UCSD Black Student Union declares "State of Emergency" after student broadcast (Fraternity to Sue!)

[Nikki Stone1]

http://www.ucsdguardian.org/news/campus-reacts-to-racial-slur/

Two words aired on Student-Run Television Thursday night brought UCSD into the national spotlight — and into yet another campus free-speech debate. After Kris Gregorian, editor in chief of humor newspaper the Koala, said that protesters of last week’s controversial “Compton Cookout” party were “ungrateful niggers” on Channel 18, the Black Student Union declared a “State of Emergency” and issued a six-page list of demands to the university.
In response to the outrage — expressed principally by the black population at UCSD, or about 1.3 percent of 22,000 undergraduates — A.S. President Utsav Gupta immediately shut down SRTV. Then, on Friday afternoon, he unexpectedly decided to freeze all student fees toward media organizations.

Party Foul
The Feb. 15 Cookout was a racially themed fraternity party widely condemned by the BSU and the Student Affirmative Action Committee, along with Chancellor Marye Anne Fox and Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Penny Rue.
According to ABC 10 News, the party was held at the home of Pi Kappa Alpha member Elliot Van Nostrand, who was also responsible for creating the highly criticized Facebook event. (The PIKE active roster has been removed from the fraternity’s Web site. Robby Naoufal, president of the Inter-Fraternity Council, said he had no access to fraternity rosters.)

To complicate the matter further, a Youtube video has surfaced featuring black Internet personality Jiggaboo Jones, in which he claims the party was a promotional event for his DVD release. The video is widely linked in comments on news stories and forums — used to prove party planners weren’t being racist. Jones confirmed he was affiliated with the party.
“I am very upset that they would pick out my fans to try to get back at me and to start this madness,” he said.
Though IFC adviser Emily Feinstein stated the incident was neither funded nor sponsored by any fraternity, PIKE has received much of the blame. An anonymous member of PIKE said the fraternity is planning to sue the university for slander. Both Naoufal and Campuswide Senator Tobias Haglund, a member of PIKE, said they were unaware of this plan. Neither PIKE president Garron Engstrom nor Van Nostrand could be reached for comment...

[Nikki Stone1]

1. Previous post on subject here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7767315

[fasttense]

2. This is different than that post. No mention of the "N" word was in the earlier post.

It seems things are getting uglier there at UCSD.

[Nikki Stone1]

3. The N-word was a "humorous" reaction to the Black Student Union reaction....

It is getting MUCH WORSE.

[Nikki Stone1]

4. Also, Jigaboo Jones takes credit for the Compton Cookout

http://www.youtube.com/user/jigga2jones#p/a/u/1/iGfFSZ2kcRg

[hlthe2b]

5. Too many assholes involved to sort this mess out...

Uggh...

[Nikki Stone1]

6. This is going to be one explosive mess by the time it is done.

I see national headlines out of this.

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Monk06]

8. This is why Fraternities were banned at two of the three universities I attended

Fraternities are the breeding ground for the
sons of reactionary white men in order to
secure their employment and other priveledges
after graduation.

At the one University I attended, the vast
majority of students belonging to Fraterities
were in the Commerce and Engineering Depts.

During job fairs my then SO watched in amasement
as guys got hired ahead of her because they gave
the secret handshake during interviews.

The various campus 'pranks'the Frat Boys would
pull invariably targeted minorities, women and
liberal arts studenst who were called 'artsies'

I hate Frat Boys, scum of the earth all of them.

[Nikki Stone1]

9. +10,000

:thumbsup:

[paulsby]

16. i was waiting for the obligatory anti-fraternity bigotry post

thanks for helping out there.

[Nikki Stone1]

17. You should look at the comments.

Maybe you might see it differently.

[paulsby]

19. those comment sections bring out the worst in people

i am well aware of that.

are they representative of frats as a whole? imo, no

nobody denies that some frat members can act despicably (like in this case)

what i object to is the broad brush and statements like the poster made about frat boys being scum, and i QUOTE "all of them"

we wouldn't accept that kind of bigotry based on race, etc. but it's ok to paint all frat members as scum?

bigotry against frat "boys" is pretty common here.

[Nikki Stone1]

37. Fraternities are affinity groups joined by choice. Races are not.

That kind of comparison is problematic. Fraternities like other affinity groups self select for certain types of people. Races do not self select for type: one is simply born a certain race regardless of personality or temperment.

