Two female fourth-year University students were subjects of a racial bias incident last Thursday morning outside of Cohn’s on the Corner.
The two students — one of whom is white while the other is Togolese-American — were returning home around 2 a.m. when they were approached by a group of white, male first-year students. The men commented on the pair’s “‘multiculturalism’” and shouted racial slurs at them repeatedly, according to one of the victims of the incident, who wished to remain anonymous. There is no confirmation as to whether the men were intoxicated.
“There is certainly a history of incidents like this,” one of the victims said. “They happen on a regular basis at U.Va. We’ve gotten better at dealing with them, and we certainly have a long way to go. That these incidents happen at all is indicative of deeply rooted problems in the racial dynamics at U.Va.”
The women used the Just Report It system to notify University administrators, and the incident is being handled by Dean of Students Allen Groves, Assoc. Dean of Students Aaron Laushway and Patricia Lampkin, the vice president for student affairs.
“Upon our receipt of the report, Associate Dean Aaron Laushway, the dean on call that day, immediately reached out to the student who had made the report,” Groves stated in an e-mail. “He subsequently spoke with two other students who appeared to have pertinent information regarding the incident and continued to investigate the surrounding facts. Vice President Lampkin has also spoken with two of the students who were directly impacted by the slur, and I understand that we are in contact with the student believed to have uttered it.”
The administrators now are looking at how to engage that student in a productive and educational manner, Groves said.
“We will also continue to offer support to the students directly impacted by it, as well as any other students who wish to talk about it with us; This is a resilient and strong community,” he said.
Such support is intended to fortify the University community. This may be particularly necessary, Black Student Alliance President Lauren Boswell said, when considering there is potential for a large section of the community to be debilitated by the use of such racial slurs.
“Although this is an isolated incident, one comment can shake up a whole demographic of people at the University,” Boswell said, “not just African-Americans, but anyone who identifies with a minority or multiculturalism.”
The victim said she hopes the students involved will face the appropriate repercussions.
“I want to let them know that their behavior is disgusting and allow them to come to the shameful realization that they have deeply and morally wronged two of their fellow students,” she said, adding that she wants the University Judiciary Council to have the ability to penalize the perpetrators, an ability she believes is absent in the current code.
The response should include a strong, official condemnation of the use of racial slurs, Boswell said.
“It is time for the University to step up and make a policy that explicitly makes the use of racial slurs a breach of the community of trust,” Boswell said.
The Minority Rights Coalition responded to the incident with an e-mail urging University community members to do what they can to prevent similar incidents from occurring.
“How do we move forward, as a community?” MRC officials stated in an e-mail. “How do we push past the hurt and pain so wrongly inflicted upon our friends? The answer: it is up to us. We, as members of this University, must take ownership of our community. We are responsible for taking actions, starting conversations and thinking critically to enact change.”
Last night, Student Council President Colin Hood released a public statement about the incident. In a video posted on the UVAStudentCouncil channel on Youtube, he urged the community to fight against incidents like this and promised to work to prevent similar incidents in the future.
“Each student deserves to enjoy and prosper in our academical village,” Hood said. “These acts are not only offensive but also contradict our institutional values. Therefore, as a student body, we cannot stand for such blatant discrimination and intolerance.”
The victim and her friend are both committed to continue conversations with the administration about the incident and race relations at the University, the victim said.
“But really it is the responsibility of the larger U.Va community to both stand up for us and make us feel that we do have a community of trust here,” she said. “Just make a statement that U.Va is better than this.”
The two women were called “niggers” repeated to their face.
That this fact was not included in the report is absolutely astounding. If we can not even acknowledge what happened, how can we move forward?
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What an embarassment to the University.
Just curious, how do they know they were first year students?
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The students who are identified should be sent home and released from ever attending the University and it should be reflected in their records permanently.
If this is not dealt with harshly, then the University is not being clear as to its stance and policies on any form of discrimination. You cannot measure the psychological harm that is done to individuals who are insulted or verbally abused by hate speach and the long term damage that is done to victums of verbal/emotional abuse. Lets see what the administrators do about this?
