One of the positive effects that has come from the Sept. 11 terrorist strikes has been the response of millions of Americans.

Not only have the relief efforts of firefighters, police officers and others in Washington, New York City and western Pennsylvania been admirable, but so have the efforts of Americans across the country – giving blood and money and renewing a strong sense of patriotism.

But along with all the positives, some truly disappointing and embarrassing shortcomings have come.

Though many Americans have rallied together, some have spent the past two weeks ostracizing Americans of international descent or persons visiting America from other countries.

If anything else, this should be a time when, as Americans, we bond together. How does singling out people with different skin colors, native languages or family heritages help our cause in the least?

Though preventative actions were appropriate, it’s hard to believe that certain issues had to be brought up concerning the safety of international students on campus. Though no major physical incidents had been reported by Friday, there were some cases of harassment toward international students on this campus.

International students that chose to come to school at UW-Eau Claire were impressed with America enough to come study here. It would be ridiculous to think these students were happy to see the terrorist strikes – much less that they or anyone remotely associated with them was involved in the events.

In addition to the pain harassment can cause international students, the xenophobic actions paint a poor image of UW-Eau Claire as an institution. It might be unrealistic to eliminate all harassment of international students, but maybe as students we can help the cause by letting our campus-mates know that this kind of ignorance is unacceptable.

And if we can’t accept that, we’re denying one of the major principles that America was founded on.