unforgettable lesson after, of course, making sure that they actually said such evil words. --Badr Al-Doweesh, SDSU student

Saudi Students should be deported

I certainly hope that every aspect of the Saudis who spoke in favor of the attack on this nation by THEIR fellow countrymen is investigated.

I can tell you that having lived in Saudi Arabia for a number of years, an American would certainly not be afforded the protection that these Saudi students have. An American, under similar circumstances, would have been immediately jailed. Not deported, but jailed.

If in fact these Saudi students did say those things in favor of the WTC attack they should be deported immediately. The precedence is that when the Iranian students took our countrymen hostage in 1979, the Iranian students in this country were immediately deported, whether or not they spoke in favor of what their countrymen had done.

You can do the right thing or be judged as the fools you are. --Don Robinson, Seattle, Washington

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OCTOBER 30, 2001 LETTERS

SDSU handling of Kebede case a 'slap in the face to all Americans'

The manner that SDSU handled the 'library' incident between Mr. Kebede and the Saudi terrorist sympathizers was a slap in the face to all Americans.

Mr. Kebede has demonstrated more intestinal fortitude than anyone on the SDSU staff. He is a true patriot and he wasn't even born in this country.

Your administration and the actions taken are disgraceful. Your institution allows terrorist sympathizers to hide behind Constitutional rights that they are NOT entitled to.

They are TERRORIST SYMPATHIZERS!

I hope you are intelligent enough to figure out that those Saudi 'students' pose a threat to the rest of your students. The terrorists that YOUR Saudi students were praising killed more than 5,000 innocent civilians in New York. Most of those who died were your fellow American citizens.

Our country is at war with terrorism. All terrorist sympathizers should be considered enemies, as well, and immediately deported. Your 'political correctness' is nauseating.

You are exposing your entire student body to potential terrorist threats. It is time you stop worrying about how much tuition you're getting from the Arabs and start reevaluating your patriotism and anti-terrorist security procedures. Your apparent greed is causing your patriotism to be questioned.

If, God forbid, anything terrorist-related happens to your student body, your institution is vulnerable to a full broadside of lawsuits for the actions taken by your institution to protect the terrorist sympathizers.

Your allegiance should be to your country first, your student body second, and way down the list are the foreign nationals who are 'guests' of our country. --Dan Saito, U.S. Army (Retired), St. Ambrose University

Hi Calvin. You were gone for a while! Thanks for the reminder about Z.K.

I can find nothing really important on the web post 10/30 about Z.K. except the following three items from the Daily Aztec website. Plus a pic of Z.K.! Sounds like he's glad it's all over.

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November 6, 2001

Zealous preaching of tolerance only fuels anti-Arab sentiment

opinion piece - Benjamin Abel

Once again, the world's Muslims are in a tight spot. And once again, it is because of -- you guessed it – terrorism. (Can we save tyrannical revolution and angry pyromaniac street theater for another time?) It doesn't help Muslim P.R., either, to have hijacker Mohammed Atta's picture pasted everywhere, as Atta's face is exactly what all of us imagined a hijacker would look like.

This may be a bit pre-judgmental (though probably not), but before Sept. 11, most people would not have been comfortable seeing Atta walking into an Israeli disco, flying on a plane with them, or driving a U-Haul truck into a big city. Now they have a reason.

But not so fast, we haughty Americans are reminded. We should avoid stereotyping our Muslims, for we might be hurting their feelings. The emphasis isn't so much on 'not killing people'; even the worst America-haters grumblingly admit that Americans don't go for that.

For all their admirable intentions, those who feel it necessary to warn Americans not to stereotype Muslims, or to make it clear that we aren't at war with Islam, are actually hurting the very Muslims they are trying to protect. In fact, their declarations end up sounding like "Don't stereotype all Muslims; we aren't at war with the whole Islamic world."

Which makes one wonder, why is it that the Muslim world needs such (government) protection, and why are we taking care to not upset the Muslim world? Isn't this a bit patronizing, to assume that a billion or so Muslims could go off like a bomb (no offense to Palestinians) if we do something wrong? Is the U.S. government nervous that a firecracker or a ham sandwich in Mosque X could trigger Intifada III at home?

Goodness, all those protesters clogging the streets burning those bloody effigies -- we don't want that.

The problem is that "Hug a Muslim" proclamations, such as President Bush's, assume our Muslims to be unwilling to renounce terrorism more than mildly, and unwilling to assimilate into American society. The implied idea is that we should let "those people" be what they are; they won't change anyway, and who are we to judge them?

But what message is this multicultural, patronizing attitude giving to ordinary Americans?

