Replies

I have stated clearly what I believe. Equal rights and equal treatment under the law. You want to "agree to disagree". Fine with me.

What exactly do you stand for?

I do agree - I have no evidence that the University is defending Takeem. I also see that the university president felt he had to address a joke in bad taste in writing, but as far as I know did not directly address the presence of the thief in student council. I take this as evidence of his priorities, supported by the reaminder of the race based initiatives and systems on campus.

By the way - I was trying to be kind with the "you seem" quote. Evidently you are uncomfortable with your position, and now you want to turn this into a name calling contest - "You're ridiculous" - "go check your facts" - "race hustling with the best of them" - setting my arguments in the format of "the Victimology handbook" etc.

Your post appears (seems)as if you are angry - could this be because someone has not taken the position that the white man is automatically wrong in a case such as this? Or not accepting that it is a heinous crime to call attention to the poor performance of a black man? Or is it my challenging the assumption that only whites can be racist? Or that freedom of speech is not contingent on some PC filter approved by the ultra sensitivity of the leaders of a race based special interest group?

Is it racist to question a black man? Is it racist to question an institution that formally and publicly treats people differently based on race? Is that not the definition of racism?

Does every joke in bad taste need a written response from the President of the university?

I do grant after some research that Penn State has recently been sort of a racial hot bed - though of course none of the "hate crimes" reported have ever been substantiated even after review by the FBI. Given the credibility of the Black Caucus leadership, and the FBI, I will wait for real evidence.

Here are a few very loosely researched facts for you - I can't investigate every school and every program (I will not chase facts for you) - and I will grant that my sourcing is weak. However - they also are completely consistent and logical given the state of current higher education.

Easy one - the fact that the Black Caucus exists and is recognized by the school is racist. By definition. No research required. Do you have trouble understanding that? Why do you think they exist?

"At Penn State University, black students who manage a C average get cash rewards of $550. Blacks with a B average or better get $1,100. Whites of course, get no such handouts." "American Renaissance", 1991.

"The state of Pennsylvania recently set up what it calls the Pennsylvania Graduate Opportunities Tuition Waiver Program. Thirty of the state's 133 universities have agreed to offer complete, graduate-studies scholarships to blacks. Sixteen have made the offer to any qualified black, in any field of study he chooses. Race, not financial need, makes students eligible.The state is raising $15 million to pay for the program," American Renaissance, 1991.

In The Closing of the American Mind, Allan Bloom wrote of the "shadow of university life" in which blacks operate at Cornell University: (Agreed - not PSU - but to me it seems he is describing the same culture).

". . . permanent quotas in admissions, preference in financial assistance, racially motivated hiring of faculty, difficulty in giving blacks failing marks, and an organized system of grievance and feeling aggrieved. And everywhere hypocrisy, contempt-producing lies about what is going on and how the whole scheme is working?"

I think the black face was a joke in bad taste, and certainly don't think it was a good idea. It has already been apologized for. And that is all it was - a joke in bad taste.

As for victimhood and victimology, I will leave that to the expert members of the Black Caucus.

And I continue to find racism wrong in any forum. I do not think that racial hyper sensitivity on college campuses is doing anyone any good. If that is "race hustling" you must be using a different dictionary than I.

Equal rights and equal treatment under the law.

I agree with that. But this isn't a legal case is it? It's just some stupid kids dressed up in blackface and KKK sheets getting spanked for racially inflammatory behaviour, spanked by a student government and a university administration, historically fickle and subjective bodies as everyone with an ounce of sense or prudence knows.

You're taking longer and longer to say less and less. You're not persuading me by being more and more indirect and avoiding the provable facts.

but as far as I know did not directly address the presence of the thief in student council. I take this as evidence of his priorities, supported by the reaminder of the race based initiatives and systems on campus.

Here you are emotionally stacking up reasons to feel victimized, as though Spanier and the university are in a conspiracy specifically against you in particular or whites in general. Race-based initiatives are unrelated to this case. Takeem's bicycle theft is unrelated to this case. Stringing together isolated perceived grievances into a victimization conspiracy is what race hustlers do. Attack one grievance on its merits, then move on to the next, on the merits. If you find a real conspiracy, then prove it. Otherwise you're just Jesse Jackson.

Read your replies to me and imagine them as Letters-to-the-Editor of the Collegian or the CDT. Would you be comfortable making these arguments to a wider public, for your friends, family, teachers, etc. to read them? Would they be proud and agree or would they sit you down for a serious talk? Think.

Again, if you think it inappropriate for Takeem to hold office in USG, then act on it on the merits, not because his skin is dark. You may win, or you may fail, and then you will have learned that justice is not a science but a work in progress.

"At Penn State University, black students who manage a C average get cash rewards of $550. Blacks with a B average or better get $1,100. Whites of course, get no such handouts." "American Renaissance", 1991.

I wonder how many PSU students are aware of this program? I have mentioned it to several students recently and they were skeptical. Unless it has been discontinued during the past decade, this was definitely the case in the early 1990's.

I believe that there has been a racial backlash at Penn State in recent years, and that many students have come straight out of high school into PSU without a prejudiced bone in their body, only to leave here 4 years later with entirely different attitudes.