Students raged into a discussion about the controversial issues of racism and the freedom of speech during a rally held by the College of Republicans at Malcolm X Plaza Tuesday afternoon.

The “Free Speech Rally,” which started with calm speeches of the club members, stirred up feelings among groups when members of the International Socialist Organization (ISO), who were holding signs calling for an “end to racism,” brought up recent campus incidents that happened around election week on campus.

“We don’t need to be afraid to speak what we believe,” Leigh Wolf, a member of the College of Republicans, said during the rally, when he was interrupted by Kirya Traber, a member of the International Socialist Organization who asked, “If it’s a free speech rally can we speak?”

Wolf hesitated to allow Traber to speak at first but let her get up on stage.

Holding a sign that read “Bush’s Patriot Act: Phone-taping you, Deportation, Military Tribunals. Not Free Speech,” Kirya started shouting, “I would say that it is not free speech to call someone a terrorist because of their skin color or their name. When you call Afghan women terrorist, that is not free speech.”

She was referring to an incident that happened on November 1, when members of the College of the Republicans and the International Socialist Organization engaged in a discussion that resulted in verbal and physical aggression, according to witnesses. Another argument followed a day after the election results came out, resulting in a rally of about 200 people shouting that Republicans should “get out” of this campus.

While witnesses and people involved have different versions of both incidents, they agree that they have heated up the relations between the two groups.

Even after the rally was over, the groups continued to argue in a circle.

Narges Gardizi, who claims that her sister, an SF State student, suffered physical aggression on Nov. 1 from someone who claimed to be part of the republican group. During the incident “one of them said ‘why don’t you strap yourself up to a bomb and go blow up yourself,’” Gardizi said.

A student member of the ISO, claimed she was there during the post election day rally, said that members of the College of Republicans told her to “kiss the ground for living in this country, because in her country she would be raped.” The student, who refused to give her last name, identified herself as Fay. She said that when the republican group found out she is from Iran they shouted “another terrorist.”

Lucia Vandenof, a member of the College Republicans who was part of the incidents, said she did not refer to anyone as a terrorist and does not know who did. Vandenof said she was threatened to be killed by members of the ISO.

“When someone tells me they’re going to kill me that’s terrorism,” said Vandenof, who claims that she has been arrested in 8th grade for threatening to kill a girl. She says the police used the word “terrorism” on her record.

“You should be aware of the threat that people feel,” she said. “On November 3 I was surrounded by 200 people telling me to get out of this campus.”

SF State junior Ivy McClelland, who objectively engaged in the conversation, without taking sides, said the word terrorism is thrown around irresponsibly nowadays. “This is a very sensitive issue. People say things that they don’t mean and that’s not the way to reply to them,” she said.

Alfredo Najera, a member of the Republican National Hispanic Assembly, said he agrees with Traber’s speech that “people should not be put into a box and be generalized” in that way. “That would be racism, but what you have here is just a couple of socialist instigating people,” he said referring to the protesting members of the ISO who were holding signs during the rally.

These racial issues are happening on a bigger scale all over the world, SF State senior Aimee Ellis said. “We need a student committee to address this issues, like a code of conduct, something, otherwise it’s just ‘she said’ and ‘he said’.”