[paulsby]

48. fine. substitute religion then

works just as well.

[Monk06]

18. And the obligatory objection by silver spoon sucking Frat Boys. Frats are not social clubs

They are incubators and reinforcer's of middle class
privilege and a class based sense of entitlement.

Witness the Compton Days Cookout 'prank' at UC
San Diego. The response by one indignant Frat Boy
is that the protests against the event is the
result of a "bunch of dissatisfied niggers"

I rest my case

[paulsby]

20. your "case" is a joke

and your broad brush statement saying frat boys are "scum" and i QUOTE "All of them"

is bigotry and broad brush rubbish.

it wouldn't be ok based on race, or many other factors, but you think its ok with fraternity members

which is bigoted and silly to say the least

hth

one "indignant" frat boy does not define frat boys

hth

[Name removed]

21. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Name removed]

22. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Monk06]

29. So some racists are nice people so I shouldn't criticize racists in general. Brilliant.

[Name removed]

23. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Monk06]

30. Neener Neener. Thanks for the input.

[Name removed]

24. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Monk06]

31. So I point out that Fraternities have a history of racism and classism which continues today

and that makes me a moron? Well if that
how you interpret my remarks then have it
your way.

[Nikki Stone1]

42. Well, at least the comment

was deleted.

[paulsby]

44. except you aren't being honest

nice dishonesty.

i didn't call you out for that.

i called you out for saying that (and i quote)

"I hate Frat Boys, scum of the earth all of them."

THAT's what i had a problem with, and you can't even have the honesty to address your original statement

so, are ALL frat boys "scum of the earth?"

if you think so, you're a bigot. plain and simple

hth

[Confusious]

26. abuses of free speech

Can you abuse free speech? I wasn't aware.

While I have no love of, and even despise fraternities, your broad brush statements, if applied to a race, would constitute racism.

[Monk06]

28. eg Abuse of Free Speech = The Compton Days Cookout and the advertising for it.

Right wingers insist the 1st rights are infringed
when they're called on racist speech and racist
pranks and innuendo like the Compton Days Cookout
and the Rutgers Minority Cake sale stunt organized
by Pimp Boy James O Keefe is racism thinly disguised.

And my comments against Frats are based on their long
history of racial and class intolerance. Your claim
that, if my statements were applied to race, they would
constitute racism is a logical fallacy.

The fallacy of substitution to be specific.

[Confusious]

49. There is a difference

They have the freedom to say that, and the rest of us have the freedom to be pissed off about it, and shame them for it.

There is no "abuse of free speech"

As for your comments about frats, if you want to play the logical fallices, yours would be Hasty Generalization.

I see no "long history" of racism. Assholism, yes, racism, no.

[onenote]

25. so thurgood marshall was scum?

Brad Pitt is scum?
Harry Truman was scum?
Paul Simon (and Art Garfunkel) are scum?
Bill Clinton is scum?
John Kennedy Jr. was scum?


Might want to put down that broad brush.

And, no, I wasn't in a fraternity in college. But I had many very non-scummy, progressive friends that were.

[Monk06]

32. There is nothing progressive about exclusive social groups or organizations

Even the mixed gender, Jewish and African American
frats reinforce the notion of social exclusiveness.

Fraternities by the very nature are constructed to
serve the interests of specific groups and classes.
As well as promoting cliques which I find repugnant
regardless of how well meaning they are.

[Confusious]

27. middle class privilege

We had privileges? all I seem to remember for the last 30 years is being gang raped by republicans.

What would you consider "middle class privilege?" Medicare? Social security?

You sound like a wacky lefty ready to turn into a republican 'cause the middle class has got it "so good"

[Monk06]

34. I would suggest that the real middle class in the US doesn't have to worry

about affordable health care and social security.
The middle class used to include joe lunch bucket.

Now the middle class consists of the management
class who have affordable health care because
they can afford to be ripped off by health insurance
companies. And they won't be depending on SS for
their daily survival when they retire.

You may not have noticed but in the seventies $12,00
per hour was a middle class wage. Now you can barely
survive on it. Thirty years ago I bought a house and
a new Toyota Corolla in the same year on $11.50 hr
and that was Canadian dollars.