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I understand that the initial response to such an unprovoked and demeaning crime is anger; however, to react with hate and to turn a cold shoulder to the perpetrators would do nothing but propagate a broken system.
While it might bring immediate satisfaction to see these kids get kicked out, how does that benefit the University. It is punishment that is very narrow in scope. The only people who will learn anything from this is the group of kids. Likely all this will do is polarize them on racial issues. It would set a precedent of racial insensitivity would be dealt with by expulsion. This might cause a decline in racial insensitive remarks, but the decline would be due to fear of expulsion and not from the reform in the beliefs system of certain students in this university.
What if instead of focusing on punishing, we focused on reforming. How wonderful would it be if these kids realized they made a mistake; realized the pain it caused; realized why they said that; realized that they don’t feel that way. By alienating these kids we miss a real opportunity for these young men to grow and mature as people. First years are stupid and do stupid stuff. Lets not cut them down. Lets not focus on being vengeful. Lets please for the sake of this university focus on supporting the attacked and if these kids want to reach out, want help to change their ways, lets be there as a university to support them. To fail to do so would be a major detriment to the maturing of our wonderful school.
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Racial slurs of course have no place at the University, and we must unite in condeming their use.
However, while we’re on our moral high horse, can’t we realize that we have other important fish to fry as well? Many other questionable practices that are at least as bad as the use of racial slurs routinely go uncriticized and sometimes even celebrated at UVA. Think of alcohol abuse, sex, abortion, foul language, etc. If these first-years were drunk, I’m at least as concerned about their illegal use of alcohol as I am about their use of hurtful language.
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I will never condone the action of the perpetrators, nor should I say the victim should merely ‘get over it.’ Had I been there, I would have been livid.
But I don’t think we need to question the health of our community at large due to the actions of some imbecile. The victim should find solace in her friends, who should be there to support her, as I’m sure they are. But the whole barrel isn’t poisoned by a few bad apples, and it’s the great flaw of the human species that there will always be these hateful people. Shining a sheet of paper that says I won’t be racist won’t stop that, unfortunately. I wish it were that easy.
The best thing people can do to stop racism is not be racist. Most people already do this.
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While I would never condone this action or hateful words to a minority, why does it only matter when racial slurs/hate speech are used against a racial minority? I have heard hateful speech about white people (about needing to “be put in their place” and other things of that nature), but these incidents would never receive the same amount of coverage because somehow its acceptable.
We should address in the community the issue of hate speech and racially-motivated actions as a whole, not just because it happened to a racial minority. There shouldn’t be a double standard because of the past, allowing one group to espouse hate towards another but having it taboo to be the other way around; rather any speech or action based on hate should be eradicated no matter who says it and viewed with the same level of contempt and taboo.
As long as we keep seeing the “other” as an enemy, there’s always going to be division within the community. Allowing hate on any level towards any group is merely propagating this division further, alienated people from each other.
Maybe I’m too optimistic to hope that one day we’ll all be holding hands and singing kumbaya, but I think once we all learn to embrace each others differences instead of seeing them as a reason to hate someone or some group different than ourselves, we can have a far more homogeneous community.
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This problem goes beyond race. As a new faculty member I used to walk to work daily for my first6 months since I lived in university housing. During that time period there were three occasions where a car full of young men wearing UVA regalia and backward-turned hats slowed down rolled down their windows and yelled slurs ranging from “faggot” to “homo” to “what you looking at”. Each time it was a different group of youths. It was not the same ones stopping every time they saw me. The irony is that I am not gay nor do most people think that I am. I can only guess how offensive and intimidating this would have felt to a true homosexual. I only wish they had the guts to get out of the car so I could have ID’d them and filed a report.
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Mary,
The truth is that this didn’t just happen to a minority–one of the females was white. There are a lot of dynamics at work, including violence against women. Many of my friends who I’ve talked to about the incident agree that it wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t two females.
