Racial Slurs Addressed at the University of Alabama-Tuscaloosa

The University of Alabama administration addressed a second racial slur on campus on Wednesday. An email was sent by the Vice President for Students Affairs that read:

From: "uanews"
Date: Feb 9, 2011 2:08 PM
Subject: A Message from the Vice President for Student Affairs
To: STUDENTNEWS

Last night, an unknown individual or individuals chalked words on our campus that disparaged members of various racial and ethnic groups, including African American and white. Since the words “first amendment” were chalked next to some of the offensive words, we believe that this could have been an attempt to assert First Amendment rights. The words were removed as soon as they were discovered. UA is investigating and will take appropriate action against the individual(s) responsible.

We support First Amendment rights. However, we find the use of these words to be mean-spirited and unacceptable. As members of the UA community, the majority of our faculty, staff and students reject the notion that this type of behavior reflects our collective experience. As a community, we respect and value each member of the UA family, and I trust that we will make decisions that reinforce and reflect that commitment.

Mark D. Nelson
Vice President for Student Affairs
and Vice Provost

Last weekend, a member of a white fraternity was accused of yelling a racial slur at a black graduate student. UA President responded with a mass e-mail to students and the fraternity student is currently being disciplined. The national organization of Delta Tau Delta has apologized to the graduate student to whom the slurs were aimed.

This is certainly not an isolated incident at UA. The election of President Barack Obama in November 2008 brought similar incidents aimed at instructors and students.  As an alumna of UA, I appreciate the administration's prompt response to this incident. While several people are throwing around the term "first amendment", I do not believe hiding behind the first amendment for hateful and mean spirited slurs is any more legitimate than hiding behind the Bible. I must say, however, that the behavior of adults recently have not provided very good role models for our college students and children.

A poll in the online Tuscaloosa News asked the question:  "What do you think of the University's response to the racial slur incident?" It does not surprise me that almost fifty percent of the few who responded felt it should have been handled privately. That is such a southern response. Dirty laundry, however, needs to be aired and addressed publicly for us to open a useful dialogue on seeking elimination of hate-based language and actions.

Despite its sordid history, UA is not the only campus and Alabama not the only state that are guilty of such actions. That is why I was happy to see this addressed in Inside Higher Ed.

....... Higher education is not immune to these trends, she said. "A college campus is a microcosm of the wider world. What we see on the news -- i.e, Congressman John Lewis being spit upon and called racist names as he heads to the Capitol to vote on health care reform -- we will also see on our campuses."

How should Alabama and other colleges respond to such incidents. Tatum argued for extended discussion. "The best response to 'hate speech' is more speech, specifically more intentional opportunities for dialogue that help students, both white and of color, talk about the continuing legacy of racism in our society, and understand the ways that their own behaviors either reinforce that legacy or interrupt it," she said. "Such dialogue is most effective when it is sustained over time (as in a multi-session workshop or semester-long course, for example) rather than a one-time experience such as a public forum or lecture on the topic. Such dialogue is often difficult to initiate because it is still true that many faculty, staff, and students have limited experience talking about race in racially-mixed settings and there is often fear about doing so, fear that one might say the wrong thing and offend, or worse yet, reveal hidden prejudices. Yet the only way to get past this fear is to have the conversation, learn from the inevitable mistakes, and come back the next day or the next week, and try it again.... Like when exercising creates sore muscles, the cure is to exercise more regularly, not to abandon the effort. "

Alabama enrolls more black students than most flagship institutions, with 3,379 self-identified black students comprising about 12 percent of the student body in fall 2009, said Jimmy Williams, special advisor to the provost on diversity issues. While Hogan said that there are pockets of racial divisions on campus – students who only converse with peers of the same race – Williams said it’s a much brighter picture than it was when he came to the university 23 years ago. “I have seen the interaction between different groups on students increase,” he said. “I do not see these types of incidents happening very frequently on campus.” .......... (read entire article here).