Facebook group sparks discrimination debate
Students meet with administration members to discuss possible action
By: Kali Geldis and Matt Jennings
Issue date: 2/20/07 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
Spurred by a controversial Facebook group, allegations of racism at popular campus eatery Marvin's and campus-wide debate, a planned Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority event to discuss Brown v. Board of Education was followed by a closed meeting attended by a group of students and three administrators.
The Facebook group "Speak out against racists crying racism" was created by junior Dennis Fisher following a Student Congress meeting Sunday at which senior Keyaira Wynn updated Congress on her allegations of racism at Marvin's. Wynn, an occasional substitute worker at Marvin's who was let go, claims her firing was racially motivated, an allegation denied by Marvin's management and employees. (See archived story from The DePauw's Feb. 16 issue elsewhere on this site.) Executive Vice President Neal Abraham, Dean of Students Cindy Babington and Director of Multicultural Affairs Jeannette Johnson-Licon all participated in the closed meeting. Johnson-Licon excluded members of the student media.
"It was a meeting of students who are concerned about recent discussions of racism. ... Incidents involving individual students and discussions on Facebook about what is racism and what organizations are racist and what strategies might be considered to address these concerns," Abraham said.
As a result, the administrators purchased an advertisement to run in today's issue of The DePauw expressing their support of campus minority organizations.
The original sorority event had been planned since last semester, but the discussion quickly turned to current issues.
Professor Clarissa Peterson spoke and moderated discussion at the event. While speaking about the lack of diversity and integration in the public education system, Peterson extended the discussion to include the Midwest. Discussion of Fisher's Facebook group followed.
"It was a shock," said sophomore Landon Jones of his discovery of the group.
The group's original profile made a correlation between traditionally black student organizations and the Ku Klux Klan.
"This is a group to all those who are rational enough and logical enough to realize that issues like [Wynn's allegations] are a mockery of what Martin Luther King, Jr. dreamed of," the description read. "The public attitudes towards racist, segregationist groups, like the singular race fraternities and sororities, [Association of African American Students] AAAS, and all like organizations, are akin to those the public had for the Klu Klux Klan [sic] a century ago. An example of this public attitude is the acceptance by a number of people of an accusation of racism as fact without review."
The sentence comparing AAAS to the KKK was later removed from the Web site.
Since its creation, the group's message board has included comments from people both inside and outside the DePauw community.
"My initial reactions to the Facebook group were of amazement," said sophomore Yvonne Williams. "I obviously come from a black background and the statement that was made in the group - comparing AAAS, which I am a part of, to the KKK - is absurd. The KKK is an organization that is known to have a history of hatred and, more importantly, a history of acting on that hatred."
After viewing the Facebook group, Williams decided to post several pictures on the group's profile of racially motivated violence perpetrated by the KKK.
"I put up those images because the KKK did those things," Williams said. "I put 'help me understand' under the photos because I want to understand how those actions by the KKK equates to actions of AAAS, United DePauw and other minority groups on campus. Personally, I can't make the correlation. ... I was crying when I put up those images."
Facebook group sparks debate
After Fisher created the Facebook group following the Congress meeting, he received a phone call from junior Brandon Delesline in which Delesline said he wanted to give Fisher some facts about the claims he was making in his group profile.
"Brandon was very upset," Fisher said. "He kept saying 'I want to tell you the facts, you need some facts.'"
After much debate on the phone regarding the issue, Delesline said he asked Fisher to come to the Hub for a meeting around midnight. When Delesline arrived at the Hub, he said he called Fisher, who had not yet arrived, and asked him if he was coming. According to Delesline, Fisher said, "We'll be there shortly."
Delesline said after Fisher implied he would be bringing others, he felt it would be best if he asked someone to join him, as well, and called two friends. Delesline said Fisher arrived with two others and the six students began to discuss the Facebook group.
Fisher said the conversation did not begin well.
"As soon as I sit down, seven other people just kept yelling at me. ... I just sat there and took it for a while," Fisher said.
Delesline, however, said the conversation with Fisher started off well, then escalated as both sides began to yell at each other over the issue of whether or not AAAS could be equated with the KKK.
"At the end, Brandon explicitly threatened me," Fisher said. "He said to me that he wasn't going to be a part of it, but bad things were going to happen to me."
Delesline recalls the end of the conversation differently.
"I said if you do continue to have this page up, there will be repercussions," Delesline said.
Desline added, however, that "repercussions" was not meant to be violent. He said he was referring to actions like the closed meeting with administrators and campus-wide discussions.
A demand for campus-wide action
In an interview via e-mail, Peterson commented on the student reaction she has witnessed thus far.
"I can only speak about the response from a number of black students (not even the majority)," Peterson said. "They are outraged and want DePauw to address these issues."
Peterson said she cannot predict where DePauw will go from here.
"As a University, we may want and need to spend some time trying to get everyone on the same page," she said. "Not just those who are willing and able, but also those who avoid it at all costs. Furthermore, let's not use students as the 'experts' on race to educate everyone else. They are here to learn just like the rest of the community. ... After all, if they were experts, they wouldn't be in college."