The point is not to squabble over the specifics of the event, but to address the underlying causes of troublesome racial dynamics at UVa–regardless of who they affect more–we can all agree it is a serious problem.
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First off, let me just say that I am a self-identified minority.
The beauty of free speech is that it applies to everyone. Just as the person in question had the right to scream racial epithets at these two girls, they had the right to tell him to screw off. Did they? You bet they did, but they of course told everyone that they were “assaulted” and “victims” and did nothing. I can’t imagine anybody with any self respect simply standing there and taking that and just crying for help.
It angers me these days that when a single isolated racial slur, which is probably just the derivative of alcohol, leads to such an explosion in the student community. Just this morning, Colin Hood informed me that the Black Racial Awareness Community(or something along those lines) has declared racial martial law at UVa.
Over a single sentence screamed by a single drunk person at 2AM in the morning outside of a convenience store.
This is beyond ridiculous.
Stop making such a big deal about it. When someone insults me, I insult them back, or ignore them, and that’s the end of it. I don’t need years of therapy and people hugging me to make me feel good about myself again after a random stranger insults me over something so stupid as the color of my skin. It makes them worth less, not me. The best way to deal with racism is to relegate it to the same realm as blonde jokes, something that used to be hurtful, then just self-ridiculing, and finally, irrelevant.
On a final note, I have never once heard of a white person calling Just Report It to report an incident where they were called Cracker, or White Bread by their minority counterparts, which is surprisingly more common and acceptable. Is this because they are afraid, have a less valid claim, or just have enough self respect to react like an adult?
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I was once told outside of Little Johns by a young black male (in my judgement a townie and also obvoiusly intoxicated)that I was “lucky” there were cops around cuz him and his friends wanted to pound on a “white boy” before the night was through and I had the “right look about me” or something to that effect.
It was obviously somehwat disturbing at the time, but not surprising. I didn’t report it to the cav daily or any authority. Nor did I call on some self appointed sensitivity group to declare ‘martial law’. Highlighting this incident would not help anything, in my opinion. It wouldnt change this persons views or make it safer for anyone to walk around campus. It would only stir up ill will. (this is assuming it would ever get any publicity which I doubt it would because I’m a white male)
Generally, we are all free to walk around campus while feeling safe and free from ugly incidents like this. However, they do occur and they occur almost exclusevily late at night when these people feel safe to show their true colors (usually after imbibing).
Ignorant people exist. They should be challenged by their friends. I have heard friends of mine say borderline racist things (nothing like what happened to these girls) and feel like I am the only one to call them out on it. I don’t think the other people around were racist…they just didn’t have the motivation or courage (for lack of a better word) to make an issue out of it and let them know that it is not acceptbale.
It’s obviously a complex problem, but I also agree with one commenter that you cannot tarnish a whole group of people by the the actions of a few drunken idiots.
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Probably some of the best few paragraphs I’ve ever read in terms of commentary on political correctness. Bravo.
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Hoos Racist:
You insensitive jerk, you have no idea how it felt. And it’s not just a single sentence. Do you know nothing of the history of Virginia, let alone this University?
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It is now overwhelmingly apparent that this media ‘event’ has not only ballooned into something more massive than the original event from which it spawned, but also become full of far more hot air. We are essentially making a fuss over a word. A single word. No “I’m gunna fight you”, no incitement to violence, no threat of force: a word. And to turn matters from hypersensitive to hypocritical, this is a word which is used all the time, without care, and can be a term of endearment. But this word is also a word which is owned (it happens to be the only one in the english language like this), and can only be used in the “non-offensive sense” by the people which it denotes. If a black says this word, it’s appropriate. If a white says it, it’s apocalypse now.
This is a double standard. And actually a double-double-standard (if the concept could exist), because it has only become a political issue because the “perpetrator” was a white male and the “victim” was a black female. Ask yourself an honest question: could you envision Colin Hood making a YouTube video about a horrendous incident in which a white girl called a black guy the same word?