So to sum up again the middle class are those people
who don't have to worry about going to the doctor or
how they will afford retirement or paying for their
children's education. In other words the Republican Base.

[Nikki Stone1]

39. The middle class is shrinking--you are right

And yes, they can afford (at least for now) to keep paying.

[Confusious]

50. They would not be middle class

"Now the middle class consists of the management
class who have affordable health care because
they can afford to be ripped off by health insurance
companies. And they won't be depending on SS for
their daily survival when they retire."

Anyone who is not going to be depending on SS or medicare for retirement is not middle class.

If you make over $200,000 in this country, depending on where you live, you are NOT middle class. And that's damn few people.

Your talk of "middle class privilege" needs some work.

Said as someone who grew up in the "middle class" and has a large family in the "middle class" and a grandmother who depends on both.

[Monk06]

52. I wasn't going to reply to any more posts to me on this thread but you have made an important point

Just what income level in the US would be considered
middle class today.

Now I posit a question to you. Based on the purchasing
power for median income earners over the last thirty
years. In other words what a income in todays dollars
would be equivalent to a median or middle class income
in 1980 dollars?

There are three possibilities according to the statistics on the
following wiki page: Middle class income is the median income,
it is the mean income or (or as I believe) so many people have
lost ground in terms of income and purchasing power that the
middle class consists of the lower end of the top quintile
according to the figures used on wiki. In other words your
total household income has to be at least $160,000 per annum
to have the same standard of living as $40,000 would give you
in 1980.

http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_States#Income_by_state

I would be most interested in your opinion.

[Confusious]

53. As I said before

If you make less then $200K dollars TODAY, you are middle class. You will be relying on SS, medicare and student loans to go to school.

As for losing ground, that's all we've been doing. 1 person in my family makes more then $200K dollars a year. That's out of 100+. To add, that one person is the only one who makes more then $100K a year. All the rest make less, or a lot less, then that. I myself have not gotten over 40K in a year. Making that amount, you're not falling behind, but you're not getting ahead either. You just hold your head above water and hope a wave doesn't hit you.

As far as the middle class in the lower quintile, that's not how it's considered here. Above 20% is middle class ( Lower middle class ) up to 125K ( Upper middle class ). below 20% is considered poor, above 90% would probably be considered rich. It also depends on where you live, with some places having higher cost of living and number of persons in your family. A family of four making $20k is poor, a family of 1 making $20K is lower middle class.

So when you start spouting off about "middle class privilege" the only ones who get that "privilege" are people in the top 2% of earners, who aren't middle class. G.W. Bush, who got into University not because of his grades, but because his daddy went there.

[Monk06]

54. Well if you look at the stats

In 2003 the bottom 20% is $17,984
The Median income (50%)is $43,318
The 80th percentile is $86,869
And the 95th percentile is $154,120

So by your reckoning the middle class begins slightly
north of the 20th percentile and ends slightly
north of the 95th percentile. That means 75% of
Americans are middle class.

That can't be right.

Use this rather anecdotal measure: in the sixties
a working class person earning on the order of today's
20th percentile could afford a house and a car which they
could afford to trade in every two years.

Thats working class. A middle class person would probably
have a second car and a vacation property.

Now under those terms could the top end of your middle class
earning $200,000 per year afford two houses and two cars as
well as make all their everyday expenses plus add to there
savings? Remember this is before the wide spread availability
of consumer borrowing.

You've go $200,000 per year. Can you buy two houses, two cars
and make your expenses on that in 2010.

That's what I would consider to be a minimum middle class lifestyle
but according to the census figures on wiki the top end of the
middle class puts you in the top 95th percentile according to
your standard of $200,000 or less as the definition of middle
class.

So in short what I consider to be middle class you see as upper
middle class. But I would suggest you need more in the way of
assets than two houwses and two cars plus a good chunk in a
savings account to be considered upper middle class these days.

That's what I was driving at up thread when I talked about the middle
class being a class of privilege in todays economy. The are in the
top 95th percentile and align themselves politically and economically
with the interests of the top 1% of the richest Americans.

That describes the average Republican voter. Being privileged in that
sense (being in the top 95%) they produce children who are equally
privileged and are prone to a sense of entitlement which they
take with them to college and reinforce by socializing with other
members of their class most often, as I said above in Fraternities.

