JBHE: Latest News for 12/2/10

Race Relations on Campus Database

Periodically, JBHE Weekly Bulletin will publish a selection of racial incidents that have occurred on the campuses of colleges and universities. Here are the latest incidents:

• A group of African Americans attacked and robbed a group of Asian students on the campus of Indiana University in Bloomington. The African Americans reportedly used racial slurs during the attack. (Associated Press, 10-31-10)

• Racist messages were spray-painted in the Free Expression Tunnel on the campus of North Carolina State University in Raleigh. The tunnel, which goes under railroad tracks on campus, has been used for the past half-century as a place where students can express their ideas. The graffiti included racially charged obscenities and a drawing of President Obama. (Raleigh News & Observer, 11-5-10)

• The president of the local chapter of the NAACP on the campus of St. Louis University in Missouri reported that someone yelled “nigger” at her as she walked to her parked car on campus. The woman stated that previously a group of men pounded on her dormitory room door shouting the same racial epithet. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 11-5-10)

• A racial slur was found carved into a door on the campus of Curry College in Milton, Massachusetts. Swastikas were found written on the walls of two dormitories.

Blacks are about 8 percent of the student body at Curry College. (Bostonist, 11-5-10)

• The automobiles of three black students at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater were vandalized. The tires on the cars were slashed and the letters “KKK” were spray-painted on the doors and hoods of the vehicles. (Associated Press, 11-12-10)

• The U.S. Justice Department agreed to settle a complaint filed against the University of South Carolina in Columbia concerning its policies dealing with incidents of harassment and discrimination on campus. The university agreed to enhance its programs to address and respond to race-related incidents and to train administrators, faculty, and students to deal with such incidents.