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To the insensitivity comment:
I think that you should take the time to read my post again and let it sink in some more. I understand immaturity may be an issue with you, but it’s understandable considering the content we’re dealing with, namely race, which is hard to discuss without having fingers pointed due to the atmosphere of fear surrounding the topic.
I have faith that if you really take the time to consider my argument, you won’t have to resort to name-calling to get your point, whatever that may be, across.
Thank you for taking the time to read and respond to my post.
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A student dropped dead in a frat house three weeks ago. A VT student was abducted and murdered, her skeletal remains found on a remote farm that recently hosted UVA frat parties. There is an eyewitness who claims she can ID a young man seen with her on the west range of the lawn the night she vanished.
But THIS is the big news story. Somebody calling somebody a silly name.
See what an absolutely insane place this is? You can bet Casteen will make as much of this as he can. This was good timing for him to keep the other stories squelched.
Like I have been several times in Charlottesville – including on the corner – you’re going to be called racial names now and then. It’s not a news story unless you’ve brainwashed into thinking it is.
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So sad to see that something like this is still happening at UVA. We are in the 21st century!!!
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Shit at this school is getting crazy.
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I can’t believe this. The political correctness of this situation is truly sickening. I would never condone nor do I agree with what happened, although, as someone mentioned earlier, a student at this university DIED no more than two weeks ago. We need a sense of priorities at this school. This probably drunken incident should be dwarfed by the death of one of our fellow students, but for some reason this has exploded to unnecessary levels.
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Also one student died just yesterday in the biking accident. Just look at the headlines on this website. This site has a headline on the racial incident, but a simple URL for a death. If I were a relative of the deceased I would be insulted and embarrassed.
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“…students were subjects of a racial bias incident…” The political correctness of this newspaper is beyond belief. This article makes me think that the Cavalier is gutless, inauthentic, and shallow.
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Hoos Racist, great post.
Because I was not there and only know half the side of the story, I am not going to pass judgement to all white people just yet. Anyone remember the Duke “rape” case? A team’s season was shut down, a coach was fired, the Black Panthers marched on the campus with loaded guns, and many on the academic staff at Duke signed a petition saying they did not support the players…and none of it turned out to be true. People’s lives were ruined and their reputations tarnished forever because a District Attorney was at risk of not winning the next year’s election in a largely black community and because people like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton have made it their jobs to drum up any potentially racial issue in America.
I’m not saying that this incident didn’t happen, nor that the use of the word nigger is EVER appropriate, but only that this article tells us VERY little actual information and spends most of its space giving quotes from representatives from all these groups that make unproductively broad statements about how “Racism is bad” and “As a community we need to talk about it.” Of course racism is bad. And how are we going to physically talk about this issue? That would be rediculously costly and stupid, as you can’t have a discussion with tens of thousands of people.
There are more newsworthy stories in this paper…there have to be. If not, you can look forward to bad journalism for the next half century if any of these editors are working in the field. (See how unfair of a statement this last sentence is? It’s called a generalization, but when put towards certain groups it’s apparently okay.)
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remote farm that recently hosted UVA frat parties.
The farm isn’t remote. And I don’t believe the farm was the site of recent fraternity parties. (Got any details?)
You do like to insinuate.
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Jack, you can find this in the second to last sentence here:
http://www.cavalierdaily.com/2010/02/08/harrington-brief/
I insinuate nothing by repeating what was quoted in this paper as a response by law enforcement. I have asked in that thread if Virginia asked the police about this, or if they volunteered it themselves – but she has not answered that question. One way or the other, it is there for you to see just as easy as it was there for me to see.
As to whether Anchorage farm is remote, well, I guess that depends on where you’re from and what your notion of remote is. But thanks for talking about a real news story rather than trying to squelch it with non stories like this one.
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John,
The day after it happened, the death on the bicycle was a front page story with a full article. Not just a link. So I really have no clue what you’re talking about. This article will be “just a link” tomorrow. The Cav Daily is a daily newspaper, that’s how it works.
