The Grinch who stole San Diego’s brain

Good Lord, it’s hard to know quite what to say, but here’s the latest party favor to fall out of UC San Diego’s Big Box of Stupid:

KKK-style pillowcase found at UCSD (San Diego Union-Tribune)

University of California San Diego police say a crudely-fashioned KKK-style hood was found outside the campus library late Monday. ¶ The hood was on a Theodor Seuss Geisel statue – at the location where the campus was going to celebrate the children's author's birthday today. The event was called off given racial tensions that have grown seemingly daily on the campus for the past two weeks.

In a statement released Tuesday afternoon, campus authorities say the hood – apparently made from a white pillowcase – was discovered about 11 p.m. outside the library that carries Geisel's name. A rose was inserted in the statue’s fingers.

“The items have been removed and the police are processing them for evidence, including fingerprint and DNA analysis. An aggressive police investigation is underway,” the statement read. “We will pursue this with all of our authority and individuals who are responsible will be punished to the full extent of the Student Code of Conduct and all applicable laws.”

Chancellor Marye Anne Fox is quoted in the statement as saying that “we will not allow this incident, or any incident, to deter the progress we are making to change and heal our university community.”….
. . .
The campus has been hit by a series of race-related incidents in recent weeks that has spurred demonstrations and led to renewed calls for tolerance. Most recently, a noose was found late Thursday on the seventh floor of the library. [Evidently, the noose was left there by accident by a student.]

The events started with a Feb. 15 "Compton Cook Out" party off campus that mocked Black History Month. A student-run TV show subsequently ridiculed blacks and called them ungrateful for their reaction to the party, using a racial slur.

A community forum will be held tomorrow on the race-related turmoil.

San Diego City Councilman Tony Young, UCSD Chancellor Fox and other prominent local figures are expected to appear at the 6 p.m. event at Mt. Erie Baptist Church, 511 S. 47th St. The forum is titled, “UCSD On My Mind: Education is a Civil Right.”

The Urban League of San Diego County and the National Council of Negro Women are among the groups organizing the event.

Noose News

Student apologizes for noose in UC San Diego library (LA Times)

The UC San Diego student reportedly responsible for hanging a noose last week in a campus library issued a public, but anonymous, apology Monday and said she had no racist motivation.

The noose's discovery set off protests at a school that is already tense from recent racially charged episodes and triggered condemnations from UC leaders and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In a letter published Monday on the front page of the UC San Diego student newspaper, the Guardian, the student wrote that the incident was "a mindless act and stupid mistake" and was not meant to recall the lynching of blacks.

"As a minority student who sympathizes with the students that have been affected by the recent issues on campus, I am distraught to know that I have unintentionally added to their pain," the student wrote. She was suspended Friday and remains under investigation for a possible hate crime.

The letter is signed "Anonymous UCSD Student" and offers no clues about her identity or ethnicity.
. . .
The woman wrote that she and friends had been playing with the rope early last week, making a lasso and then a noose.

She said that she took it to the library Tuesday, strung it above a desk and forgot about it….

Not So Private Professors (Inside Higher Ed)

…Gloria Gadsden said she thought she was talking only to close friends and family as she vented on Facebook about her students, but the East Stroudsburg University sociology professor has since learned the hard way that her frustrated musings were viewable by some of the very students she had consciously declined to “friend” in the past. A small change to the settings for Gadsden’s online profile allowed the “friends” of Gadsden’s own “friends” to read her updates, and in so doing created a controversy that the professor now feels could damage her career and her chances at tenure.

Gadsden was placed on administrative leave last week after a student reported two Facebook postings that some have interpreted as threats. On Jan. 21, Gadsden wrote “Does anyone know where to find a very discreet hitman? Yes, it’s been that kind of day …” Another post in the same vein came a month later, as Gadsden opined: “had a good day today, DIDN’T want to kill even one student :-). Now Friday was a different story.”

Gadsden’s suspension and the continuing investigation into her postings not only highlight the seriousness with which some colleges are responding to any sign of a security threat, but also further removes the illusion that faculty members – or anyone, for that matter – can maintain a completely private life on the Internet. (continued)