This isn't all. Official apprehension about bombing during Ramadan has given us the message that the Taliban are mainstream Islam; why else might Muslims, even our Muslims, be offended? The answer, of course, has nothing to do with the fact that Muslims have never had a scruple about killing each other during Ramadan.

Finally, we have a great example right here at SDSU. As you recall, Zewdalem Kebede, an Ethiopian student who conveniently overheard two bloodthirsty Saudi students talking gleefully about the Sept. 11 bombings, was reprimanded by the university for reproaching these two students. Why wasn't Kebede accorded the same free-speech rights as the Saudis? Why were the Saudis made the victims? Why is the university so careful to protect them?

Again, it seems to us that SDSU, visibly nervous, is protecting these Saudis because it is more afraid of our bigotry than it is of their treasonous sensibilities.

But if we have shady characters praising terrorism, in our own library, I suppose we should be afraid, contrary to the gleeful multicultural pronouncements of university officials all the way to President Weber himself.

If you think SDSU is compromising your safety for the sake of tolerance, e-mail University Judicial Officer Antoinette Jones to ask her why she bullied Kebede, when all he did was the right thing.

And e-mail University spokesman Jack Beresford to ask why he states that no "disciplinary action" was taken against Kebede. But the letter sent to Kebede will remain in his records permanently, subject to disclosure to any future employer, government agency, etc. -- and that's not "discipline"?

Utterly ridiculous.

Kebede did what all of us would have done -- should have done -- if faced with a similar situation.

Official pronouncements of "tolerance" for Muslims, potential terrorists or not, only act to make the populace increasingly nervous and suspicious, as can be demonstrated here at SDSU, where nearly every student listens attentively, and fearfully, for spoken Arabic. And then cringes waiting for the punishment to be imposed on his bigotry.

--Benjamin Abel is a social science senior and the senior opinion writer for The Daily Aztec.

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November 7, 2001 Letters

Arab students counter Kebede claim

Not Named [i.e., anonymous]

The Daily Aztec received the following letter from three Arab students who were involved in an altercation in San Diego State University's Love Library. Zewdalem Kebede, an Ethiopian student who speaks Arabic, alleged, after being reprimanded by the university for verbal assault, that the three students were speaking Arabic in the library, praising the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington, D.C.

The set of circumstances gained national attention when The Daily Aztec published the story Oct. 17. The three Arabic-speaking students wrote the following letter in response to Kebede's allegations. The Daily Aztec has opted to protect the identities of the students, for fear that they might be targeted, physically or otherwise.

We want to clarify some issues raised by an article published in the 10/17 Daily Aztec. The article made allegations about our involvement in an incident that occurred in the library on Sept. 22. We wish to challenge those allegations and correct the record.

Since there were many witnesses to this incident, we encourage any of them to come forward and tell the University Police what they saw and heard. We believe our version of what happened on Sept. 22 will prevail.

First, The Daily Aztec article refers to four male students from Saudi Arabia.

In fact, we were a group of three graduate students who had just met each other while studying in the Reserve Book Room.

We stopped for a moment to converse in Arabic when Mr. Kebede approached us in an aggressive manner and threatened us.

One of us is male and a citizen of Saudi Arabia; one of is male and a citizen of Sudan; and one of us is a female Arab-American and a citizen of the United States.

The fourth person in the library was an unknown American male who came to our defense when he heard Mr. Kebede's abusive shouting.

Mr. Kebede was an elderly looking man who had been sitting at a nearby table.

Second, Mr. Kebede shouted at us in broken English; he did not speak quietly to us in Arabic as reported.

He kept shaking his finger at us and shouting, demanding that we stop speaking the "barbaric language of the terrorists" for by doing so, we were "no better than the terrorists" and that we should "be ashamed to speak the language of those dirty people who killed thousands of Americans."

We were speechless and frightened by the intensity of his anger and the irrationality of his behavior. That is when the unknown American gentleman came forward and told Mr. Kebede to stop shouting and stop acting like a "racist."

Mr. Kebede then left the area and entered the restroom and all three of us left the library.

Once outside, one of us called University Police to report the incident, and then the three of us went our separate ways, grateful the incident was over.

According to the original police report, Mr. Kebede did not make any statements to the police about the content of our conversations he alleged later to have overheard.

Nor did he make any accusations about us in regard to "praising the attack" or being "pleased with the Sept. 11 events" or regretting "missing the Big House."

The first time these accusations were known to us was almost a month later in the Oct. 17 Daily Aztec article.

More horrible accusations appeared three days later in a San Diego Union-Tribune article.