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first of all, why were the girls out at 2 AM? if us UVA students think that we live in some kind of a bubble then we are definitely wrong. safety decreases at night especially if you are conspicuously out walking- not just in charlottesville but in any part of the world (yes even america).
we should not forget that we are part of a larger community and that cville is a town just like any other where things happen. Things could have been much worse- instead of student there could have been any bad guy whos not a uva student.
so just get over it. people all over the world die of hunger and that does not make it to the headline so just be glad that your rich parents have enough money to send you to college here (or that you are privileged enough for uva to cover your tuition) and stop whining about small incidents- this is called life.
(and by the way- no one told you to act smart by asking back the question of “what the student thought about their race”. common sense tells you that if something like this happens then you just walk away quickly while ignoring the person and then report it. )
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Sean writes: “I insinuate nothing by repeating what was quoted in this paper as a response by law enforcement”
You’re again playing fast and loose.
1. The Cav Daily story you link doesn’t quote. It paraphrases.
2. That the police did not deny an internet rumor generated by true crime websleuths does NOT make for an affirmation of the existence of any fraternity functions at Anchorage Farm.
You are indeed insinuating that fraternities might be involved in Morgan’s murder and should be investigated.
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I don’t know what’s more distasteful: that a bunch of idiots acted rudely to two young women or that a different bunch of idiots want to use this incident as a pretense for politically correct speech codes. Since we’re swimming in the language of victimhood, let me just say that PC speech codes “assault” and “debilitate” the First Amendment.
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Not to defend these idiots at all but how do we know they were UVA first years? Did they have shirts on that said “I’m a first year at UVA and a complete dork”? Can the girls identify them as students? If so it’s time to bring the hammer down.
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While the language is deplorable, it is just an idiot screaming a moronic word (and if I am to guess the word, it is used in rap music a lot which I personally consider a HUGE double standard but that is another topic for later).
What is equally sad is the fact that people say a large section of the UVA community would be “debilitated” and “shaken up”. That seems a bit of hyperbole and I would think most UVA students are strong enough to look at this and say this is the action of an idiot and I am going to move on and not let it affect me that much, especially if I were not one of the women the shouts were directed at.
I think there is no place for anyone to use such language and perpetuating the use of it in any form of context it counterproductive. The reaction or some would think over reaction of everyone from the administration to the media to the student council and other groups simply gives the shouter of the word more power than he should ever deserve.
The appropriate response is to when you see such an action to call the person out as the fool they are and embarrass them in front of their friends and other people around. They will quickly realize they are a walking talking joke and have that red faced embarrased feeling that people get when they do something stupid. Then, everyone moves on. No next day media blitz or public statements by management and political people, etc. (I wonder the motives of some people giving statements, is it to condemn the act or is it to get their name out their in print?)
In the context of a student dying a few weeks ago or war or famine, this does not rise to the level of those things. In that regard, a bit of perspective is a good thing.
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Casteen came up to PVCC yesterday to get a going away medallion from President Friedman. He arrived a half hour late (for a 4 pm. ceremony) and the first thing he said to the crowd of family members there to honor top PVCC students was:
“I owe you all an apology, but being that this is a community college, I’ll have to explain it.” Gee, that was funny, John! Didn’t quite mesh with your admission later in your speech that VCCS transfer students got a 0.2 higher GPA in the McIntyre school than your native students – did it?
But no sooner had he got done insulting the crowd after being 1/2 late, he cut right into this “story” of how his administration is working overtime to deal with this heinous crime in front of Cohn’s. He also touched on slavery a few times, in between words of praise and admiration for the slave owner that founded his school – of course.
The point here is that this is how this creep works. If a student dropped dead a few hundred feet from where he lays his head, well, that is made “unnews” all over town. Lets name the space in between for him and the third wife he’s had on Carr’s Hill. VERY few people in Charlottesville (and almost none outside of it) know about this tragic, very early death of a 21 year old in a frat house three weeks later. Casteen makes sure of that. There’s no other reasonable presumption as to why such a thing is not a news story. If it was confirmed just 3 days earlier that the T-Shirt of a murdered young woman from VT was found in the heart of UVA residential territory – then that is not worthy of any mention either. More “unnews” to be squelched by the Casteen Cloaking Device.
