as to campus, what's happened (as far as i can tell) is:
there was a party held off campus. some of the hosts were frat boys. they invited a comedian, jiggaboo jones (you can google him for his brand of humor) and they put on a "compton cookout" to parody all the black history month stuff, which some people feel is way overdone.[that is, there's not a native american month, or an asian-american month, or an irish-american month, etc.] mr. jones is black, by the way.
a young lady in the black student association found the open invitation on facebook and went ballistic, told all her acquaintainces about it and said it was a frat party. people were very upset. (remember, this is off-campus and not a frat sanctioned party). they pitched such a fit that the administration came out with one of their "we are not amused" letters (not pleased with the Cookout) and tried to soothe things down.
the BSU folks got up a list of 30+ demands and presented them to the chancellor at a meeting she invited them to. some of them were immediately doable - extra tutoring, etc. - and some are not (they want more black faculty on campus. we are in a hiring freeze and are letting people go due to the budget situation. and, actually, there aren't that many black candidates of high enough quality to hire - at least in the field of the dept in which i work. the very few that are out there are snatched up by the private unis, who can pay an arm and a leg - which we can't due to the restrictions on salaries we have as a state university. i can't imagine what else will have to be cut to pay for the tutoring. most of the other tutoring has been cut already. they are actually getting ready to fold some of the smaller programs into larger departments and to lay staff off because there is no money to fund them. i haven't been able to find out what the other demands were, the BSU server is perpetually down. but the kids are completely out of touch with the fiscal situation, in any event. they seem to think the money is just sitting there in a vault waiting for whomever wants it.)
anyway, the chancellor called for a campus-wide "teach in" where everyone could sit down and discuss the issues. the BSU came, and then got up and walked out after hurling insults at the chancellor about an hour into the meeting. the meeting had cost the university, i'm guessing, about $6,000 - $7,000 to hold, as they gave staff two hours paid time off to go if anyone wanted to go and all the top brass were there. (judging from how many staff went, it was costly.) as far as i can tell, the BSU walked out because they were not having their 30+ demands directly and immediately addressed and approved. but i'm not sure, i wasn't there. it was a slap in the face to everyone not BSU who went there or who had supported having the meeting.
after that point, our on-campus bad-boy newspaper/tv show, the Koala, lampooned the BSU and used the "N" word to call them ungrateful whiners. now, the Koala insults everyone. i can't think of ANY particular group/ethinicity/special interest/demographic they have not insulted in the decade or two i've been there on campus. that's what they do. free speech doesn't always mean you have to like what's being said, but they've the right to say it. the Koala definitely pisses people off on a regular basis - usually in the most tasteless way imaginable. it didn't help things.
anyhow that sent everyone into a tizzy - the campus shut down all student media (a couple of dozen orgs), the ACLU started firing off letters about free speech, the local media picked the story up with various degrees of accuracy (and some creative license)... the republicans apparently wrote some sort of rebuttal to the BSU's demands that the BSU didn't like - I am not sure what was said, I can't find that anywhere. more hysteria.
the BSU and supporters did walkouts and started marching through campus, the usual stuff. at that point, some nimnuts girl (who is rumored to have been accompanying two boys) left a noose hanging in the library. the crap hit the fan then -
people are crying about feeling unsafe on campus (all races), the police involved, outside students are busing in to participate in more rallies and marches... several students took over the chancellor's complex and stood on the tables and counters pounding on drums and chanting (the chancellor and staff just went to lunch and left them there). [i'd bill the BSU for any damages, if it were me.]
i've gotten at least a half-dozen "we are not amused, this is awful" letters from various persons in the upper administration in my email this week. i haven't seen one letter that says "stop this nonsense, every one of you, regardless of who you are, and we'll discuss the situation like adults." i strongly suspect that's the chancellor's mistake there....
the campus cops sent out a message that they had the person(s) who left the noose - their message came out five full hours after we all read about it in the local media (so typical). when i was leaving yesterday i saw an unmarked sedan with exempt plates parked up on the sidewalk... looked like a federal government transportation pool car to me.
anyway, i'm told that next thursday is to be a flashpoint day - don't know why, but my source is very solid so i don't intend to be on campus for it.
this has gone well beyond stupidity. now that they know they've got a good target they can prod, there are some people who are not fans of the BSU who will be sniping at them every little bit until something truly tragic happens.
i wish i could retire, but i have a few more years to put in.
23 Feb 2010, 11:43 pm
These protests that Nan is talking about do not sound much like that era, though. Fancy the Black Student Union wanting preferential treatment and separation from other ethnicities on campus. All those killed in the fight to end apartheid in South Africa must be rolling in their graves.