- Andy Bruner, Kristin Hines and Pamela Selle contributed to this story.
The Facebook group "Speak out against racists crying racism" was created by junior Dennis Fisher following a Student Congress meeting Sunday at which senior Keyaira Wynn updated Congress on her allegations of racism at Marvin's. Wynn, an occasional substitute worker at Marvin's who was let go, claims her firing was racially motivated, an allegation denied by Marvin's management and employees. (See archived story from The DePauw's Feb. 16 issue elsewhere on this site.) Executive Vice President Neal Abraham, Dean of Students Cindy Babington and Director of Multicultural Affairs Jeannette Johnson-Licon all participated in the closed meeting. Johnson-Licon excluded members of the student media.
"It was a meeting of students who are concerned about recent discussions of racism. ... Incidents involving individual students and discussions on Facebook about what is racism and what organizations are racist and what strategies might be considered to address these concerns," Abraham said.
As a result, the administrators purchased an advertisement to run in today's issue of The DePauw expressing their support of campus minority organizations.
The original sorority event had been planned since last semester, but the discussion quickly turned to current issues.
Professor Clarissa Peterson spoke and moderated discussion at the event. While speaking about the lack of diversity and integration in the public education system, Peterson extended the discussion to include the Midwest. Discussion of Fisher's Facebook group followed.
"It was a shock," said sophomore Landon Jones of his discovery of the group.
The group's original profile made a correlation between traditionally black student organizations and the Ku Klux Klan.
"This is a group to all those who are rational enough and logical enough to realize that issues like [Wynn's allegations] are a mockery of what Martin Luther King, Jr. dreamed of," the description read. "The public attitudes towards racist, segregationist groups, like the singular race fraternities and sororities, [Association of African American Students] AAAS, and all like organizations, are akin to those the public had for the Klu Klux Klan [sic] a century ago. An example of this public attitude is the acceptance by a number of people of an accusation of racism as fact without review."
The sentence comparing AAAS to the KKK was later removed from the Web site.
Since its creation, the group's message board has included comments from people both inside and outside the DePauw community.
"My initial reactions to the Facebook group were of amazement," said sophomore Yvonne Williams. "I obviously come from a black background and the statement that was made in the group - comparing AAAS, which I am a part of, to the KKK - is absurd. The KKK is an organization that is known to have a history of hatred and, more importantly, a history of acting on that hatred."
After viewing the Facebook group, Williams decided to post several pictures on the group's profile of racially motivated violence perpetrated by the KKK.
"I put up those images because the KKK did those things," Williams said. "I put 'help me understand' under the photos because I want to understand how those actions by the KKK equates to actions of AAAS, United DePauw and other minority groups on campus. Personally, I can't make the correlation. ... I was crying when I put up those images."
Facebook group sparks debate
After Fisher created the Facebook group following the Congress meeting, he received a phone call from junior Brandon Delesline in which Delesline said he wanted to give Fisher some facts about the claims he was making in his group profile.
"Brandon was very upset," Fisher said. "He kept saying 'I want to tell you the facts, you need some facts.'"
After much debate on the phone regarding the issue, Delesline said he asked Fisher to come to the Hub for a meeting around midnight. When Delesline arrived at the Hub, he said he called Fisher, who had not yet arrived, and asked him if he was coming. According to Delesline, Fisher said, "We'll be there shortly."
Delesline said after Fisher implied he would be bringing others, he felt it would be best if he asked someone to join him, as well, and called two friends. Delesline said Fisher arrived with two others and the six students began to discuss the Facebook group.
Fisher said the conversation did not begin well.
"As soon as I sit down, seven other people just kept yelling at me. ... I just sat there and took it for a while," Fisher said.
Delesline, however, said the conversation with Fisher started off well, then escalated as both sides began to yell at each other over the issue of whether or not AAAS could be equated with the KKK.
"At the end, Brandon explicitly threatened me," Fisher said. "He said to me that he wasn't going to be a part of it, but bad things were going to happen to me."
Delesline recalls the end of the conversation differently.
"I said if you do continue to have this page up, there will be repercussions," Delesline said.
Desline added, however, that "repercussions" was not meant to be violent. He said he was referring to actions like the closed meeting with administrators and campus-wide discussions.
A demand for campus-wide action
In an interview via e-mail, Peterson commented on the student reaction she has witnessed thus far.
"I can only speak about the response from a number of black students (not even the majority)," Peterson said. "They are outraged and want DePauw to address these issues."
Peterson said she cannot predict where DePauw will go from here.
"As a University, we may want and need to spend some time trying to get everyone on the same page," she said. "Not just those who are willing and able, but also those who avoid it at all costs. Furthermore, let's not use students as the 'experts' on race to educate everyone else. They are here to learn just like the rest of the community. ... After all, if they were experts, they wouldn't be in college."
- Andy Bruner, Kristin Hines and Pamela Selle contributed to this story.
Be the first to comment on this story