Instead, we need to concentrate entirely on a few drunk punks saying a silly word to one black student at 2 am on the corner. Nevermind that you can hear that word uttered ad infinitim in top 40 music, from comedians, on the buses, and by other kids passing you on the street. Nevermind that any and all insults uttered against anybody that is not black and/or gay is irrelevant.
The REAL news stories that Casteen is desperate for the community and the country NOT to hear one word of on behalf of some quaint notion of the his university’s (and HIS) reputation will be ignored and covered up. It’s this silliness that he will use to change the conversation with. Divert and distract. This is perfect timing for him.
He’s using the partisan liberal playbook. Any and all horror stories that might pertain to the party atmosphere at a socially liberal school are to be kept strictly quiet. Similarly, if the NAACP looks to it’s own communities and finds 40 years straight of drug and crime ridden neighborhoods filled with fatherless children and rape victims – what is their priority? Well, it’s confederate history month, naturally! Like Casteen, all they have to do is keep an obedient media – and you – distracted by other things so as to avoid facing the real issues instead.
Please THINK for yourself and have the fairness and intelligence to discern a real news story and real contemporary issues from those that are neither.
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I was unaware that Casteen controlled all the press in Charlottesville and could decide what was in the news and what wasn’t.
Thanks for clearing that up Sean
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You’re welcome, Alex.
Here’s what happens when a tragedy like this happens anywhere else in America:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=10035577
It’s national news in a few days. Meanwhile, C-Ville weekly, the Hook, the Daily Progress, and NBC 29 have not covered this tragic death at UVA in any way whatsoever. The Casteen Cloaking Device has been enabled. Why else would it not be news to any of them? Even if the cause of death is still unknown (really doubtful after three weeks), it is still news when a 21 year old student drops dead. Everywhere else but here.
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You keep on showing that one link. That hardly proves that this story is alwasys national news. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t be surprised if college kid dies somewhere in similar circumstances every other weekend or so around the country. It hardly gets in the news everytime.
And you say it’s not news….it was, in fact ,news around here. It got front page billing in the cav daily. If it wasn’t news, how did you hear about it? As for it not making national news, Casteen or anyone else at UVa hardly controls what regional or national news outlets decide to report.
Do you think there should be an article every day for the next 2 months about it? The family (i’m assuming) doesn’t want the autopsy results out there, and that is their right. So would you want to have articles rehashing rumors going around by word of mouth or on internet boards about why he died? I’m not sure what you want to have happen here. What would satisfy you? I’m guessing nothing short of constant articles examining how immoral students at UVa are.
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It seems to me that hideing comments from view claiming that not enough comment in response to the post is just a method of controling comments that may not be popular. Seems contradictory to me to see comments with only 1 or 2 responses still on the posting list and not hidden due to lack of response? Someone explain the contradiction for me.
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I am very saddened by this event, as it displays precisely the lack of civility and general ignorance that pervades UVa. I also wish that I, a white woman, had a nickle for every time someone yelled “dyke!” or “c*nt!” at me from a moving car or from the sidewalk. There’s a reason I avoid the Corner.
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Alex, if you can’t see the pattern here – then that is just wishful thinking on your part. Same goes for the Harrington evidence not covered by anybody but the Hook (late as it was) – one detail of which has turned out to be confirmed as her shirt found on 15th. and Rugby. That’s right, evidence in a missing persons case that somehow was deemed to be “unnews” because, well, everybody knows who lives on Rugby Road, and who lives on the west range of the lawn. And your view is that this is entirely because media outlets censoring themselves, and they happily don’t want to print anything negative about UVA? Really?