That's why I hate Fraternities. They exist to protect class privilege.
That's why they were outlawed in two of the three Universities I attended.

[Confusious]

55. So you consider

anyone above 95% to be "middle class"

That would make everyone else below that "poor." That is defiantly not "right"

75% of Americans being middle class is about right.

"The American middle class is an ambiguously defined social class in the United States.<1><2> While the concept remains largely ambiguous in popular opinion and common language use,<3><4> contemporary sociologists have put forward several, more or less congruent, theories on the American middle class. Depending on class model used, the middle class may constitute anywhere from 25% to 66% of households."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_middle_class

I would argue that the 66% is better, owning 1 or 2 cars, a home, able to make the bills. If you can get a little ahead or fall a little behind, You're still middle class. You depend upon public schools, SS is going to the primary source of income in retirement, medicare or Medicaid the primary source of health insurance.

I don't know where you got your definition of middle class. Must be some Canadian urban legend.

As far as the 1980's, could care less. That was then, this is now. If the middle class has fallen behind since the 80's, it's time to move the standards of what is "middle class" not keep them at old standard.

If you wanted to, we could compare the "middle class" to the standards at the turn of the 19th century. In that case, we would all be "rich."

[Monk06]

57. No let me clarify

You mentioned $200,000 and below as your measure
of the middle class. THAT would be the top 95th
percentile in todays dollars.

You're saying that my minimum standard for middle class
(Two houses, two cars plus some savings) could be achieved
if a person was in the 66th percentile or $65,092 in 2003
dollars. So lets say ballpark $80,000 in 2010 dollars

That you say would buy you a house two cars, expenses
plus an undermined amount of savings. You would still
rely on SS for retirement, medicare medicaid etc.

Not to get in a bidding war about what is middle class
and what is not let me just say that a house two cars
BCMed and Canada pension plan is what my financial situation
was in 1978. But that was a working class life style.

I earned just short of $10,000 a year. My brother in law
who earned $60,000 per year as a fisherman plus an addi tonal
$6,000 per year in off season unemployment insurance. That
is was what would be considered upper middle class back then.
Roughly the income of a full time tenured professor.

That income level is what you would consider middle class
now. Ok lets take that as a base line measure. $66,000 - $80,000
buys you the minimum middle class life style

My basic point and what I think this middle class basket of
assets shows is that in the past thirty years inflation and
wage suppression has pushed middle class purchasing power
down to where working class wage earners like myself were
thirty years ago. I bought the same basket of goods and assets
for $10,000 per year as you can now for minimum $66,000 per year
now by your reckoning.

That means the standard of living of the middle class has
shrunk by six to seven times since 1978 using my 1978 annual
income as a comparison. (BTW that was a union wage back then.)

Now here's my problem understanding your argument: if the middle class
or median income is in the 66th percentile ($66,000 - $80,000) and
we define the asset basket as one house two cars, saving etc then
how can 66% of Americans be considered middle class because only
people in the 66th percentile and above (34%) could afford this life
style.

There are profound social implications to this. If you accept the Wiki
figures then what you have is social and economic split between those
earning $66,000 per year and those earning $200,000 and above. The latter
which I would call the upper middle class no longer identify with that
class. Instead they share the interests and ambitions of the top five
percent of the wealthiest of Americans.

It is this class of households that Republican party depends upon for
support. It is they're anxieties regarding the lower income households
that the Republicans tap in order to stay in power. Once people start
earning six figure salaries they become more conservative and more likely
to resist legislation which would tax their incomes to help those less
fortunate.

Another way of putting it is; as income security increases, economic altruism
decreases. Which gets back to my gripe against Fraternities in Universities.
They are the means by which the exceptional ism and sense of privilege of
upper middle class people is protected through exclusive and nepotistic
social networks. Golf Clubs, Men's Clubs and Philanthropic societies such
as the Shriners and the JC's work the same way. That is why I abhor Fraternities
and all similar types of organizations.

[Confusious]

58. Your basing your entire argument on a false premise

That a standard of living stays static. It doesn't, it changes. You can't compare today's middle class with yesterday's middle class, except to say that their income has gone down ( or lost ground, income eaten away by inflation, or maybe they've gained ground).

