We Haven’t Forgotten
September 2, 2005 Dear Editor,
The underrepresented student organizations, as well as individual students are not going to forget about the issues we face her at Northern Kentucky University. Last spring a series of situations occurred that we are not proud of. I will speak for myself when I say that the shame I felt affected my academics. We have to admit and accept that racism does exist right here on campus before we can begin to make any progress.
On March 2, 2005 the front page of the Northerner showed a mug shot of a young man accused of rape, I believe the intent of the Northerner was to protect women from a potential predator, which in that case is acceptable as long as the suspects rights were also respected, which could be argued in this particular case. I was appalled to find that the Northerner failed to show the slightest concern for multicultural students well being.
On April 11th 2005 a young man who happened to be Latino was assaulted on Northern Kentucky University’s property. The young man was assaulted for wearing a T-shirt with the words (que pasa w.k.u?) on it. He was hit in the face with a shoe and had witnesses and made a police report about the incident that same day. I am concerned why this incident failed to reach the front page of the Northerner or a story at all? When a concerned student asked why the rape report was on the front page we where told it was a felony and the campus community should be informed of it. When asked why it was written by the entertainment columnist there was no reply, I ask again, “Why was the rape incident covered by the entertainment columnist? Not for blame or to insult anyone but purely for clarification. Why was the racial assault not covered by some one in the Northerner? This could be something we could address in hopes of preventing this from happening again. Diego had been promised an interview about this incident and he never got one, Why not? Some could argue that the fact that the accused was charged and expelled from this University was just enough, but I don’t believe that is enough. Everyone should know about the incident, because everyone no matter their race, gender, ethnicity, disability, or religion should feel safe here at Northern Kentucky University.
I would like to charge the University as a whole with addressing the many issues of racism that we face every day on our campus rather it be programs and curricular, students joining ad hoc comities, white supremacy, funding for underrepresented student organizations, bias policing and reporting of news in the Northerner, and campus community relations in STAR’s upcoming Dialogue on Racism, NKU let’s come together!
Akosua Concerned student Senior Sociology major, African American Studies and Theater Minor