11/4/08: In the staff commentary “Protest proves Cal Poly’s passion” on Monday the Mustang Daily incorrectly stated that New Times had reported that a sign saying “No niggers, no fags, no hippies” was displayed at the on-campus crop science student housing. To clarify, the original New Times article cited in the commentary only reported that school officials had confirmed that a racist sign was posted at the house during a recent party. John Peterson, head of the Department of Horticulture and Crop Sciences, was quoted by New Times confirming the existence of the sign. However, the exact wording of the alleged sign is still in question and university officials only confirmed in the New Times article that it read “no niggers” and had a similar slur against gays.
History-making moments sometimes seem to come all at once.
Last week, Cal Poly took to protest, refusing to accept hurtful images that remind us of our nation’s intolerant past. Tomorrow, we’ll take to the polls to decide our nation’s future.
Hundreds of students and faculty took time out of their busy lives to protest in the University Union last Thursday. They stood wearing black shirts, holding homemade signs and had one message to get across: Cal Poly students will not tolerate hate.
Allegations of hateful messages and symbols – including a noose, a Confederate flag and alleged racist sign – displayed at the on-campus crop science student housing building had sparked the uproar.
The students who live in the house and were responsible for the displays were exclusively interviewed by the Mustang Daily. In the interviews, one of them said the displays were “stupid and immature and ignorant,” and another associated the Confederate flag with “rebel youthism,” but neither ignorance nor rebellion are excuses for symbols that had such an infamous role in a painful part of America’s history. Anyone who’s taken a history class knows better.
Just as these displays can’t be dismissed as an ignorant mistake, they can’t be passed off as a joke or misunderstanding. We’re reminded of the freshman who sent e-mail threats to Cal Poly faculty and students around last Halloween promising a Virginia Tech-like tragedy. That student claimed it was all a “prank,” but to the recipients of the violent and profane e-mails and University Police Department, it was no joke.
In the same vein, a noose leftover from the crop maze paired with a Confederate flag is no laughing matter either. For most people, the flag is still a symbol of racial hatred.
The protests ignited when the New Times reported that a sign saying “No niggers, no fags, no hippies” was displayed at the house. However, the alleged racist sign is disputed by the crop science building students, who claim they’ve only displayed one saying “no drugs, no hippies, no liberals, no Obama.”
Regardless of what the sign said, the fact remains that the noose and Confederate flag are symbols with hateful enough connotations to cause an uproar by themselves.
The protest, in addition to countless comments and letters to the editor to the Mustang Daily, made it clear that the campus community wants some administrative response to this incident. There have been campus-wide e-mails from President Baker and the horticulture and crop sciences department rightfully condemning the display though no judicial action has been announced.
The e-mails simultaneously supported the students’ First Amendment rights to free speech. Though no one condones what they did, the students’ rights are constitutionally protected. And as a publication that’s entire existence depends upon that very important amendment, we are appreciative of the administration’s respect for free speech; we would not want to see these students facing academic or legal reprimand for what they did.
Yet for all their right to say what they want and display whatever symbols they may, these students should not escape entirely without consequence. The First Amendment grants them the right to free speech; it does not grant the right to subsidized university housing. Living on Cal Poly’s campus is a privilege and students who put such a bad face on our university do not deserve to live here.
Think about what the consequences would have been had students hung a noose or Confederate flag from a dorm window. Would they have been allowed to continue staying in the dorms (the same dorms that kick students out all the time for drinking in their rooms, an act which has little to no effect on anybody but themselves)?
If the students involved have not already made plans to leave the crop science housing, the university should require them to. Cal Poly is a university that struggles to be racially diverse; we don’t need leniency towards students who openly display symbols of hatred that offend our minorities.
Though we support everyone’s right to free speech, in this case we’re glad the opposing side came out stronger. When Cal Poly took to protest, it turned hatred on its head and opened up an intelligent discussion. This is exactly what the First Amendment was intended for: when ignorant opinions arise they only give those with an intelligent argument an opportunity to respond and come out victorious.
Rather than combating the alleged hate speech with name-calling or accusations, protesters peacefully convened in the UU, holding signs with statements like “End Racism Now,” “Hate is not a Cal Poly value,” and “Will not stand for intolerance, injustice, inequality, invisibility.”
They called for tolerance and debate rather than a witchhunt.
If only everyone with an opinion could always express it so rationally. Had the crop house students taken the time to write a reasoned-out guest commentary, instead of posting a sign, detailing whatever their qualms with certain groups or political views may be, this entire debacle would have been avoided.
Had they felt strongly enough about expressing a political view, perhaps they should even have organized a speaker or participated in a debate on campus.
Opinions shouldn’t be condensed to stereotypes, slurs or extremist symbols. If you have a view that you are passionate about, be prepared to convey it in a well-reasoned argument. A sign – whether it be actually racist or just bluntly political – has no value if it merely attacks a group of people. At most it will genuinely offend and hurt, at the very least it will drive away the very people you’re trying to convert.
Perhaps last week’s protests will set a precedent for political action at Cal Poly. Remember that your strongest political statement can be made tomorrow. However you vote, do so with both passion and reason. Too much is at stake in our country’s future to let ignorance into the political process.
Marlize van Romburgh is the Mustang Daily editor in chief and Giana Magnoli is the Mustang Daily managing editor. They are journalism seniors.