The U.S. government has illegitimately attacked civil liberties since Sept. 11, a five-person panel of professors, activists and a student said Thursday night.

Forgoing civil liberties in an effort to curb terrorism is unacceptable, panel members told about 50 students and staff members at Communications Residential College.

“Racial profiling is wrong not because of its intent but because of its impact on others,” said Ahmed Shawki, editor of the International Socialist Review.

Like World War II, when Japanese Americans were held in internment camps, similar tactics are still continuing as Arabs and Muslims are being unfairly investigated and jailed, Shawki said.

“What is going on today is not the inevitable chain of history, (but) unless it is opposed, it will reach this conclusion,” he said.

A lack of diversity among university students’ opinions on racial profiling is also a major concern, said Naureen Shah, a member of Northwestern Opposing War And Racism.

“We are living in a time of consensus,” said Shah, a Medill sophomore. “Student activism is about thinking and questioning.”

Some universities suppress deviance from pro-America viewpoints, said Jillana Enteen, a visiting English professor. Rather than protect freedom from mob rule, administrators would socialize students to be non-challenging members of society, she said.

“The worst-case scenario is that universities only possess the values of the age,” Enteen said.

The limited range of ideas has spread to the media, too, said Micaela di Leonardo, a professor of anthropology and gender studies. Many new movies glorify war, as opposed to anti-war movies such as “Three Kings,” released in 1999.

“What is particularly upsetting is the further capitulation of the American press,” di Leonardo said.

President Bush has sent mixed messages to the Muslim community when he wished wished them a happy Eid – a celebration at the end of a Ramadan, a month of fasting – while thousands of them remain imprisoned and innocent civilians die in Afghanistan.

Candace Cohn, a civil rights attorney, discussed the USA Patriot Act and said it could violate the Fourth Amendment. By defining dissent as terrorism, she said, the government can investigate more dissenters without sufficient evidence.

Speech junior Lizzy Gore said she enjoyed the panel, although she added that this type of event tends to draw people who already agree with the speakers’ viewpoints. She and said she would like to have seen more students challenge the panelists.

“The speakers were well varied and presented a good variety of viewpoints,” Gore said.