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I would like to commend Sara Stich for her courage to stand up for what is right and print what is undoubtedly a heated article on a VERY heated topic. I am glad someone at The Cardinal has the courage to point out that racism is a two-way street.
A racist is one who uses a position of power to limit the participation of a particular group of people in a community. For instance, lawmakers making laws that mandate certain people must sit in the back of a bus are racist. The TKEs in question at this off-campus private party were, from what The Cardinal presents, both white and black. This being a party, they were presumably having fun, dressed as opposite races or otherwise. Clearly no one’s participation at the party was limited.
Dr. Jones, a professor at UofL, Carlton Brown, SGA President, and others are calling for suspension of the fraternity, sanctions, and other actions on TKE. It appears a position of power, or multiple positions of power, is/are being used to limit the participation of a certain group of people in our community.
Another issue: Carlton Brown started his speech at the Nov 14th meeting by making an apology for not taking an immediate public stance on this issue. He is at the same time calling for the resignation of Dr Gifford for not responding to the situation “in a timely manner.” Was that read correctly from The Cardinal? Would this be a double standard? If we are supposed to accept Carlton Brown’s apology for not reacting in a timely manner, why should we not accept an apology from Dr. Gifford, instead of demanding her resignation? Indeed, why would we want immediate stances taken on this issue? Knee-jerk reactions are usually regretted, and only do more harm than good in any situation.
Darren Monroe
senior mechanical
engineering major