The income (or purchasing power) of everyone in the middle class has gone down, so the range of people who fit in the middle class must be adjusted to fit that. "middle class" is not a set standard. It's vaguely defined as a "middle income" or median income in the United States.

The middle class of the 1920's is not the same as

the 1940's
the 1960's
the 1980's
the 2000's

etc, etc, etc.

You are comparing a standard of living from 30 years ago and applying it to today. When trying to make a chart of incomes and fitting people into a vague "middle class" (middle income) it doesn't work. You take the average income of the United States at that time and go up and down from there.

As far as identifying with the republican party, it goes deeper then just income. I have seen people who are dirt poor who vote straight republican. I have an aunt who I would consider "upper middle class" who votes democrat. My father, who has been in this or that union all his life voted republican ( to my disappointment, I'm trying to change that ) my grandmother, who was a Roosevelt democrat, votes republican and democrat.

[Monk06]

60. I guess what I'm trying to say

is that the gap between rich and poor has widened
dramatically in the last three decades and most
dramatically in the last decade.

The result I have seen is that the middle class has
pulled apart roughly at your median $66,000 and it
is at this point or close too it where the gap between
rich and poor begins to increase. The result is those
earning under the median are losing purchasing power
and income security at a much faster rate than those
over the median.

This reducing of lower middle class social and economic
ability to my mind is what is driving political extremism
on the right all over the world today.

That would explain, as you say, why some poor people are
staunch Republicans and against their interests as working
people by supporting the GOP.

I guess raw census data is incapable of demonstrating this
phenomenon.

For clarification I am not assuming that standard of living
remains static. It rose during the fifties for American workers.
Then it began to fall in 1970s when globalization began to emerge
in the form of increased foreign completion in manufactured goods.

The reasons for that are partly structural and partly ideological
IMO but that is a long story and perhaps we can have that discussion
at another time.

Just FYI like you I have never earned more than $40,000 per year
and earned much less than that most of my life, so we share
similar experiences in re to standard of living

[Monk06]

36. I've answered all the objections to my remarks on this thread including the rude ones.

In the interests of flame war prevention I will
no longer respond to further posts to me on this
thread.

[FlyingTiger]

47. Okay, hold on.

That's just one of the weirdest damn posts I've ever read.

Hardly any of the kids who rush even know what they're going to MAJOR in yet. How many 18-year-olds do you know that worry about what their job prospects will be like when they're 23, or, hell, even 25 or 26, since many of them will go onto grad school? I'm not denying that frat connections are a big plus whenever somebody eventually does hit the job market, but to say that's WHY fraternities exist is just absurd. Guys who pledge want to have easy access to big parties and drunk college girls.

[Raineyb]

59. It doesn't matter if they do or don't know what they're going to major in.

The connections they make from joining a fraternity/sorority doesn't depend on one's profession they know that somewhere along the line those Greek letter will get them a leg up somewhere. These are social constructs, it's not like we're talking about fraternities which take their membership from people majoring in certain fields which more than likely would not be taking up freshmen in the first place as there are requirements grade wise in the classes which GPA requirements in both the major and overall. So I don't think that a freshmen not knowing what they're going to major in negates the idea that people join to get connections later on.

[RedCappedBandit]

51. Every single member of a fraternity is scum? Really?

What a trashy thing to say.

What a trashy thing to say.

I guess the thousands of dollars we donate to various charities, ever single semester, through our fund-raising activities are just part of what makes us all scum.

I guess the thousands of hours we spend, every single semester, helping the campus and surrounding communities in an incredibly diverse range of events is part of what makes us *all* scum. Philanthropy is for scumbags, after all.

I guess our school pride is just scummy. All the work we put into organizing events for the rest of the students to enjoy is something we do just because we're horrible people. I suppose the fact that Greek students participate more in the *schools* charitable events is a result of our scumminess.

I guess almost all members of congress have been scum. I guess almost all of our nation's past presidents were scum.


I'm not going to deny that there are members of the Greek community who shame the rest of us. It would be quite naive to think, however, that this is a trait unique to Greek organizations.
Many organizations are full of people an average DUer would not want to associate with. Many, on the other hand, are not.

The majority of students in *my* fraternity, when I was active, were education majors or liberal arts majors. You know "the artsies" that we all hate and pull pranks on (actually, my fraternity would never endorse such delinquent behavior - the only pranks we pull would be on ourselves).

