Terrorist attacks helped to inspire Muslim-American SGA president-elect to seek office

Samar Ali, a junior studying political science and the newly elected president of the Student Government Association, almost followed her parents' and sister's footsteps into a career of medicine. After a semester of organic chemistry, she changed her major to political science, and now plans to pursue a law degree -- and perhaps a business degree -- upon graduation. She hopes these academic pursuits will help her into a career in international policy.

Ali was born at Vanderbilt Hospital and reared in Waverly, Tenn., by her mother, who immigrated to the United States from Syria at age 26, and her father, who left the West Bank town of Ramallah at age 17. She earned a third-degree black belt through a decade of studying Tae Kwon Do and has held the Southeastern Champion title for the past three years. Ali plans to compete on the national level in February 2003.

During her freshman year at Vanderbilt, Ali co-founded the Middle Eastern Students Association and began her three-year involvement with SGA when she joined the multicultural committee and the SGA Future Leaders Program. Just two days after the Sept. 11 attacks, Ali rose to an unofficial leadership position by speaking publicly about her Muslim faith and her religion's condemnation of the perpetrators' action.

Ali is scheduled to take office March 28.

Q: Almost immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks, you emerged as a student leader on campus, especially after your moving speech at the "Come Together" forum. Was that a natural step for you to take?

A: It was a very intense moment that I will never forget. I will never forget when I was watching the towers come down. I told my roommate that I didn't even want to go outside. I thought it was probably Osama bin Laden. My Arab-American friends from all over the country called and they were all really upset. We hoped it was not a terrorist group that called themselves representatives of our religion; we do not consider them Muslim. I am very involved in the Arab Discrimination Committee and they tell us to educate people because if you do not educate them then who is going to? I knew if I did not step up and talk about it, then who would? I am the educational chair for the Middle Eastern Student Association and that was my role. I needed to do and it came naturally because I was speaking from my heart. If you speak from your heart and speak who you are, then it is going to come off okay.

Q: What was the campus reaction after Sept. 11?

A: [Speaking at the forum] helped me a lot. Vanderbilt was very different from the rest of the country. Vanderbilt was the place that I wanted to be. It was very safe. Chancellor Gee, Larry Dowdy and other administrators all met with the Middle Eastern officers that day. They asked if everyone was well and said if you need a place to stay we have a place for you. We are not going to allow things to happen to you. I thought Vanderbilt students had a very mature and a very educated response for the most part. The fact that they elected me, an Arab Muslim, as their president says something to me and it says something to the rest of the University. That is a big step. There are 200 people enrolled in the Sept. 11 class, which is a class to understand more about the Middle East. I think these are very positive signs. There are some negative signs from people and there are some very racist people, but those are the minorities. I try and not focus on the minority. I think people think that [Muslims are] mysterious. Muslims and Arabs have become this mysterious people that [people] are trying to uncover, trying to discover. I think that once people uncover and discover that, they are going to find that we are just like everybody else.

Q: Did your leadership after Sept. 11 help you decide to run for SGA president?

A: It got me going. It kind of sparked my fire. I like educating people and I enjoy representing people. I have been involved in SGA for three years, and SGA was part of what put on the forum. It was a changing time in SGA, a changing time at Vanderbilt, and I just really wanted to be a part of it. During the campaign, you put yourself out there, and get criticized a lot. I had my platform torn apart. I think that Sept. 11 was one of the things that did inspire me to take on a more representative role. The events after that, emerging as the representative of Middle Eastern Student Association and as executive assistant of the SGA helped light the fire.

Q: What is your opinion about the administration's push for diversity on campus?

A: I am part of the anti-hate campaign. I am on the diversity action group and even being in the Middle Eastern Student Association, diversity is the thing that we keep on working at because we are not there yet. We have made good jumps, we have made good strides, but we are not there yet. When you have someone write what they wrote on the walls in Towers, you know that is an alarm. It is a wake-up call. If you have people who enter Vanderbilt University closed-minded and they graduate closed-minded, then you have failed. There needs to be more classes addressing global cultures and classes on receiving other cultures. There needs to be more activities with everyone coming together. You don't need to have your five different divided groups in the cafeteria when you are eating. More organizations need to interact with each other. I think it is a problem all over the country too. But it is definitely a problem we have to address, and I think it is big. Ross Lucas, SGA vice president-elect, and I would like to create a multicultural lobbyist who represents the needs of the multicultural community.

Q: How is the campus culture with the new administration?

A: Gee is very much the students' Chancellor. He is always doing things for the students; he loves the students. He is always interacting with us. When he came on board, he motivated me. When he comes in and gives a speech and really just gets us motivated. And at the same time, the people that he brings with him, I see them getting really excited about these changes for student life and that trickles on down to the students. Chancellor Gee said if you don't want to join the change train, we'll leave you at the station. The new administration is really exciting. They needed to remodel student life and it's much more organized now. What I put on my platform is finding the role of the students in student life to match our efficiency. We have to work together and we both need each other. We should get along. Gee is very good for the University as are the people he brings in and the way he structured it.

Q: You have identified some ambitious goals on your platform. Do you think you can achieve these within the next year, or are you laying the groundwork out for your successors?

A: I think there are some things that we can achieve. Ross Lucas and I kept telling people that we do not want our ideas to graduate with us. I got that question a lot: "Can you do this?" I am the voice of the students. I will not personally make the changes, but I will talk about them and I will keep pushing for them. For example, changing academic CPLE requirements is hard to do in one year, but I can get the ball rolling. A lot of these are just getting the ball rolling. Something like lengthening the pass/fail period, I do not understand how that would take much time to do that. My ideas about taking classes in different schools is something that could happen within five years.

Q: What are the main topics of concern on campus?