Students protest against racist act at university

Gathering outside in McMicken Commons, about 30 protesters assembled and prepared signs, ribbons and candles to rally before the football game Saturday at 6:30 p.m.

The rally was set up in response to the vandalism that took place Nov. 8 on the University of Cincinnati's campus.

At the International Socialist Organization's student chapter in Steger Student Life Center, someone entered and vandalized anti-racism and anti-death penalty signs, and stole some items. Swastikas, racist drawings and slogans were written on the posters.

Organized by the ISO, a few members from various groups including Campus Ministries, Campus Greens and the African Student Association united to pass out flyers and make people aware of the situation. They carried a petition they were trying to get people to sign, to get UC President Nancy Zimpher to condemn the vandalism.

UC Spokesman Greg Hand said he was "not aware of communication with the president." According to Hand, the university has repeatedly commented on the break-in. He said the principles of Just Community spell out the university's position on acts such as the ones that occurred Nov. 8.

The groups plan to have a march through campus Monday Nov. 20 at noon to get UC administrators to recognize their "Points of Unity" demands. Their demands include public condemnation of the events by the administration, a town-hall-type meeting and an active definition of "Just Community."

Hand said the university has been doing all three of these things since the vandalism occurred. There have been at least half a dozen meetings between students and Frank Bowen, UC's dean of students. Administrators have been to several meetings and UC police are investigating the crime. "That's the administration," Hand said.

Before the rally began, Kersha Deibel-Trotter, a second-year social work student at UC and member of the Racial Awareness Pilot Program, was passing out lime green ribbons to the protesters.

"We chose lime green to show diversity and to stand out … To show our support and catch people's eye," she said. "I heard about it [the vandalism] on Wednesday from a friend. It just seems that every time a crime happens we are so quick to receive an e-mail, but when hate crimes happen such as this nobody gets the word."

Protesters walked to the football game with candles lit and signs held. Some of them stood in front of the entrance with their signs held and the petition. Others went into the stadium and stood in the front row near the goal post in front of the student section. A few students sat, while others stood holding the posters.

"I dislike the hate, I dislike that we didn't know anything about it. It was just word of mouth and a week after the fact," said Karla DeCluett, a third-year social work student and peer educator at the Women's Center. "I came to UC and I knew it was a diverse campus, and I love that it's diverse. I don't want people to think they can display hate crimes, and I just totally disagree with the way that the administration didn't say anything about it."

Hand said administrators attended a meeting, with students, as recently as Friday to talk about the vandalism.

Taylor Koo, a third-year psychology student and ISO member, said that some universities put out statements on events, and the last thing UC commented on was Hurricane Katrina.

Koo said that the student groups present at the football game were trying to set up a network to help people deal with hate crimes.

"There have been a lot of racist acts on campus within the past year and nobody has said anything about it, so that's like passively accepting it," Koo said.

In regards to the recent vandalism and UC's reaction, Hand referred to the Just Community's eight principles, saying the university spends time going over what those principles stand for, especially during orientation.

"Does that not make a statement?" he said. "Those actions were completely contrary to the position of the University of Cincinnati."

Hand said the university has these principles in part because they let people know "publicly, visibly, once and for all, when individual incidents happen, you will know the position of the University of Cincinnati."