Most of us were quite intelligent and dedicated to our school work. The percentage of Greek students who graduate is much higher than the general population. So is our average GPA.

My fraternity is very open to including *everybody* in numerous events we set up. In fact, much of our time goes to creating events for the enjoyment of others, be they other college students of people from the local community.
Of *course* there are events we plan just for brothers; what group of friends *doesn't* like spending time with just eachother? What *family* doesn't spend time together, without outsiders. As if you've never "excluded" somebody before.

As for being "cliquish", I'd say the opposite is true. The Greek community puts a great deal of effort going out of its way to get other people involved. How much time did you and your friends dedicate to brainstorming ideas to help you meet as many new people as possible when you were in college?

Your statement is exceedingly repulsive. Just as repulsive as it would be if a freeper would say that all of Muslim faith are scum.

Oh, and if Greek life is for privileged white men, how the hell do you explain fraternities created specifically for minorities to be a part of?

[SoCalDem]

56. Greek-life at college is so 1950's..and needs to GO!

It's a throwback to an era that's long-gone. My roommate and I were "rushed" by some hoity-toity sorority, and we did go to their party, but they took one look at us and were no longer interested in our great grades.. We were two girls dressed in frayed bell-bottoms, with moccasins & fatigue jackets in a sea of matching Bobbie Brooks sweater & skirt sets :rofl:

the treats at the party were good though..

[Nikki Stone1]

10. "Student media heads are threatening legal action " MORE NEWS

http://www.ucsdguardian.org/news/media-orgs-defend-free-speech-rights/

Student media heads are threatening legal action against A.S. President Utsav Gupta’s for his Friday-afternoon decision to freeze all funding to student publications.

Gupta announced Friday morning that he wished to pull funding from controversial humor newspaper the Koala, whose editor in chief made a racial slur on Student-Run Television the night before in reference to Black Student Union members protesting the Feb. 15 “Compton Cookout.”

“We’ve tried, throughout this year, to redo , and essentially not fund ,” he said at an impromptu meeting. I don’t know if it’ll get rid of them, but on the part of A.S., we can defund them — we absolutely can defund them, and I believe we must defund them.”

Gupta said he had the executive power to freeze media-org funding because the current allocation of money for media organizations violates Section II of the A.S. Constitution. The section states the role of the council is “to create and execute programs which serve the collective interests of the undergraduate population.” According to Gupta, the current system — which has funded the Koala since 1982— is hurting students, and therefore not serving the collective interest.

Free speech organizations such as the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education and American Civil Liberties Union have denounced Gupta’s actions as unconstitutional, in violation of the First Amendment.

FIRE sent Gupta a seven-page letter requesting that he end the funding freeze immediately.
Gupta said he is working with UCSD legal counsel.

“I’m not going to bow down to threats of litigation,” he said......

[Nikki Stone1]

11. "Systemic Racism Is Revealed in ‘Cookout’ Aftermath"

http://www.ucsdguardian.org/opinion/systemic-racism-is-revealed-in-‘cookout’-aftermath/
Systemic Racism Is Revealed in ‘Cookout’ Aftermath
Posted on 25 February 2010
By Vernesha Potts

I would like to thank everyone for their support, and for standing in solidarity with the community against hate speech and for the human right to be respected.

At first, I felt really discouraged because it felt like many people were supporting this ill-intentioned “free speech,” and were so reluctant to sympathize with the racial hostility that I and many others on this campus have felt because of — and even before — these incidents.

But after Feb. 24, 2010, I am more than confident that there are many non-ignorant people here at UCSD who, like me, realize the necessity of mutual respect in a public space shared by a variety of people of many affiliations and backgrounds. We stand in solidarity against these acts of hate, and will not tolerate them on this campus or any other publicly social atmosphere of our community — that includes Facebook and public fraternity activities.
The “Compton Cookout” invitation and party is a perfect example of externalizing subconsciously internalized stereotypes of American black culture, taken from the media and used as comedy for a party in celebration of Black History Month. For those who do not take this month seriously, this may have seemed like a harmless and humorous excuse to throw a party. Yet for others, it was horrifying; for those that understand Black History Month as a time to honor American black culture in ceremony of respect and appreciation, and a time to recognize suffering and accomplishments, this party was disrespectful on so many levels.

