1997_10 The Daily Collegian October 1997

              THE DAILY
COLLEGIAN
Friday, October 3,1997
Opinion
Telephone: (209) 278-5732
Racist rhetoric
allowed by the
■right people'
By Manuel Annear	
Racism continues to rear its ugly
head here at Fresno Slate. Even
though the administration demon¬
strates a very public anti-racism
sentiment, which is dutifully pa¬
raded about when racist incidents
occur, it continues. There is a rea¬
son why this unacceptable behav¬
ior still plagues our university. Our
administration actually supports
and perpetuates the problem by
having a double standard when it
comes to the use of racist vitriol.
Their attitude makes it OK to use
racist rhetoric in our public venues;
as long as the "right people" are
using it.
Examples of this problem and
our university administration's
deafening silence in each case
abound. For brevity's sake I shall
relate but two; one is ancient his¬
tory and the other, very recent. The
first involves a "lecturer", paid for
by ASI funds, who spoke to high
school students during a Chicano
youth recruitment rally in the Sat¬
ellite-Student Union two years ago.
At one point in his speech he
shouted, "We wipe the gringo ba¬
bies' asses, we pick their
fruit..."(referring to the deplorable
servitude in which many immi¬
grants, legal and illegal, find them¬
selves here). This and other portions
of his speech were so upsetting to a
friend of mine - a white woman
married to an Latino man - that she
ran from the room in tears. I can't
help but think that he could have
made his point without racist epi¬
thets.
The second example comes
from the September 16th issue of
"La Voz de Aztlan," a supplement
to the Daily Collegian. In her ar¬
ticle about the possible merger of
the Collegian With the department
of mass communications and jour¬
nalism, MECHA and ASI Board
Director Mari be lie Ramon resorted
to racist rhetoric to make her point.
She said, "How can some gabacho
tell me about the Chicano perspec¬
tive..." For those of you who don't
know, "gabacho" is a slang, not too
endearing term for a white male.
When I asked some of my Latino
friends about the word t|iey winced
a bit and told me it wasn't a real
bad term, but that it was derogatory,
especially in the context in which
it was used. I believe Ms. Ramon's
point could have been effectively
made without introducing race into
her statement, especially in a con¬
temptuous manner.
In neither case did our
university's administration make a
peep. Which brings me back 'round
to my assertion; there are different
standards for public expression here
at Fresno State and they are based
upon cultural or ethnic identity. If I
(considered by many to be white,
but actually of dark skinned Portu¬
guese descent) were to make asser¬
tions such as Ms. Ramon's in a pub¬
lic forum using just the words
"Mexican" or "black", I would be
roundly and deservedly chastised
(and these aren't even epithets!).
Further, Fresno State administrators
would probably assign me to weeks
of "cultural sensitivity indoctrina¬
tion" to cure my problem.
The politically-correct insis¬
tence that racism is racism only
when demonstrated by a white per¬
son is utter nonsense. The double
standard illustrates a tit-for-tat men¬
tality (its OK because they're vic¬
tims and whites oppressed them)
which emboldens some in "tradi¬
tionally under-represented minori¬
ties" to perpetuate hate. Worse, our
administration's tacit approval then
invites reprisal against "minorities"
Please see BIGOTS, page 4.
Defeat of RecPlex shows
bravery against heavy odds
By Joel Eanes
On the night of Sept. 25 , the fa¬
cade of the RecPlex Committee
came crashing down in a landslide
defeat. The story of the fall of the
RecPlex is a story of brave resis¬
tance against overwhelming odds.
The RecPlex campaign began
with administrators and student
employees seeking a dramatic ex¬
pansion in the University Student
Union budget. The campaign was
run from start to finish by adminis¬
trators, but knowing that promot¬
ing it themselves would be seen as
too self-serving, they used the stu¬
dent puppets of the RecPlex Com¬
mittee. "We're just average stu¬
dents," they claimed - average stu-*
dents who could afford to rent out
the Satellite Student Union (twice),
take out full-page newspaper ads,
take forty-seven people, on two
weekend vacations to other cam¬
puses around the state, hire profes¬
sional marketing consultants, and
so forth. Hundreds of students were
taken from their classes for elabo¬
rate presentations by the RecPlex
Committee. At club orientation,
with a conveniently captive audi¬
ence, the same thing happened.
While opponents drained their bank
accounts and maxed out their credit
cards trying to mount an opposition,
the RecPlex Committee accumu¬
lated an estimated $14,000 in cam¬
paign costs, all charged to the Uni¬
versity Student Union (that means
our fees), which at the same time
claimed that it wasn't even affili¬
ated with the effort.
No formal set of rules existed for
the election. Without formal rules
to refer to, any move^by the oppo¬
sition mat the RecPlex Committee
didn't like was instantly declared
"illegal." Flyers on bulletin boards?
That's illegal. In parking lots?
That's illegal. On desks? That's il¬
legal. You name it. "That's illegal."
Flyers disappeared by the thou¬
sands. Entire buildings were
stripped clean by those who took it
upon themselves to decide what the
voters would and wouldn't be al¬
lowed to know. Students attempt¬
ing to distribute material were all
but chased out of buildings by uni¬
versity staff who apparently haJ
never heard of the First Amend¬
ment. No specific statutory pro\i
sion was ever cited.
These tactics continued to elec¬
tion day. Some of those promoting
the RecPlex (non-students, by the
way) were the same officials who
were running the election for the
university. When one walked up to
the ballot box wearing a T-shirt pro
moting the RecPlex, it was claimed
"Val was not aware that she was
wearing the RecPlex T-shirt."
But even in the face of these
outrages, the spirit of resistance
lived on. Students were outraged at
the prospect of paying higher fees
for a facility that most would never
even use. The blatant attempt to bus
votes (i.e., "free pizza") just made
this worse. By the week before the
election, the RecPlex Committee
was plainly on the defensive.
Please see RECPLEX, page 4
"
Daily Collegian
California State University, Fresno
Business Manager
Ginger Terstegen
Copy Editors
Cheramie Taylor
Production Manager
Matthew Hart
Editor in Chief
Derek Waiter
Managing Editor
Luis Hernandez
Assignment Editor
David Childers
Ad Manager
Judy Yhnell
Photo Editor
Ryan Weber
Web Production
Jason Maggini
Staff Writers:
Kimberly Barber. Timothy Bragg,
Jeff Criesi, Nakisha Dickens.
Cherie Arambcl. Yvonne Martinez
Sports Writers:
Allison Barnctt, Gary Chapla,
Kyoko Hoshino. John Saunders
Columnists:
Hakim Allen,
Manuel Annear,
Joel Eanes,
Larry Farnsworth
Ad Reps:
Amy Yhnell
Circulation:
Sam Robles
The Daily Collegian is pub¬
lished five times a week for and
by the students of California Slate
University, Fresno.
Opinions expressed in the
Collegian arc not necessarily
those of the entire Daily Colle¬
gian staff. The editors reserve the
right to edit letters for length and
clarity. To be considered for
publication, letters must be typed
and should not exceed 250 words.
Telephone Directory :
Editor: (209)278-5732
News: (209)278-2486
Sports: (209)278-5733
Advertising:   (209)278-5731
FAX: (209)278-2679
Email us at:
collegian (scsufresno.edu
■