Students rally against racism
Staff Writer
About 75 UK students, faculty and administrators assembled for a rally yesterday at 11 a.m. in the Free Speech Area outside the Student Center to speak out against racial violence.
Speakers representing the Black Student Union, the Alliance Working to Achieve Racial Equality, and Students for Social Justice began the rally and then opened the microphone to those in attendance.
"We need to let the administration, faculty and students know the we can't forget about what happened last Monday," said Jude McPherson, a sociology sophomore and a leader of AWARE. "This is a direct result of racial issues on this campus."
The rally was organized as a response to the attack and threatening of a black female student, Tanya Marie Cole, a biology junior, last Monday morning by two unidentified white males.
Dawn Crutcher, one of the rally organizers, said she was shocked that an incident of racial violence could happen at UK but that the University should have spoken out against what happened sooner. She said was pleased to see turnout at the event.
"People want to distance themselves from it (racial violence)," Crutcher said.
Crutcher met last Friday with Zinser to discuss some possible steps the University can take to decrease the chances of future race incidents. One suggestion is integrating racial education into curriculum.
"Something needs to be done because this is an educational institution, something educational," Crutcher said.
Robert Lawson, assistant to UK President Charles Wethington for administrative affairs, presented a statement from University administration.
"The administration of the University of Kentucky is well aware of the heinous assault on one of our students last week and is actively pursuing an investigation to find the persons responsible for this action," Lawson said. "The University simply will not tolerate such deplorable conduct."
Wallis Malone, BSU president, was one student who spoke during the open session of the rally. She said the rally helped bring the issue in to the public eye, but that it wasn't taken seriously at first.
"This cannot be a one day thing," Malone said. "This cannot be a one week thing."
Shoga Odubogua, a finance student, said he attended the rally to show his belief that racial violence is unacceptable.
"We need to learn for each other," Odubogua said.
"The way to learn is from dialogue."
Jennifer Jackson, an animal science junior, said she came because she believe racial intolerance exists at UK.
"It shouldn't take an incident like that (the attack) to get people out like this," Jackson said.
Photo: SPEAKING OUT Dawn Crutcher was on of many students who spoke out against racism and alleged racially-motivated incidents that occurred on campus last week. Kernel staff
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