Even if it had not been the month of February, the event would have still been disrespectful, because the invitation and party itself was a mockery of low socio-economic status and a degradation of Black women. Imitation is a form of flattery and respect, a way of highlighting positive characteristics — but mockery is intended to be offensive, and shows an ignorant lack of respect for the subjects one is portraying. As a black woman, I was appalled, and honestly do not feel entirely safe walking around a campus where people could find it within their capacity to base a party on misogyny and malicious stereotypes.......

[Nikki Stone1]

12. Poll on freezing student funding

Do you agree with A.S. President Utsav Gupta's decision to freeze student-media funding?
No (64%, 99 Votes)
Yes (31%, 47 Votes)
I don't know (5%, 8 Votes)
Total Voters: 154
Polls Archive

[Nikki Stone1]

13. "A.S. Council Talks to Koala"

http://www.ucsdguardian.org/news/new-business/a.s.-council-talks-to-koala-grove-accepts-dining-dollars/


In light of the day’s teach-ins and last week’s student-media funding freeze, the Week 8 A.S. Council meeting was the most intense of the year so far.
During public input, individuals from both the Black Student Union and media organizations addressed the council in hopes of influencing a future decision on the freeze.

Assistant Vice Chancellor of Students Affairs Gary Ratcliff displayed his contempt for the Koala.

“I’ve seen this for 10 years, where you allow student publications to fund hate,” he said. “Meanwhile, you are watering that weed with $7,000 — let use their own beer money to fund themselves.”

Koala Editor in Chief Kris Gregorian arrived at the meeting wielding $20 in pennies to demonstrate that students are free to ask for reimbursement of their fees that go toward the Koala.

As the council motioned to move to New Business, it voted to maintain the temporary freeze and discuss the topic at the campus media review committee meeting 8 p.m. Thursday.

Next, Student-Run Television co-manager Thomas Dadourian begged the council to reopen the station.

Campuswide Senator Desiree Prevo said the SRTV shutdown paled in comparison to larger issues.

“Your voice may be silenced temporarily, but as a student of color on this campus, my voice is silenced permanently,” she said.

The motion to reinstate SRTV’s charter, with an amendment banning live shows, failed.

AVP of Diversity Affairs Jasmine Phillips spoke to AVP of Academic Affairs and Pi Kappa Alpha member Jordan Taylor regarding the racial incident at their meeting Sunday.

“PIKE is not taking accountability, they just attempt to cover their own asses,” Phillips said. “But they have had a lack of action and a nonchalant attitude.”
Taylor was visibly shaking and upset as he listened to Phillips’ speech.

Last week, councilmembers moved to create a committee to bridge the gap between the Greek community and the Student Affirmative Action Committee, but did not determine how the council would oversee the committee....

[freddie mertz]

14. K & R. Important story that needs more exposure.

[Nikki Stone1]

15. The comments are worth the read too.

Unbelievable some of them.

[Initech]

33. Man I always thought UCSD was a pretty progressive school.

Guess there are racist assholes everywhere though.

[Nikki Stone1]

38. UCSD reacted very quickly: the administration is very racially aware

The PIKE fraternity and the KOALA jokesters are another story.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

35. Jiggaboo Jones was upset that people would be offended by his material?

Huh.

[Nikki Stone1]

40. APOLOGY Email from head of Associated Students

ASSOCIATED STUDENTS

February 25, 2010



ALL ACADEMICS AND STAFF AT UCSD
ALL STUDENTS AT UCSD

SUBJECT: Student Run Television (SRTV)


On Thursday night, a deeply offensive and hurtful program was aired on
Student Run Television (SRTV), a service of the Associated Students.
The content of this program does not represent the views of the
Associated Students, and was aired by KoalaTV, the television show put
on by the student organization The Koala. We condemn the actions of The
Koala, its program and its content.

The Koala was not properly authorized to display content on SRTV. We
are in the process of determining how the program was aired. In the
meantime, as authorized by the ASUCSD Standing Rules, and in conjunction
with our Associate Vice President of Student Services, I turned off the
station to allow for a review of its Charter. We will only open it
again when we can be sure that such hateful content can never be aired
again on our student funded TV station.

Alongside this initiative, I have frozen all student media organization
funding. The Koala has long since been a controversial publication at
UC San Diego and is primarily funded by our student fees. I do not
believe we should continue funding this organization with our fees.

