A group of Muslim student leaders expressed concerns about an ad that appeared in The Daily Collegian last week and described certain fears they say most Muslim students have had since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The ad that ran last Tuesday featured "It Is Time To Declare War," a commentary by Leonard Peikoff, founder of the Ayn Rand Institute.

Yazan A. Alqudah, public relations representative of the Islamic Society of Central Pennsylvania, said many Muslim students have not been going to class because they are afraid of backlash and some students have left the country as well.

"Some students are afraid to go shopping," Alqudah said.

Mohamed Harouaka, a member of the Muslim Student Association, said none of the Muslim students in America support the terrorist attacks.

"We deplore what happened. We reject it," Harouaka said. "We're your friends. We're your neighbors. All we're asking is to be treated like you."

The page in question also advertised a lecture titled "America at War: The Moral Imperative for Self-Defense," by Andrew Bernstein, a professor from Pace University.

"I have no problem advertising Andrew Bernstein coming to speak. What is problematic is the text of the essay. It stereotypes a group of people. It's deceptively worded," said Amy Hibbard, the Collegian's business manager.

Hibbard has seen some groups try to spread their views by submitting ads that look like editorials close to the deadline of numerous college newspapers' business divisions.

"They basically have it down to a science. It's really text-heavy and they hope that it's not screened properly," Hibbard said.

Hibbard said she, as well as Erin Doonan, the Collegian's advertising manager, did not see the ad before it went into the paper. It is common procedure that the business manager and advertising manager see the ad before it is put into the paper.

"That is my decision — but I wasn't given the right to make that decision," Hibbard said.

The ad request came in after the usual deadline on Sept. 24.

Ramy Nasr, public relations director for MSA, said the difference between Muslims and terrorism needed to be clarified.

"There is no correlation between Islams and terrorists," Nasr said.

Nasr explained the ideas about the distinction between the two. Muslim means submission, he said.

"We submit ourselves to God," he said.

Nasr said the root of the word Muslim means "peace" and that Muslims see no difference between the Christian God and the Muslim God, but they give God the title "Allah" to de-gender and pay respect to God as well as not to pluralize God.

Nasr also said terrorism uses fear for political power.

"We use knowledge," Nasr said. "We would like to be viewed as an educational group on campus."

The Ayn Rand Institute, which paid for the Collegian ad, is based in Marina del Rey, Calif., and aims to promote the philosophy of objectivism and the author of Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead.

The New York Times also published Peikoff's essay yesterday.

Desiree Dudley (junior-psychology), president of the Penn State Objectivist Club, defended the commentary by Peikoff.

"The purpose of the op-ed is to show why retaliation in response to the terrorist attacks is a moral act. It does not advocate hate crimes or ridiculous responses to Arab Americans. It definitely is not meant to support that at all.

"(Peikoff) does say that innocents will get in the way. Innocents always die in the time of war. But that's not the main goal of retaliation," she said.