Ghastly - A white Republican

Ghastly - A white Republican student posts a poster for an event featuring a black Republican. A black, liberal student complains about the poster, and calls campus security.

The white Republican student is hauled before a kangaroo court, which threatens him with expulsion if he doesn't apologize for a disruption the "trial" transcript says he never caused:

[Student Accusor]: You’re talking about Steve’s demeanor? Was his demeanor threatening?

[Hearing Officer]: M-hmm, or abusive?

[Student Accusor]: No.

Joanne Jacobs is on the story.

Money graf? Cornel Morton, Cal Poly’s vice president of student affairs, from the transcript:

Well, it’s clear that we have an identifiably young white male who has been self-identified as a member of the College Republicans group. And although the College Republican group, I’m certain, is not exclusively white or male, there are some implications. And on the other side of this we had a group of students of color, at least identifiably, largely students of color, and the mix, unfortunately, and the collision of experience, that is, the collision of your experience with theirs, on that day at that time was placed inside a larger context, as you recall. And namely these fliers that were posted and the concern that some had about the nature of the speaker’s message and all the rest …. And then to learn later after some investigation that the College Republicans had sponsored the speaker. I think that chemistry, if you will, without question, had racial implications, not reduced solely or purely to a matter of race. But again, I think we would be naïve if we did not acknowledge at least that; we would have to acknowledge that.

"then to learn later after some investigation that the College Republicans had sponsored the speaker. I think that chemistry, if you will, without question, had racial implications".

I poke fun at the two-bit bigotry behind sides like this, or Democrats.com. Seeing it from the leadership of a main-line, prestigious public institution, though - it's not a surprise, but it's still a demoralizing surprise in 2003.

Posted by Mitch at August 12, 2003 09:36 AM