Noose stokes racial anger at UCSD Students take over chancellor’s office

[NASSIR]

Is there any surprise left that racial tension in the States have racked up since Obama's reign. Recall the Police racial profiling of that Professor, not long ago. Many political analysts, in fact, have raised issues of encumbrances aimed at the President's grand plans like the health care reform, senseless opposition to impede his laurels at the expense of the public. Now minority students of UC San Diego are concerned of their own safety in the campus.

----

BY STEVE SCHMIDT,

UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2010 AT 12:04 A.M.

 

Discovery of a noose hanging in the University of California San Diego library set off a fresh round of student demands and demonstrations yesterday that climaxed with the takeover of the chancellor’s office for several hours.

Addressing about 300 distraught students and others gathered on campus, Chancellor Marye Anne Fox promised to get to the bottom of the “dastardly” crime.

 

“This is truly a dark day in the history of this university,” Fox said through a bullhorn. “It’s abhorrent and untenable.”

 

The demonstrators — some in tears, others hoarse from a week of yelling at race-related protests — were not pacified and later occupied a warren of offices next to the locked door of Fox’s personal suite for nearly six hours, starting about noon. Fox and her staff left the building.

 

About 150 students spread out over desks and floors. Some gave fiery speeches and sang protest songs, while also pleading for calm. Pizza and sandwiches were handed out between chants of, “Real pain, real action!”

Campus police said they received multiple reports of the noose at 10:30 p.m. Thursday. Fashioned out of green rope, it hung on the side of a tall bookcase on the seventh floor of the Geisel Library, next to books on rhetoric and symbolism.

 

UC authorities say a female student contacted the school about 9 a.m. yesterday and claimed that she and two other people were responsible. The student was suspended. No arrests were immediately reported. In a statement issued late yesterday, statewide UC President Mark Yudof condemned the act as “a despicable expression of racial hatred.”

 

“It has no place in civilized society and it will not be tolerated — not on this particular campus, not on any University of California campus,” the statement read. “Appalling acts of this sort cannot go unpunished.”

 

Campus police classified the crime as “hanging a noose with the intent to terrorize,” a misdemeanor in California that could bring up to a year in prison. Any students involved could also face expulsion.

 

It was the third racially charged episode involving UCSD students within the past two weeks. The incidents have stirred a level of emotion evocative of the war- and free-speech-related protests that rocked the campus in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

 

The turmoil was initially sparked by an off-campus party Feb. 15, dubbed the “Compton Cookout,” that mocked Black History Month, and by a subsequent show on a student-run TV station that supported the party and called blacks ungrateful, using a racial slur. A piece of cardboard was found at the TV studio with “Compton lynching” written on it.

 

In the wake of the noose incident, many black students and others say they now fear for their safety on campus, worried that they may be targeted verbally or physically.

 

“I’m in awe that people can be so hurtful and so vicious,” said Melanie Leon, a Latina. “I don’t know if that is their idea of a joke or not, but those of us that are being affected by this, we take this very seriously.”

 

After learning about the noose Thursday night, Leon said she was so upset that she asked the campus police to walk her to her car. “It is a really awful experience to be threatened on your own campus,” she said.

 

Campus police have increased their patrol staff in recent days, as has the San Diego Police Department near campus, including among the student apartment complexes east of the university.

 

Gary Matthews, a UCSD vice chancellor, told demonstrators yesterday that the female student who claimed responsibility apparently didn’t consider it a serious act, at least initially.

 

“It’s someone who didn’t think that leaving a noose was an issue,” said Matthews, spurring cries of outrage.

 

The string of racial incidents has spurred renewed demands that Fox and her staff ramp up efforts to increase the number of blacks and other disadvantaged minorities on campus.

 

Fox met privately yesterday with leaders of the Black Student Union to discuss their demands, including calls for more funding for programs aimed at attracting and retaining minorities.

 

They plan to resume talks Monday. Most students learned about the noose from text messages that bounced around the La Jolla campus starting late Thursday.

 

Daniel Cheng, a political science student, was disturbed by reports that the noose may have been up for more than two hours before authorities were told. Police could not confirm those reports. “That seems odd,” Cheng said. “I mean, people were just studying right next to it.”

 

Other students worried that developments are spinning out of control, all because of an off-campus party that they said was little different from others that have been held in the area.

 

“Why is this particular party becoming so newsworthy?” said Amy Shipley, a junior. Monica Nguyen had the same question. “I think it’s being blown out of proportion,” she said.

 

But administrators yesterday repeatedly expressed solidarity with the demonstrators and said their anger is justified. They canceled a birthday party for the late La Jolla resident Theodor Geisel, known as Dr. Seuss, that was to be held at noon Tuesday on campus.

 

“You can’t imagine how pained we are,” Vice Chancellor Penny Rue told the demonstrators. “We are heartsick.” Yesterday’s protests began about 8 a.m. on Library Walk, near the Price Center. The unrest ceased just before 6 p.m., when demonstrators ended their occupation of Fox’s office, pledging to return Monday.

 

The image of a noose cuts deeply for many blacks and others. From 1890 to 1960, there were 4,742 documented lynchings in the United States. Most of the victims were black.

 

In fall 2007, University of San Diego authorities questioned a campus construction worker after a noose was spotted hanging from the rearview mirror of his car. The worker reportedly expressed surprise that the noose was offensive.

 

In 2008, at the California State University campus in San Luis Obispo, authorities discovered a noose inside a university-owned home, next to a Confederate flag. UCSD police are asking that anyone with information on the noose incident call (858) 534-4359 or e-mail detective@ucsd.edu.

 

Staff writer Karen Kucher and intern Nathan Scharn contributed to this report. Steve Schmidt: (619) 293-1380; steve.schmidt@uniontrib.com

[STOIC]

I believe this to be an isolated incident.There will always be a dimwit bigots around be it in the academic halls or on a street...Just yesterday I was approached by one of my classmate who happen to be the other black guy in my class about certain students in our class who say some disrespectful stuff behind one of the professor's back (who also happen to be black!).They will dare question the credibility and knowledge level of white professors, but a black woman with the letter behind her name longer than her last name is NOT good enough for them..These are individuals who will be professionals in two more years in the REAL world.There will always be sexist, racist, you name it kind of people..You just have to mind your business and let not another man's hate be your burden!