Fallout continues from Web pictures [Penn State College Republicans]

The Digital Collegian [Penn State student newspaper] ^ | December 8, 2003 | By Bridget Smith

[StopGlobalWhining]

The controversy surrounding the photographs posted last week on the Web site of the Penn State College Republicans' chair has caused the resignation of at least one member and many statements and apologies from others. Leaders of the group met with university administrators to discuss the gravity of the situation.

Brian Battaglia, the group's chairman, said he met with Vice President of Student Affairs Vicky Triponey this weekend to discuss possible resolutions to the situation and group members' safety on campus.

"There is definitely a double standard," he said. "Our members and the officers and myself really do feel threatened almost more than [Black Caucus does]. I think they're using this to their political advantage and the threats are actually against conservatives at this point."

Penn State President Graham Spanier in a written statement Friday called the photographs "patently offensive to anyone with a modicum of decency." While the Web site is protected by the First Amendment, he said, they are unacceptable by appropriate standards.

The photographs, which appeared on Battaglia's Web site, http://botag. net, depicted an "oversodomized frat pledge," "sorostitutes," and an unidentified white man wearing blue bed sheets with a caption referring to the Ku Klux Klan. A fourth photograph showed a white man in blackface and a bicycle chain over his shoulder, mocking Undergraduate Student Government (USG) and former Black Caucus Vice President Takkeem Morgan.

The College Republicans held an emergency meeting Friday night to discuss the situation and voted to support Battaglia, the party's host and owner of the Web site on which the photos were posted.

"As a club, College Republicans hopes that Chairman Battaglia will ignore the calls for his resignation by clubs hostile to the CRs. The members of the College Republicans praise the integrity and vision of Battaglia's leadership and thank him for his continued and steadfast service during stressful times for the club," the statement read.

Late Thursday, College Republicans Treasurer Cathy Carré resigned from her position because said she could not support group members' actions; she said she was not at the party and was unaware of the situation until Thursday. Matthew Ritsko, an East Halls senator, said he resigned yesterday because he could not support the group's response to the outcry.

"The actions they've taken haven't reflected the message they should be representing. I don't feel they're in the best interest of the conservative movement," Ritsko said. "It's unfortunate, and I hope both parties will be able to settle their disputes."

Jason Covener, the former USG member who dressed as Morgan, said that while he thinks some of the costumes in question were in poor taste, group members did nothing "beyond the realm of legality."

"There's no way I'm going to apologize," he said.

Matthew Valkovic, Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) vice chairman, another conservative group, said he resigned from his position after his group's meeting Thursday night because he could not endorse YAF's support of the College Republicans or Battaglia.

"The portrayal of Takkeem in blackface and the use of a hood as a Klan member was not freedom of speech, it was hate speech," he said.

Valkovic said he was not in attendance at Battaglia's party.

He added the College Republicans and YAF need to talk with Black Caucus and USG to make amends.

"We're here to get an education, and I think some people have forgotten that and kind of used student groups to run their own agenda," he said.

Sean Clark (senior-political science) said a debate he was moderating between the College Republicans and College Democrats was postponed Thursday night because of a protest Black Caucus members staged beforehand.

Black Caucus President Tiffanie Lewis said the group arrived shortly before the debate was scheduled to begin and began chanting a poem and praying.

"We said we would not support their existence on Penn State's campus," she said.

Battaglia said a member of Black Caucus threatened members of the College Republicans. He said the man turned to the group when leaving the debate and said someone would die, but it wouldn't be him.

Lewis said the Republicans misunderstood his statement, and the member was voicing unsafe feelings by telling the College Republicans he would not be a victim.

She added that Black Caucus felt disrespected by the College Republicans' claims of victimization "in a situation they ignited on campus."

Clark, a former YAF chair, said the protestors violated university policy by disrupting an academic event, and a statement released late yesterday said the College Republicans were considering filing charges with the Office of Judicial Affairs.

The Undergraduate Student Government issued two written statements on Friday condemning the actions by student leaders attending the party. Five USG members were at the party -- Frank Camarota, governmental relations director; Julia Graham, USG Supreme Court justice; and Sens. Andy Banducci, Vicky Cangelosi and Ritsko.

