fousesquawk
(This article was first posted on Grizzly Groundswell.)
Recently, I have written about disruptions and arrests occurring on University of California campuses at Berkeley and Irvine, incidents that have brought embarrassment to the respective schools. Unfortunately, two other campuses have been hit by embarrassing incidents in the past few days.
A few days ago, a Jewish student discovered a swastika carved into her dormitory door at UC Davis. The girl says she gets along well with all her dorm mates and is at a loss as to who did it.
At UC San Diego, a group of fraternities organized a so-called "Compton Cookout", meant as a spoof of Black History Month. Attendees were invited via Facebook to dress up and act like stereotypes of inner-city blacks. Black students at UCSD were not amused.
Below is a link to the invitation, the reaction of Chancellor Marye Anne Fox and a letter from a campus fraternity regarding the incident (San Diego Channel 10 News):
http://www.10news.com/news/22588063/detail.html
Then, a few days ago, a noose was found hanging on a book shelf in the campus library. Just in the past day, a female student came forward and admitted to the act. She has been suspended. At this point, her name (and race) has not been reported. These incidents have led to rallies in support of black students and a protest at the chancellor's office. Given the already-simmering controversy of the cookout, the noose must be assumed to have been hung as a racial statement. Given the past history of lynchings in the South, the noose has a definite racial connotation. It is highly troubling that this would occur on a university campus-or anywhere else, for that matter.
UCSD does not have a high black enrollment, and now the university is facing demands that they increase their number of black students and faculty, as well as set up a resource center for black students.
Yesterday, Governor Schwarzenegger spoke of the racially-tinged incidents and said that they will not be tolerated. It is not clear what action will be taken by the university against the organizers of the "Compton Cookout" since it occurred off-campus. However, if their rules of conduct are the same as UCI's, there should be a provision for off-campus incidents. It would also seem that action could be taken against the fraternities if they were indeed acting as sponsors.
I think it is high time for UC President Yudoff to step in and exercise some firm leadership if you get my drift. Forget the "sensitivity" sessions and the holding-hands rallies. That's always the response, and they do no good. They also tend to deteriorate into demagoguery of all the other issues in the world. The students at UCSD have shown their support of their black classmates, and that is good. If the university makes an example of the haters and troublemakers on campus by getting rid of them, everybody else will get the message. Then the nooses and the swastikas will stop.
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