A forum will be hosted tonight to address concerns and questions stemming from the Cal Poly crops house incident that happened two weeks ago. Associated Students Inc. members, Cal Poly President Warren Baker and student leaders have collaborated to provide a place students can discuss the incident, the ramifications for those involved and future issues regarding campus diversity.
“The main purpose of the forum is to give students input on how to change the campus climate at Cal Poly,” graphic communicaton senior Brad Purpura, an organizer of the event, said.
The free forum will be held in Harmon Hall in the Performing Arts Building at 7 p.m.
Peter Wade, chapter president for the Society of Black Engineers and a city and regional planning senior who is also involved in organizing the forum, said he thinks the campus doesn’t support minority students and hopes this forum will create a system to help the administration improve campus diversity.
Kramer agreed.
“We want students to have the opportunity to voice their opinion and feelings and concerns not only about the incident at the crop house but the future of Cal Poly in regards to its diversity policy,” she said.
The incident, which involved a noose and Confederate flag hung in close proximity over a balcony of the house, sparked a massive on-campus protest Oct. 30, when New Times printed an article and photo about the incident.
Since then, the residents of the crop house have moved out of the house and it appears they no longer work at the crops unit.
“To be the best of my knowledge, the students are no longer hired at the Crops Unit since their living arrangement was linked to their working there,” said John Peterson, head of the horticulture and crops science department.
When the incident was first reported, many people said that the students involved should be expelled. However, the Cal Poly administration has maintained that the students are protected under the First Amendment.
This is not the first time Cal Poly has dealt with a student’s right to free speech.
In 2003, Steve Hinkle, a member of the Cal Poly College Republicans, was charged with “disruption” for posting a flier on the Multicultural Center’s bulletin board announcing a College Republicans-sponsored speech by a black social critic. According to a May 2004 report by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, Hinkle fought back and won, and Cal Poly was forced to strike the disciplinary action from Hinkles’ record, and to pay significant attorney fees in a settlement of $40,000.
When reporters from the Mustang Daily attempted to discuss these issues with the school’s attorney, Leah Kolt, the director of Public Affairs, told them that the administration’s discussion with its attorney, Carlos Cordova, was protected under attorney-client privilege.
Some in the campus community are unsatisfied with the university’s actions.
“My wish is that the initial response from Provost Koob had been more,” said Camille O’Bryant, associate professor and department chair of kinesiology.
She said that she would have preferred that Cal Poly investigated the incident further with respect to freedom of speech, while still disciplining the students.
O’Bryant did offer some positive insight on what Cal Poly can learn from the incident.
“Faculty members have to respect and be more assertive in their commitment to diversity through their curriculum,” she said.
Since The New Times’ initial report of the incident, several variations of the story have come to light.
Though the article stated that in addition to the noose and Confederate flag, a sign was posted a month earlier that said, “No N-gers, No F-gs, No Hippies,” the crops house students and other students who attended the event where the sign was placed, have said this is untrue. They maintain that the sign said, “No liberals, no drugs, no hippies, no Obama.”
The students moved out of the house the week after the incident was reported, a move that was voluntary, according to the administration.
Furthermore, the students confirmed to the Mustang Daily that the crops house was already scheduled to be torn down before the incident occurred, and that its demolition has nothing to do with the incident.
The controversy is not an isolated incident; there have been both reactions and other incidents of racial tension throughout the campus and community.
Two signs posted by Jane Lehr, an ethnic studies and women’s and gender studies professor at Cal Poly – one stating “Hate is not a Cal Poly value” and the other “Fear of difference is not a Cal Poly value” – were defaced in thick black marker with the words “Sic Semper tyrannis,” or “Death to tyrants.”
Lehr was unsure of the motives of the defacer, but speculated that “some people maybe are against the Cal Poly community being against this, the tyranny of ‘anti-hate,’ ” she said.
A sign in Los Osos spray-painted with “Skinheads rule OK! Hippies out!” was discovered by a Cal Poly student, who was unavailable for comment.
The sign was originally used as a place for local politicians to cover with campaign signs, and thus, the message could’ve been there for months, since the sign has been covered due to election season. No community member who spoke with the Mustang Daily knew how long the message had been there or if is connected to the Crop House incident.
Whether the students eventually face repercussions, Kramer hopes that students will learn from the incident, and take action.
“This will generate momentum – students will help the university to create action plans for change that we can articulate our feeling and goals a little bit better,” she said.