In separate written statements yesterday, Banducci and Cangelosi both expressed regret over the offensive photographs, but both reiterated that they were not in the controversial costumes and do not endorse them.

Banducci added he only felt responsible for his own actions.

Camarota did not return phone calls seeking comment yesterday. Tiffany Iriana, also a College Republicans member, spoke for Graham, and said she would not comment on the situation except through a lawyer. All five were in photographs on the Web site, which spanned five pages, but none appeared in the controversial photos.

Two press conferences addressing the issue are scheduled for today -- one held by the College Republicans at 11:30 a.m. in the HUB-Robeson Center and another by Black Caucus at noon in the HUB.

[Tall_Texan]

Now, now. This will all blow over and Brian will probably get a job working for Trent Lott.

Can we say he's at least tone-deaf to racial sensitivity?

[William Tell]

While we are at it, we should apologize for some of the things that Ann Coulter has said. She is very confrontational and seems to think that political discourse has room for ridiculing through the use of exaggeration. NOT !!!

My "feelings" are such that I have no sympathy for liberals, even when they are attacked unfairly. I am tired of putting up with them. As far as I am concerned, they can like it or lump it. Much like our enemies on foreign battlefields, they are not going to like us any more if we are polite or hate us any more if we are disgusting, cruel, and unrelentingly hostile.

Liberals are just a few paces away from attempting to take my guns. If they don't want me further "upset", then they better get the message that we are not going to take it anymore.

[weegee]

In an America where taxpayers fund the creation and exhibition of works of "art" featuring a crucifix submerged in urine and a "Madonna and child" made out of animal excrement I have little ear for critics when it comes to privately financed "free speech" and satire.

[Question_Assumptions]

If Republicans ever want more than 10% of the black vote, they need to stop this nonsense. Really. The reason that every black I've ever talked to cites for not supporting Republicans, even if they are close to Republican beliefs political than Democrat beliefs, is the perception that Republicans have racist motives and stunts like this do not help. Anything to do with the Klan and blackface is about as appropriate as using Nazi regalia to make fun of Jews. This was stupid. Very stupid. I'd resign, too.

[Question_Assumptions]

I'm stunned that you guys are using the antics of Al Sharpton and radical homosexuals to justify this behavior. What Al Sharpton did was despicable and what radical homosexuals do is despicable. Just because they don't get punished does not mean that conservatives need to take it as an invitation to be despicable, too. What's next? "Gee, Bill Clinton got away with rape, adultery, and lies. George Bush needs to commit a few rapes, cheat on his wife, and start lying like a champ. That will sure show them!" Uh, no. We are supposed to be better than they are.

[beckett]

Can you link to the pics? Not a good idea to post them on FR but I would like to see them if they still exist on a server somewhere.

[AppauledAtAppeasementConservat]

"There's a total double standard, and I salute these students for not backing down"

Not too mention the lack of outrage over what is easily percieved as a public communication of a threat by a black student in this article.

I may not agree to their tactics and taste but I do agree that if they were passionate enough to post it then they should be passionate enough to defend it.

[Question_Assumptions]

This is where the weak get separated from the strong, the sissies from the men. I wouldn't apologize, either.

Whether one is weak or strong is irrelevent. What matters is whether they are right or wrong. The strong thing to do, if you are wrong, is to appologize. It takes more guts to admit you are wrong than it does to deny you were wrong. Do you really think pictures of white people in black face mocking blacks or joking about the KKK really has a place in the Republican Party of the 21st Century? Black people are not going to magically disappear from the United States and the more that conservatives do to alienate them, the less likely it is that they'll escape the spiral of poverty and crime that is not only a problem for blacks but for all Americans. Are there bigotted blacks? Sure there are. But the answer is not to show how bigotted whites can be in return. Attack ideas, not race.

[Question_Assumptions]

In an America where taxpayers fund the creation and exhibition of works of "art" featuring a crucifix submerged in urine and a "Madonna and child" made out of animal excrement I have little ear for critics when it comes to privately financed "free speech" and satire.

