Student senate holds emergency session after threatening letter sent
Caleb Williams
|
In response to a letter sent to the MCTC student senate campus mailbox, senate held an emergency special session on Nov. 12 to discuss the contents of that letter.
The letter -- sent anonymously and addressed to student senate president T.J. Malaskee -- appears to refer to the Student Life Budget Committee's recommendation to cut funding to the men's and women's basketball programs at MCTC.
MCTC president Phil Davis accepted the SLBC's recommendation and later, after fundraising efforts failed to gain momentum, Malaskee, Davis and Minnesota State College Faculty President Thomas Eland agreed to cease fundraising for the programs.
The letter states:
"To prez:
"Racist faggots hate basketball
"Basketball hates a racist faggot
"Coaches boyz own ur ass"
In a speech before the special session, Malaskee said that the letter transcended the issue of basketball teams, and was an "issue of blatant hatred stemming from the disease of hate itself."
"No longer are we able to complain about those issue with names like institutional racism, bigotry and religious discrimination," Malaskee said, "exclusive of dealing with the single root of them all: hate."
Malaskee then said that while others suggested that members of the school's student leadership, administration and faculty had turned a blind eye to those issues, saying those issues had been swept under a rug.
"For this new look forward," Malaskee said, we must pull back that rug, and from our hands and knees scour the floor until it shines and we can see our faces in its clean glow like a mirror."
Representatives from both the men's and women's teams decried the letter, with men's representative Robert Jackson, Jr. saying that neither of the teams were "petty like that."
Viewing Comments 1 - 4 of 5
Elizabet
posted 11/12/09 @ 9:50 PM CST
It's good to know that someone is willing to stand up and address the issues that are still so prevalent in society. One can only hope that by exposing the cause and nature of these remarks others will acknowledge and learn to rescind hate and embrace acceptance and tolerance. (Continued…)
Michael
posted 11/18/09 @ 1:27 PM CST
There is a typo in this article. I really wish I were more impressed by MCTCs' editing. "had had"
Student
posted 11/20/09 @ 2:40 AM CST
So why not an open forum on basketball?
Lee L
posted 11/23/09 @ 11:29 PM CST
I don't know what's funnier, the hipster elites that run the Student Senate coming off as "racists" after cancelling the basketball program or the foolish inner city jocks that think sports have a color. (Continued…)
Post a Comment