It appears that Mr. Kebede came forward with these accusations only after he was ordered to appear before a campus official from the Office of Students Rights and Responsibilities on charges of disorderly behavior.

The outcome of his hearing was a warning to refrain from such behavior in the future. It appears that the more Mr. Kebede was spotlighted by the media, the more his accusations became horrific and the more his justifications became patriotic.

Unfortunately, none of what Mr. Kebede said about us, other than our speaking Arabic, was based on fact.

While the case has been described as "he said; they said," the "they said" part has not been presented in a public forum.

Here it is.

Each of us condemns the actions of the terrorists on Sept. 11 as an unprecedented evil that will never be forgiven nor forgotten.

We condemn the acts of those terrorists. We condemn those terrorists. We condemn all the evil they represent.

We are not the anti-American, pro-terrorist monsters first fabricated by the troubled fantasies of an old man and then spun into notoriety by irresponsible journalists and talk-show demagogues.

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November 20, 2001

Kebede not punished, Weber says

SDSU president tells student library incident not on record

By Jason Williams, Managing Editor

Ending a month-long confrontation, University President Stephen Weber has sent a letter to Zewdalem Kebede reconfirming that no disciplinary action has been taken against him regarding an incident that occurred in Love Library in September.

Kebede, an Ethiopian student, was approached by University Police Sept. 22 in the Reserve Book Room after a Saudi Arabian student reported that he had verbally abused them.

Kebede claimed he overheard the Saudi and two other students praising the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and that he merely advised them in a heated discussion.

The Saudi denied that he and the other students made the statements in a letter sent to The Daily Aztec ("Arab students counter Kebede claim," Nov. 7).

"This guy, Kebede -- he's fabricating lies. And he got hooked with, I believe, with politics," the Saudi student, whose identity The Daily Aztec has chosen to protect, told a reporter in an interview last week.

Following the incident, Kebede met with a university judicial officer. No disciplinary action was taken. However, Kebede felt a letter he received from the Center for Student Rights and Responsibilities was of a disciplinary nature.

Kebede also felt the letter restricted his freedom to discuss the incident, declining to talk about the case in detail during a recent interview with KOGO's Roger Hedgecock, which was broadcast Nov. 13 from the Free Speech Steps.

But University Spokesman Jack Beresford said there has been no correspondence between the university and Kebede that said "he wasn't supposed to talk about this incident."

In early November, Kebede sent a letter to Weber asking that he "expunge" the decision of the university judicial office and clear his record.

On Nov. 15, Kebede received a letter from Weber, which stated that there was nothing to rescind because Kebede had not been disciplined by the university and that his record does not reflect any disciplinary action on the part of the judicial office.

The university says nothing has changed in its stance regarding the incident.

"Essentially, the letter was a reply to Mr. Kebede, and it was consistent with our previous statements that no disciplinary action was taken against him," Beresford said.

"As far as we're concerned, this issue was settled when Mr. Kebede met with the university's judicial officer on Oct. 3."

With the letter, Kebede considers the case closed, though during the publicity his case garnered in the national media, he has been contacted by numerous law firms seeking to represent him in a case against the university.

Two firms, one in Philadelphia and one in Washington, D.C., have pressured Kebede to continue the case, claiming Weber's response "doesn't compensate" for the previous "admonishment" Kebede received.

"Really, I am satisfied," Kebede said. "I don't want to continue this case. I told them it's OK, it's OK with me. As long as the president confirms for me that there's nothing in my record."

Beresford said the incident advanced further than it should have.

Kebede said he does not regret the confrontation that took place in the Reserve Book Room.

"I am happy that I experienced that situation with those guys," Kebede said. "It was the right thing. It was the right thing what I said. I just told them, 'You are wrong.' Hereafter, I don't want it to continue.

"I've got my freedom. I just want to live with my university in peace."

--Opinion Editor Reed Albergotti contributed to this report.

I'll say this for the student's defense letter: I believe, of course, that facts of any incident are subject to interpretation, and can be inflected by emotion. But much of what they say seems overly selective or doesn't ring true. For example, they don't come out and say what they were talking about, or outright deny what they are accused to have said. They just happened to stop for a "conversation." Instead they focus on the police report and procedures, a strawman argument. The report wouldn't intend to record every statement made, and indeed didn't have anything about a "racist" allegation, and the students weren't even there when the police took the report if their story is to be believed, so why should the details have been gone over anyway? (Was the fourth man there to add to the report? Earllier article says only that one "saudi man" contributed to the report. What did he say in it??? Must have been done after the police talked to Z.K.)

The victimology is too clean, and their allegation about the "troubled fantasies of an old man" doesn't help their case in my opinion.