An Internet message board hosted by a chapter of the Hindu Students Council at the University of California at Irvine has for some time been a popular discussion venue for issues relating to Hinduism. But with a preponderance of racist and profanity-laced messages, many of which are in violation of university policy, it remains to be seen what action university administrators will take against the organization.

'I am a Hindu,' reads one posting, a response to an online essay about Hindu-Muslim unity. 'I hate Muslims. I'm a youngster & brought up in US. I don't know how the hell anyone can think of uniting with those animals (Muslims aren't worthy of being called people).'

'Instead of uniting,' continues the message, submitted by 'Raj', 'we should have pure Hindu execution squads killing any fanatic Muslims (just as they do to us behind everyone's backs). If you ask Hindus anywhere, they feel oppressed by Muslims who are much more aggressive.'

"That's making a threat," says Diane Kim, director of judicial affairs at the University of California at Irvine, "which is grounds for discipline. We would probably at least want to talk to club officials and get a sense of what they are doing about the situation."

The university has posted its rules regarding network usage, including the following: 'Using computers or electronic mail to act abusively toward others or to provoke a violent reaction, such as stalking, acts of bigotry, threats of violence, or other hostile or "intimidating fighting words". Such words include those terms widely recognized to victimize or stigmatize individuals on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, sex, sexual orientation, disability, etc.'

Another posting, a reprint of an essay on South-Asian Americans, seems more innocuous, until you see the ID of the submitter: 'I Choke Muslim Scum.'

Finally: 'you claim that you don't care about who you associate with?? ha. you're full of shit. sellout. Personally, I am proud to say that I don't hang out with Muslim scum.'

There are others, of course. The message board is replete with anonymously posted messages. While some messages are religiously motivated, others are of a more personal nature, often involving caustic exchanges between various respondents.

Sunita Patel, a fourth-year student and outgoing president of the UCI chapter, notes that the messages have become increasingly aggressive of late.

"From the very first year of implementation -- we are entering our fourth year as a student organisation at UC Irvine -- you can see a trend from discussion to degeneration of topics," she says.

The Hindu Students Council was formed in 1990 by members of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America. It has since become the largest Hindu student and youth group, with over 50 college and school chapters across the US and Canada. In addition to sponsoring discussions and retreats related to Hindu culture, the organisation is actively involved with a number of charitable causes.

Several national-level members of the Hindu Students Council did not respond to emails or phone messages regarding the message board.

Rishi Bhutada, a student at the University of Pennsylvania, feels the message board is susceptible to hostile postings. "In cyberspace, since people are replying to faceless entities, there is sometimes a loss of civility in the reply, as evidenced by the postings all across the board," says Bhutada, who recently participated in an HSC summer camp.

"I actually think the statements are more indicative of a problem occurring [among] Hindu youth today as to if and how they should associate with Muslim youth," he adds. "That's where the major arguments on the board seem to lie."

But the organisation does not seem to have made inter-faith dialogue a priority. "The HSC as a whole has not embarked on a goal of achieving Hindu-Muslim unity," says Bhutada, "but nor has the HSC tried to discourage it. I know individual chapters have undertaken interfaith activities with Muslims, with varying degrees of success or failure."

Sohail Shakeri, president of the Muslim Students Union at UCI, expresses remorse over the postings, but says his organisation will not take up the matter. "It is only acts of hate and arrogance that we should, as committed Muslims, oppose," he argues.

Imam Sa'dullah Khan of the Islamic Centre of Southern California notes that the problem is not restricted to Hindu Web sites. "It's nothing new," he says. "I am sure there are many Muslims doing the same things against Jews and Buddhists and others. Fortunately, people have the right to say what they want, but I am surprised how misinformed people are about the rest of the world."

Khan points out that there is no end of activist causes in the Islamic community, a trend he finds counter-productive. "Everything that seems to be anti-Islamic becomes cause for action," he remarks. "We should be more finicky about it."

Sunita Patel points out that forum guidelines have been posted on the message board, but "the freedom accompanying a nameless forum often has people putting those guidelines aside during heated [debates]. For the next year, it has been proposed that there will be forum moderation taking place. I am not sure how this will go, but hopefully, it will keep my original goal of educating through presentation of ideas."

Illustration: Dominic Xavier

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