UTK College Republicans Receive Death Threat

UTK Daily Beacon ^ | 11/20/2003 | Bloomntn

[BloomNTn]

Recent accusations of bias regarding the UT Issues Committee have prompted the Dean of Students office and Student Activities office to review e-mails sent between committee members regarding a column in The Daily Beacon.

Last week, members of the Issues Committee exchanged e-mails discussing their views concerning the column, written by columnist Sukhmani Singh Khalsa, one in which referred to him as a "raghead."

The e-mails were obtained by Chris Lewis, a former committee member and senior in political science who was not removed from the mailing list, and read aloud during a College Republicans meeting Tuesday night in the Taylor Law Building. Messages sent to and from UT e-mail accounts are stored on a UT server and may be considered public records under the Tennessee Public Records Act, subject to inspection by residents of Tennessee.

"Typically, e-mail among committee members addresses business of the committee," said Rashi Joshi, chairwoman of the Issues Committee. "In this case, members were using it as a forum to express their own opinions in response to Mr. Khalsa's column, which was perceived as misrepresentative of the committee and its programs."

Justin Rubenstein, a member of the Issues Committee, told members in an e-mail on Nov. 14 that if they "see one of those ragheads, shoot him right in the (expletive) face."

Excerpt

[BloomNTn]

The "Raghead" threatened here happens to be a member of UT College Republicans who criticized a very liberal campus committee. As usual the only way liberals know how to communicate is to call names and threaten. A lesson liberals have learned well from Ted "Neanderthals" Kennedy

The story is also featured on the WVLT website Volunteer TV

[Tax-chick]

Bump! My husband got his M.S. at UT. I'll make sure he sees this when he gets home ... I'm sure it won't be mentioned in any alumni fundraising solicitations ...

[xJones]

Your link in #1 doesn't work, but it's good that they apparently have a college Republican group.

"I was making light of a situation. I didn't realize how much weight was involved," he said. "There was no emotion behind the e-mail other than to make light of things."

Of course no emotion was involved, and a death suggestion was just a little joke. No doubt it would have been serious, though, if an ethnic slur had been made against Rubenstein, followed by the shooting suggestion in an e-mail.

[Onelifetogive]

Justin Rubenstein, a member of the Issues Committee, told members in an e-mail on Nov. 14 that if they "see one of those ragheads, shoot him right in the (expletive) face."

His college career at UT is over....unless, of course, he's a Dimocrat...

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Sounds like a bunch of left-wing racists.

[A. Goodwin]

Messages sent to and from UT e-mail accounts are stored on a UT server and may be considered public records under the Tennessee Public Records Act, subject to inspection by residents of Tennessee.

A bit off topic, but I found this line rather surprising. I wonder if this includes all student, staff, and faculty e-mail accounts, or just organizations and the like.

[yoe]

...another tempest in teapot........now about those dumb blond jokes........

[Constantine XIII]

Sukhmani is a good guy. He is also an awesome writer, be sure to look at some of his old articles in the Beacon (his column runs on Thursdays). This guy'll be famous one day.

Here is a link to the article that started the whole thing:

http://dailybeacon.utk.edu/article.php/12707

The threats came as a response to this article that ran on November 13. Hopefully this incident will shed some light on what these people really think of everyone who does not agree with them.

This might also lead to a new mechanism to allow outside input with respect to speakers and the selection of comittee members.

Finally, if any Tennessee alumni out there could voice their feelings to the administration, it might help to expedite the process.

We'll keep you updated!

[risen_feenix]

Frickin' amazing. If a conservative had referred to the writer as a f*ckin' raghead, he would have been kicked off the committee, expelled and drawn and quartered.

Yet when you read this article, any mention of political affilliation of the offender is absent. And, as usual, all the leftist groups are silent.

Hell, you'd almost think it was a conservative engaged in the racist talk, the way the article laid it out.

It's no wonder I don't read the paper or watch TV anymore.

[vpintheak]

Aren't they all!

[BloomNTn]

This was my first post on FR. I don't know how to fix the link.

[GailA]

BTT

[Constantine XIII]

bump!

[Republican Wildcat]

http://www.utcollegerepublicans.org/

[RockyTop4GOP]

Let's try to keep this story alive. Please keep bumping!
WVLT Channel 8 ran a pretty fair story on this at 6. I'll update with any new developments. You can view my press release on the CR homepage.

Thanks mom for posting this!

[Constantine XIII]

bump

[RightWingAtheist]

Nope, no racism here. We all know that Democrats can't hate, and that Republicans can't be the targets of prejudice. Nope, no bias here. /sarcasm off

[RockyTop4GOP]

WATE channel 6 is running a story at 11 tonight. Also, the News-Sentinel might be running one tomorrow.

[Constantine XIII]

bump

[johnnyb325]

This whole incident is outrageous. I know Sukhmani personally (I write for the Daily Beacon also, I'm the other conservative columnist), and he's a great guy. Donors and Alumns need to take note of this, and demand some changes before they give any more money to this school.