Ryan ChartrandPolitical science department condemns crops house incident
We, the undersigned members of the political science department, are outraged by the racist display at the crops house and believe that it is equally destructive to accept the pretense that the students involved were unaware of the racist and threatening connotations associated with the Confederate flag and a noose. Lynching was a primary tool used in the South after slavery and during the Jim Crow era to terrorize and intimidate blacks. Such symbols are not simply “questionable materials” or Halloween decorations but are code words for racial terrorism. Overt racist acts and attendant efforts to cover up and excuse them are together hallmarks of institutionalized racism, and ensure that white privilege continues undisturbed. That is not the kind of place that Cal Poly should be.
Even when students have not broken a law by expressing racist views, what they have done is wrong, and the campus community must ensure that such racist incidents do not take place ever again. There is no law that requires us to see others as our moral equals or to condemn racism, but that does not mean that we are not obligated to create a community on campus where racism has no place. The university must begin by not minimizing the seriousness of what occurred at the crops house, and that means that it ought to disclose its findings as to whether there also was a sign near the flag and noose containing epithets against particular racial and sexual minorities. Not only should the matter be investigated and processed following university policy, it is also crucial that the university provide a public forum so that we, as a community, can evaluate our performance in achieving the social and personal growth that we seek to foster.
Linda Shepherd, Chair; Mike Latner; Allen K. Settle; Emmit B. Evans; Elif Erisen; Ning Zhang; Richard Kranzdorf; Alison Keleher; Jean Williams; Craig Arceneaux; Ron Den Otter; Suzy Black
It’s time to move on, Cal Poly
Really, Cal Poly? Are we really still talking about this crop house incident? After two campus-wide emails from President Warren Baker and now one from ASI President Angela Kramer, is anyone else getting a little tired of this? Is there anyone out there that honestly still can’t fall asleep at night because a few ignorant people did something they shouldn’t have? I mean, is anyone out there still so psychologically scared after two weeks from this one incident that they are begging and pleading to talk to their ASI President about it? Don’t you think it’s time to move on?
I don’t know if anyone noticed, but Prop 8 passed. Why are we not still talking about that, about something that affects a far greater number of people not only on campus but in our entire state? In my three years here, it has never ceased to amaze me how people can take something like the crops house incident and just blow it out of proportion and let it drag on and on and on. Yes, it was terrible. Yes, almost all of us do not agree with what happened, myself included, but get over it.
Take a minute and step outside your microcosm that is the university and get angry about something that’s actually worth getting passionate about. President Baker, President Kramer, please take me off your mailing list because if I hear one more thing about a campus that chooses to be overwhelmingly white needing to be “inclusive” or “be educated on diversity” NOW because of THIS incident, I might be sick.
Eric Wolf
electrial engineering junior
CAFES has more concerns than
just the crops house
The efforts undertaken by University officials to mitigate damage done by the hateful behavior of some students are commendable.
However, I believe this recent embarrassment is diverting attention from more fundamental concerns about the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences that speak directly to its educational mission. Such concerns are exemplified in the sudden and inadequately explained decision to end the Cal Poly Compost Project. This decision threatens the health and welfare of our program in Sustainable Agriculture that has been built up over the last eight years through the unflagging visionary efforts of students and a few faculty and staff. This decision is symptomatic of Cal Poly’s neglect of Sustainable Agriculture, other than the small funding and large lip service accorded it.
Also more embarrassing than the crops house incident is the fact that it took Proposition 2 to terminate the inhumane treatment of tens of thousands of hens housed in Cal Poly’s Poultry Unit, six to a tiny cage.
The election that released these birds also releases this nation from eight years of being penned up in the dark. Instead of teaching students rationales for such treatment of animals and for perpetuating an antiquated industrial food system based on consumption of fossil fuels, Cal Poly Agriculture should require that every administrator, instructor and student read the recent article by Michael Pollan entitled, “Farmer in Chief,” addressed to the new President-elect: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/magazine/12policy-t.html
Steven Marx
English professor
Don’t ‘hate hate’
After reading about a million different articles and letters to the editor about what horrible human beings the people in the Crops house are, I opened up the paper today to a giant two-page centerfold declaring “Hate Hate”. Not to pick on whoever specifically bought that ad space, but it highlights one of the biggest problem with Cal Poly’s response to the incident. I’m not going to defend the actions of the instigators, but I’m sick of everyone using this as an opportunity to
loudly show off how open-minded and tolerant they are by viciously denouncing the crops house residents. Responding to racist or bigoted actions with more vitriol will only drive these intolerant beliefs into the dark, it won’t eliminate them. Only honest, open and civil discussions will bring these beliefs into the light and expose them for what they are: products of simple ignorance and fear of the unknown. I can almost hear the PC-brigade falling over themselves to write a self-righteous response to this letter, so before you hit ‘send’ on your holier-than-thou manifesto, please reconsider and take the higher road.
Strive to be a tolerant member of society yourself and politely educate those around you who are ignorant of other cultures, creeds, ethnicities, or sexual preferences, and society will be continue to progress towards a more tolerant future.
Dan Ford
computer engineering senior
Forgive each other and move on
I would like to respond to everything that has been going on recently with the crop house and Prop 8. First of all, I applaud Jacob Kory and Clarissa Smithee for standing up for conservatives. Is it wrong to wish that certain things would stay the same? And why do people automatically assume that proponents of Prop 8 are haters? We don’t have to conform to love one another. Conservatives are just standing up for what they believe in, just like the ‘minorities’ are.
Second, I would like to comment on the crops house issue. Yes, the students made a very bad mistake, and all of Cal Poly and – thanks to the media – the whole country knows it and has made it very clear about how unacceptable it was. Now that we’ve made a point, can’t we just forgive them? Haven’t we caused these people enough pain? Everybody makes stupid mistakes in their lives, including ones that may have deeply hurt or scared someone in the same way that the students have.
And if you say you never made anyone feel that miserable, well, you already have. I can’t imagine how much pain and pressure those students have been going through right now because of all these people hating and pointing fingers at them.
Enough is enough. You all say you want a peaceful society. Well, that’s not going to happen unless we learn to respect one another and to forgive one another for our trespasses.
Cynthia Kono
environmental horticulture science freshman