Muslim Student Labeled 'Isis' in Yearbook

Misprint? 'I beg to differ,' Bayan Zehlif says
By Luke Roney,  Newser Staff
Posted May 9, 2016 5:18 AM CDT
Updated May 9, 2016 6:00 AM CDT
Muslim Student Labeled 'Isis' in Yearbook
The yearbook photo.   (Facebook)

A principal in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., is calling it a "regrettable misprint." But the Muslim student misidentified as "Isis Phillips" in the Los Osos High School yearbook isn't buying it. "I am extremely saddened, disgusted, hurt, and embarrassed that the Los Osos High School yearbook was able to get away with this," Bayan Zehlif writes in a Facebook post. "Apparently I am 'Isis' in the yearbook. The school reached out to me and had the audacity to say that this was a typo. I beg to differ, let's be real." The school district superintendent tells the Los Angeles Times that there is another student named Isis at the school, and that both families have been contacted. An investigation is underway. "If they find that a student acted irresponsibly and intentionally, [the] administration will take appropriate actions," he says.

Zehlif and her family have spoken to the LA office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, per NBC Los Angeles. In a statement, CAIR says it's concerned "about a possible bias motive," adding "no student should have to face the humiliation of being associated with a group as reprehensible as ISIS." On Friday, per the Times, the school handed out 287 of the yearbooks to seniors. No more yearbooks will be distributed until the error is corrected, and students who got a copy have been asked to return it. "We should have checked each name carefully in the book and we had no intention to create this misunderstanding," the yearbook staff tweeted. "It is our fault and this is absolutely inexcusable on our part." (This Sikh man's image was altered to look like a Paris terrorist.)

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