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Article about recent racist hate crime and response at Cornell with good
quotes from Tony Marks-Block.<br>
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<a href="http://www.cornellsun.com/media/paper866/news/2006/02/28/News/20.Student.Groups.Issue.Joint.statement.Of.Demands.To.Interim.Pres.Hunter.Rawli-1640644.shtml?norewrite&sourcedomain=www.cornellsun.com" eudora="autourl">
http://www.cornellsun.com/media/paper866/news/2006/02/28/News/20.Student.Groups.Issue.Joint.statement.Of.Demands.To.Interim.Pres.Hunter.Rawli-1640644.shtml?norewrite&sourcedomain=www.cornellsun.com<br>
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</font><h2><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=5><b>20 student
groups issue joint 'statement of demands' to Interim Pres. Hunter
Rawlings<br><br>
<br>
</b></font></h2><h5><b>By
<font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=2 color="#0000FF">Suzy
Gustafson<br>
Sun Staff Writer<br><br>
</u></b></font></h5><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=3>Yesterday
on Ho Plaza at a rally protesting "violence and institutional racism
at Cornell," Interim President Hunter Rawlings III stepped through
the crowd of over 200 to receive a "statement of demands"
signed by 20 student organizations.<br><br>
The demands were made in the wake of the alleged recent stabbing of a
visiting African-American Union College student by a white Cornell
student on West Campus. They include the incorporation of Student
Assembly resolution number 11 - which calls for a zero-tolerance policy
towards bias-related violent crimes and sexual assault - into the Campus
Code of Conduct, an improvement in the University's communications and
emergency response procedure following violent crimes and the addition of
a new required course on issues of race, power and gender. <br><br>
Organizers expect a response by Friday. <br><br>
A series of student leaders and activists, Cornell and Ithaca College
faculty and staff and two members of the Ithaca Common Council spoke at
the rally. One of the organizers, Stacy King '06, kicked off the rally by
addressing the audience. "Thank you for seeing the absolute
necessity of being here today," she said. "What happened to
[stabbing victim] Charles Holiday is merely a microcosm of the problems
that exist here on our campus." <br><br>
Multiple speakers challenged or directly denied the notion that the West
Campus stabbing was an isolated event. Prof. James Turner, one of the
founders of the Africana Studies department, was among several who
addressed the shock and disbelief on campus.<br><br>
"I am here to share your concerns," he said. "What took
place was horrible. It took place here at Cornell, here in Ithaca, where
it is 'not supposed to happen.' Although this was a terrible incident, it
was not incidental. It causes us to ask whether [alleged attacker] Nathan
Poffenbarger '08 is an anomaly." Turner proceeded to give examples
of bias-related incidents that have occurred at Cornell in the past few
years. <br><br>
Prof. Ken Reardon, director of City and Regional Planning, spoke early in
the rally.<br><br>
"So many have expressed shock," he said. "The question is,
'Should we be surprised?'" <br><br>
Reardon, a self-proclaimed "white guy from the Bronx," tried to
illustrate modern racism by impersonating comedian Chris Rock saying,
"Ain't no white man in this room who'd trade places with me. And I'm
rich?" <br><br>
Reardon also addressed his "white colleagues," stressing the
importance that white faculty, students and staff show their outrage over
racism and violence on campus. In support of the proposal for a new
course requirement, he asked, "If we can't imagine sending our
graduates out into the world without a literacy in math, sciences and the
humanities, how can we imagine sending them out fundamentally unprepared
and illiterate in issues of race and prejudice?"<br><br>
Others challenged the reality of Cornell's "Open Doors, Open Hearts,
and Open Minds" motto and the campus presence of the conservative
publication The Cornell American. Speakers critiqued the perceived apathy
within the student body and called for serious campus discourse and
immediate student engagement in pursuing change at Cornell. <br><br>
Rev. Ken Clark, director of Cornell University Religious Works, said
"Somnambulism - the denial of bias such as racism - does not make
[these issues] less real ? Now is not the time for cynicism about the
present or romanticism about the past. Now is not the time for
passivity." <br><br>
Among the more pointed critics speaking at the rally were student
activists, including Tony Marks-Block '07, of the Farm Workers Advocacy
Coalition and Student Advocates for Palestine, and Justin Davis '07,
president of Black Students United. Marks-Block noted that "in this
country, there are more people of color in prison than in institutions of
higher learning like Cornell." He elicited strong audience applause
following his remark that "it is profitable to be racist in this
country."<br><br>
<br><br>
Speaking with The Sun before the rally, Davis said, "Let it be known
that this is a rally to kick off a whole campaign of events. First we
want to raise awareness ? Most students are not immediately affected,
[so] it's easy to brush it off your shoulders. Secondly, we want to
create tangible, thorough solutions to a problem that encompasses much
more than basic racism."<br><br>
The event drew a diverse crowd from both the Cornell and Ithaca
community, some carrying signs that read, "I'm prejudiced, I
discriminate, but I'm working on it," or "Face it, Racism is
Here." In addition to the planned speakers, the rally incorporated a
"speak-out" period, during which members of the rally's
audience could express themselves at the podium, as well as a reading of
student testimonials about personal experiences involving bias on campus.
<br><br>
One testimonial was from a female student working at a library security
desk who, after telling a man he could not come behind the desk, was
told, "nigra girls don't tell white folks what to do."
<br><br>
Anasstassia Baichorova '05, second year fellow at the Cornell Institute
for Public Affairs and one of the rally's main organizers, spoke
afterwards to The Sun about "what comes next." She said that
although the turnout was good and more diverse than other forums held so
far on campus, she would like to have seen a greater presence from
powerful student communities like the Interfraternity Council and the
Panhellenic Association. She said, "We have a large student
population here that feels like outsiders, like Cornell is not their
home. As a student body, we have to volunteer to change that."<br>
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