We must develop effective policies to ensure that our fees do not go to
the support the hateful speech that targets members of our community. I
ask that those media organizations that did nothing wrong and are
unfairly affected to be patient until we can resolve this situation and
develop new funding bylaws for our Association.

To this end, I have charged a campus-wide committee to review the
funding of student media. This committee is open to every member of the
UC San Diego community - faculty, staff, students, and whoever else
feels strongly about this issue. The committee shall meet on Thursday,
at 8:00PM, in the 4th floor Price Center Forum. Feel free to email me
at [e-mail] if you have any questions.

The Associated Students stands in solidarity with those affected by
Thursday night's program, and we remain committed to being the voice for
all UC San Diego students.



Utsav Gupta
Associated Students President

[Nikki Stone1]

43. The KOALA online

http://koala.ucsd.edu/

[Last_Stand]

45. That was terrible...

Disgusting racism, terrible writing, criminal web design.

Did I mention disgusting racism?

[Nikki Stone1]

46. They are whining about freedom of speech and want their university money back, money that

comes from student fees.

[Nikki Stone1]

41. TWO Teach-Ins???

http://www.ucsdguardian.org/news/teach-in-walks-out/

Teach-In Walks Out
Black Student Union and supporters ditch university teach-in to host speakers of their own.
Posted on 25 February 2010
By Angela Chen

Hundreds of students walked out of an administration-planned teach-in yesterday morning to attend a counter teach-in organized by the Black Student Union.

The Feb. 24 Price Center protest began with a press conference held by the BSU, the student organization that declared campus climate to be in a “state of emergency” last Friday. The BSU has addressed the “toxic” environment with a rally and a list of 32 demands. BSU Chair David Ritcherson called for the UCSD chancellor cabinet to respond to the organization’s demands by March 4 — the same day as a systemwide protest against limited accessibility to higher education — with a “thorough, written timeline for immediate action.”

Press-conference speakers included history professor Daniel Widener, who applauded A.S. President Utsav Gupta for his recent decision to freeze funding for all 33 student media organizations, then asked administrators to disregard the current budget crisis in favor of meeting all the BSU’s demands.

“We will not allow any discussions of the budget crisis to affect discussions of our demands,” Widener said.
After the press conference ended at 11:30 a.m., participants marched from Library Walk to the official teach-in, scheduled to be held at the Price Center East Ballroom. The crowd — which included community members, as well as students from Cal State San Bernandino, San Diego State and the University of Southern California — chanted slogans such as “Real Pain, Real Action”.

Following speeches by theater professor Nadine George and LGBT Center director Shaun Travers, A.S. Associate Vice President of Diversity Affairs Jasmine Phillips and BSU Vice Chair Fnann Keflezighi called for the attendees to walk out and attend a counter teach-in instead.
“If you truly care about our university, if you want to stand in solidarity, you will join me in walking out of this teach-in and joining us at our teach-in,” Keflezighi said.

The majority of participants left the room and convened at the stairs above the Triton statue.

Speakers at the counter teach-in included Cross-Cultural Center director Edwina Welch. She stressed that the protests were not about individual acts of racism, but an institutional problem.

“You’ve felt racism if you’ve gone down Library Walk and not been handed flyers, if you’ve sat in class and nobody’s sat by you,” she said. “What gets lost is the day-to-day macro and micro aggression on campus.”

Literature professor Daniel Childs agreed with Welch, condemning the system instead of individuals.
“This is a white-supremacist, racist, classist, misogynist institution,” he said.

Eleanor Roosevelt College junior Niko Arranz, a student protestor, said the counter teach-in was more powerful than the one the administration had planned.

“The first teach-in was a joke,” he said. “I was falling asleep because it wasn’t relevant.”

Keflezighi said she created the counter teach-in because she wanted to educate the community according to BSU’s own terms.

“We were angry when we weren’t asked to be part of the planning process,” she said.

Vice Chancellor of Student Life Penny Rue responded positively to the counter teach-in.

“I’m delighted that our students found the right platform to express themselves today,” she said.

She said it was too soon to know if all of the demands of the BSU will be met.

Readers can contact Angela Chen at [e-mail].

[Odin2005]

61. Frats = evil.