For what it’s worth, I have a friend in local media who has been stonewalled at every point regarding the SERP brother who passed. IFC, Carr’s Hill, even the UVA police – even the medical examiner in Richmond! No response, or no comment whatsoever. And this is likewise a coincidence? They all decided on their own that nobody should even know that a 21 year old dropped dead on Rubgy Road? What do you think the response will be from these first three sources of info – all of whom obviously know what the story is – if he calls them to ask for comment on a random 2 am insult in front of Cohn’s? Get it?
As I’m guessing you already know, I came to this site for other reasons related to another issue, albeit an issue that likewise is part of the “just don’t talk about it, and it will not be there” culture around here. National news services depend on their affiliates to give them information. And all news stories start with local affiliates. It’s just that some die at the affiliate level for reasons that I think we all understand. There is an agenda in most all news organizations, and advertisers can control them in a town like this where there is one omnipotent source of money, and thus power. One example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOC7a2Tw_8o
That story died at the affiliate level real fast, and we all know why it did. The vast majority of news organizations (besides Fox news) don’t want the realities of current law in Virginia to be widely known on that topic. It’s a political agenda. Here in C-Ville, we have a very partisan left media that is right in line with Casteen’s politics, AND he has the billions to intimidate anyone who dares step out of line.
At first, I had no reason to think that Harrington’s disappearance was anything other than a tragedy that everyone in the media was covering with as much zeal as they could locally. But when I read that article in the hook with all those UVA details that I had previously never been heard anywhere, I got angry. Everyone should have. If you’re not, that’s on you buddy. We both know there are plenty of people around here who don’t want the perp(s) caught IF they happen to be UVA folks. I don’t care who they are, or where they’re from, or what school they do or do not go to. I just think that covering up evidence in a missing person’s investigation was a bad thing to do. That may make me the bad guy to a lot of people around here. So be it. It doesn’t make me wrong.
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“one detail of which has turned out to be confirmed as her shirt found on 15th. and Rugby.”
15th Street and Rugby Rd. don’t intersect.
“We both know there are plenty of people around here who don’t want the perp(s) caught IF they happen to be UVA folks.”
I don’t know anyone who doesn’t want this case quickly resolved and those responsible punished regardless of who they might be. You can’t be serious, so this trolling is getting more obvious.
“saying a silly word to one black student”
So you think the racial epithet is silly? That squares with your apparent politics.
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What about our Constitutionally-protected FREEDOM OF SPEECH? UVA – Love it or leave it.
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Sean, do you really think that PVCC would be better off if Casteen had spent a majority of his speech talking about the death of a UVa student? Do you think the UVa student body would benefit from the Cavalier Daily repeating the weeks-old details of that tragic death?
Do you really think that a story reminding people that Morgan Dana Harrington is still dead is a better use of the Cavalier Daily’s front page than this article?
These are tragic incidents. A death in our community is felt by all, and we all want justice for Morgan and her family. But there’s no use repeating old facts. That’s hardly evidence of conspiracy.
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To Sean: I have noticed that you pop up a lot in the comments section of the Cavalier Daily, and you say the same thing over and over again. I’m wondering why a PVCC students is so concerned (might I even say obsessed?) with reading the Cavalier Daily website and posting comments to it on a regular basis. Your disdain for our University is apparent, and yet your life seems to revolve around our news. Maybe you should stop proclaiming your conspiracy theories and stop making generalizations about a community that you are not even a part of.
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Since when is being offended so bad? What happened to sticks and stones? Can’t we just be adults, recognize that some people can be dicks and move on.
Something tells me that there is another side to the story that won’t get told and the worst will just be assumed.
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“To Sean: I have noticed that you pop up a lot in the comments section of the Cavalier Daily, and you say the same thing over and over again. [...] Your disdain for our University is apparent, and yet your life seems to revolve around our news.
If this thread of comments evolves as others here have, the next stage is for Sean to come back to explain how many UVa women he’s bedded and to hastily offer other bona fides that are legitimate only in his own mind.
