by Union Alphas | May 18, 2006 | By Pi Pi Brothers, Chapter Corner, College Days |
Alpha Phi Alpha on recent events – 05/18/2006 Concordy Author: To All Students, Faculty, and Staff: The recent controversy over the racist and hateful remarks that were e-mailed to a Union College student of color has provided us with yet another example of an issue that has been plaguing Union for decades. It is no secret that Union College’s student body and administrative leadership is severely lacking in socioeconomic, geographic, racial, and ethnic diversity. Indeed, Mr. “”Karl Kinsey Keller’s”” (KKK) vile remarks about the inherent inferiority and inability of minorities to represent the campus community, while individually reprehensible, are emblematic of a broader and more pertinent issue – a culture of exclusion that Union College and its leaders have consciously bred and fostered. The meeting on May 9 to discuss the student response to the e-mails only strengthens this notion. Two things about that meeting are worth noting. Firstly, at a meeting which addressed an issue that concerns the entire campus community, whites, who represent approximately 85% of the student body, were vastly underrepresented. Secondly, during the course of this meeting, those in attendance were attacked with water balloons by a group of white students (purportedly members of a Union College sports team). These two salient fact perfectly crystallize the fact that Union College’s refusal to diversify its student body, faculty and administration and its incompetence in dealing with matters of intolerance has served to embolden the bigoted members of our community and has created incredible apathy and ignorance among many students on issues of class and race – issues that are critical in the non-academic education of Union’s...
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