An incident in Friley Hall among three students was racially motivated, according to a student who says he was assaulted and verbally harassed.

A sophomore in engineering said he was trying to visit a friend Sept. 28, 2002 when two unidentified men began to harass him because of his Middle Eastern descent. They prevented the student from using a public telephone, according to an ISU Police incident report. The student said race was “definitely” a factor in the incident.

At about 2 a.m., the student was throwing rocks at a friend’s window when two men approached him, he said. In an altercation that lasted between five to 10 minutes, the men exchanged insults with the student.

The student believes he heard them say, “f— you Osama” and they yelled, “Do you want to get your ass whipped, you f—ing terrorist?”

The men later pushed the student and grabbed the phone, preventing him from making a call.

“They wouldn’t have said the things they did if [race] wasn’t [a factor],” he said.

The student said he didn’t want to fight, and the men left. He reported the incident to ISU Police several hours later. the student said he doesn’t believe any arrests will be made regarding the incident.

“[The Department of Public Safety] isn’t going to do anything about it. That’s what pisses me off,” he said.

The student said he was told in a follow-up interview with ISU Police there could be no arrests unless the police arrested him as well, since the student yelled back at the men and did not walk away from the incident.

ISU Police Capt. Gene Deisinger denied these allegations.

“The incident is still under investigation, so no decisions about charges have been made at this time,” he said.

Deisinger said police have not identified the other two men involved, although they do have some leads.

“We take any bias-related incident very seriously, conduct a follow-up investigation and file charges if appropriate,” said Jerry Stewart, director of DPS.

The student said this was not the first time something like this has happened to him.

“I don’t think people really understand how conservative and racist ISU is,” he said.

Irma Wilson-White, program coordinator with the office of Minority Student Affairs, said she also sees students who believe they are discriminated against because of race.

“Most of the students learn to deal with it, but there is still that pervasive feeling of being different,” she said.

Wilson-White said many students believe the Minority Student Affairs office is one of the only places they feel comfortable talking about these things.

“A lot of times they just feel so powerless,” she said.

Wilson-White said although she has not worked with students of Middle Eastern descent, she has heard from people who work with international students that discrimination has been “more blatant” since the Sept. 11 attacks.

She also said there were programs available to familiarize students with Middle Eastern culture.

Racially motivated incidents might a larger problem in the residence halls, Wilson-White said.

Robert Lipsey, coordinator for residential minority programs, declined to comment.

Suzanne Zilber, staff psychologist at the Student Counseling Center, also said most minorities have experienced some form of harassment at some time in their lives.

Zilber said any time anyone’s rights are affected it could cause fear, anger, confusion or anxiety.

The student said he still feels threatened after the incident last week.

Editor’s note: The name of the victim was removed from this story.