After an assault over the weekend at Guilford College in Greensboro of three students, one of whom is from N.C. State, some students and staff on campus are trying to provide services for the victim, Omar Awartani, a freshman in aerospace and mechanical engineering.
According to Michael Bustle, director of the Office of International Scholarships and Student Services, Awartani, an international student from Palestine, approached the OISSS staff after the incident to receive assistance.
“The International Office aspires to be a home away from home for international students,” Bustle said. “I was very glad that when this student did have this problem, we were the first office he came to.”
According to Bustle, after Awartani explained the incident to him, OISSS spoke to administration at Guilford to assess the situation and see how to best help him.
“He was in fairly good shape,” Bustle said. “He was able to get around and had some other friends who were helping him.”
Bustle said OISSS directed Awartani to the Student Health Services, Campus Police, Student Conduct and Legal Services, who cannot give information on Awartani for confidentiality purposes.
“We can help students with some things, but there are units or experts who are better equipped,” he said.
Bustle said he met with Awartani again Thursday, who is also meeting with his instructors.
“He’s reacting remarkably well and has been very mature and responsible,” Bustle said.
According to Bustle, OISSS services about 1,650 international students from about 110 different countries and tries to help them in the best way possible, including helping international students’ parents get visas.
Bustle said Awartani did not request that for his parents, but that they are planning a trip to visit in the near future.
“[Awartani] looked a lot better today than he did on Monday,” Bustle said.
Student Government officials said they did not know much about the incident nor did they receive any concerns from students about it.
Members of the Muslim Students Association executive board, on the other hand, were very concerned about the incident and said they were even contacted about the incident from MSA National.
“MSA condemns violence and hatred, and we’re encouraging a thorough investigation [of the case],” Ayesha Ali, NCSU MSA secretary, said. “It’s very unfortunate that in this day and age someone could hate someone else enough to want to inflict pain on him.”
Ali, a junior in elementary education, said to the best of her knowledge, the incident was a hate crime and the MSA executive board informed its general body about the incident. She said they have invited Campus Police to talk to the MSA about ways to deal with hate crimes like Awartani’s if they were ever to occur on NCSU’s campus.
Ali also said the MSA is going to offer its assistance to Awartani.
“We’re just going to ask him if we can help him out with anything,” she said. “We’re here for support.”
Awartani said he would not be available for comment until after Monday. Attempts to reach the Guilford students assaulted in the incident, Osama Sabbah and Faris Khader, failed. The Greensboro Police Department refused to release the names of the suspects and an official from the criminal investigation department was unavailable for comment.