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I find it very interesting that several people have taken the time to point that they would never condone the use of racial slurs, but that making such a fuss over someone using one is ridiculous and a waste of time. While this may be the first time any of the students involved either uttered the words or were called them, it troubles me that people see this as an isolated incident. All we have to do is remember emails from the fall where two men were harassed for appearing to be homosexual, or remember the infamous story of Daisy Lundy who was attacked a few years ago for being black and running for SC president. Nigger is not just a word; it is a word with a violent, supremacist history, and to tell someone that they should just insult back and move on is to deny that person the right to experience pain and devastation. This school, as brilliant as it may be, has a history of abuse and neglect to minorities. That someone feels comfortable and appropriate to use such a volatile word as they did, regardless of their sobriety level, AND someone still takes offence at it, is an indication that that history and legacy has not been fully addressed. And needs to be.
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In the interest of fairness, the Daisy Lundy “incident” was believed by a substantive portion of the university community to have been a hoax. The story made very little sense, many of the “facts” seemed contradictory and nothing definitive was ever concluded by the investigation.
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I kmow the word is troubling but just obsessing about an incident is not really healthy either. There has to be a common sense middle ground somewhere where the incident is condemned and people quickly move on. If we continue to give the racists and other instigators a highly visible platform, then they have much more incentive to do what they do. If we ignore them for the idiots they are, they will not find as much value in their attacks.
It is similar to the kid who throws a tantrum. Trust me, the best way to handle a kid like that is to ignore them completely as a parent and they will just learn that their rants will not generate the desired effect.
The same strategy in my opinion should be used against terrorists. By freaking out about terrorism all of the time, we only give the terrorists more incentive to do what they do. If we deal with the acts like we deal with say car accidents and don’t give them more psychological significance, we will deminish their effects which mostly is reactionary and psychological. They will realize that we are not concerned with their antics and not see as much value in their plans.
In general, we should not magnify cruel or idiotic acts in socieity. By addressing them at a smart level and not over reacting, we will defuse their intent. Ignoring their actions and minimizing them is the best and harshest response to these instigators in society.
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I am still waiting for Sean to work into the conversation how he has been romantically linked to 4 UVA women.
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Sean is a cavalier daily stalker. Why doesn’t he get a life? If we continue to disagree with his comments we can get his comments pulled. He is beyond pathetic.
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Ahhh yess…. Sean has delivered the goods once again. Keep spreading the conspiracy gospel my friend! Perhaps the voices in your head will quiet down if you just post a few more comments!!! Also, is there any of your axe left? It seems like it must be ground down to dust by this point. Keep on truckin’!
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as others have said, this isn’t a big deal by itself. but it’s uva, founded by a slave-owner, 1 hour from the capital of the confederacy, and with a rich, long history of racial incidents. the kids were in the wrong place at the wrong time, sure. but that doesn’t give anyone license to speak their mind in that way. and attribute it all you want to alcohol, but those kids are thinking those thoughts every day but don’t have the balls to say it until they’re drunk.
this community needs to do some work, else the black-white divide only will get worse and exacerbate the athlete-student conflicts that we all see. or else we’re going to turn into duke, and you know what it took for that campus to work on its racial problems.
saddened but not shocked. fool me once, shame on you. fool me twice…
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“infamous story of Daisy Lundy who was attacked a few years ago for being black and running for SC president”
Allegedly attacked.
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There seems to be a thread of comments that say this should be minimized. A very slippery slope.
This perp is not someone who has never used this word before. This word slipped out of a deep well of bigotry that was not unlearned at his exclusive private school or three years at UVA. He didn’t learn it after he became drunk.
The women were not “in the wrong place at the wrong time”. They were busy 4th years, working late at Clemmons on their thesis and took needed coffee break.
I don’t know how an educated person can make an analogy between this racial insult and blonde jokes unless there is a well hidden history of blonde lynchings, slavery and other hideous human rights abuse in Virginia.
This was not a joke. It was intimidation.
“When good people in any country cease their vigilance and struggle, then evil men prevail. ”
Pearl S. Buck
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