Would you want someone who created "art" featuring crucifixes submerged in uring and religious figures out of animal excrement acting as the voice of conservaitves, the Republican Party, or Free Republic and would you want these pieces of "art" associated with you? You are dead on comparing this sort of "art" with what was posted on this web site and I, frankly, want to be associated with neither. The appropriate response to bad people is not to show that you can be as bad an offensive as they can be. "They are as bad as we are!" That's not something to be proud of.

[Lancey Howard]

Do you really think pictures of white people in black face mocking blacks or joking about the KKK really has a place in the Republican Party of the 21st Century?

I certainly agree that "joking about the KKK" has no place anywhere. That is disgusting. But all I have to go by are 'reports' about pictures on a website, and I do not know if there truly was "joking about the KKK" at this party, or if so, what the context was. (Was it "illustrating absurdity with absurdity" by deliberately portraying a despicable stereotype that way too many blacks have of Republicans? I do not know.)

But I do know that the one guy who was in "black face" with a bicycle chain was deliberately mocking a certain campus black activist who was convicted of stealing a bicycle. Fair game, in my opinion, and no need to apologize. (A little over the top, I agree - - I wouldn't have done it myself....)

But again, please see the last part of my previous post. It would bother me to know that Battaglia posted those pictures with the idea of picking a fight. That would be as stupid as Rush Limbaugh making comments about racial/political issues on an ESPN football pregame show, for crying out loud! (I admire the heck out of the guy, but what in God's name was he thinking??)

By the way, I do not ever wish that black people would "magically disappear from the United States" and I resent the inference. It so happens that a large bulk of my business brings me into contact with individual black clients every week and most of them are the nicest, hardest working people I get to meet. I agree that the Republican Party better go after black voters. Republicans certainly must have a better idea than the Democrats' destructive welfare-state/vote-buying scheme that has all but destroyed the urban black family unit.

Regards,
LH

[weegee]

I think that it is incredibly stupid to pull this sort of a stunt in this age. Even dumber to photograph it. Dumber still to post the photos on their own website.

I don't know anyone who would want to hire a person with this skeleton in his closet. Then again, I don't know if an employer could legally use this as an excuse to refuse an applicant a job.

[weegee]

That would be as stupid as Rush Limbaugh making comments about racial/political issues on an ESPN football pregame show, for crying out loud!

Hunter S. Thompson talks about radical politics in his ESPN column all the time. It seems that they are only concerned about the political message of some ESPN staffers. Call the sitting President the biggest criminal ever to hold the seat ("even worse than Nixon!") and Rush would have been alright.

[Lancey Howard]

Hunter S. Thompson talks about radical politics in his ESPN column all the time.

Let him say one thing politically incorrect about race and he's fired, guaranteed.

[weegee]

Walter Cronkite was "the most trusted man in America" so the ad slogan went.

ABCDisney News' slogan is "More Americans get their news from ABC than anyplace else". A lot of them get it from ABC radio news breaks but many still tune in to hear what Petah Jennings has to say.

Dan Ratherbiased has a lot of people who tune in every day.

It would be a misconception to call all of those who listen in every day (and don't miss a show) "fans". I would also say that as much as they may even respect these anchors' broadcast abilities, they would be hard pressed to try to answer for everything that these talking suits say.

Rush Limbaugh is a conservative and talks about issues with a conservative opinion but that does not mean that he speaks for all conservatives or that everything he says is from a "conservative" voice. He's one man and should not be used to taint a political idea.

[weegee]

Ah but political correctness permits a double standard for libs. Ted Danson still gets work even though he thought it would be funny to go out in public in blackface.

Postmodern libs are permitted to be "edgey".

[Reactionary]

"Did you just refer to fellow Americans who disagree with you as "enemies"? You and Ann Coulter bastardize the conservative movement by not recognizing that these are our countrymen, whether they agree with you or not."

Which begs the question as to what, exactly, liberals love about America.

The answer? Nothing.

[rdb3]

Comments?

Just one: INDEPENDENT.

[autoresponder]

excellent choice of photograph

he went thru a weird period

he is in another one now