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Enron Mail |
this article mentions your chapter of sigma chi.
-----Original Message----- From: kevin.a.boone@accenture.com@ENRON Sent: Friday, November 09, 2001 8:40 AM To: Lenhart, Matthew; MMMarcantel@equiva.com; Hull, Bryan Subject: FW: Auburn Regards, Kevin A. Boone Accenture -- Houston Consultant -- Energy (Octel) 713.837.1638 (Client) 281.848.1619 (C) 713.306.7940 (H) 713.864.4149 Kevin.A.Boone@accenture.com Our web address is http://www.accenture.com ----- Forwarded by Kevin A. Boone/Internal/Accenture on 11/09/2001 08:39 AM ----- Allison Kelly <Allison.Kelly@tlcvision.co To: ash <ashley_arrington@bbs.bellsouth.com<, Kevin A. m< Boone/Internal/Accenture@Accenture, tony <anthony.w.carter@us.pwcglobal.com<, Westy <wballard@reisscompanies.com< 11/08/2001 09:47 AM cc: Subject: FW: Auburn Those crazy kids... -----Original Message----- From: Hansen, Ned [SMTP:NHansen@LucasCareers.com] <mailto:[SMTP:NHansen@LucasCareers.com]< Sent: Thursday, November 08, 2001 8:56 AM To: Stratton, Will; Barnhill, Jim Cc: allison.kelly@tlcvision.com <mailto:allison.kelly@tlcvision.com< Subject: Racist photos of fraternity members rocks Auburn, brings condemnation <<...<< By DREW JUBERA < mailto:djubera@ajc.com <mailto:djubera@ajc.com< < Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writer <<...<< Auburn, Ala. -- When the Southern Poverty Law Center received a call this week about Internet photos of an Auburn University fraternity member dressed as a rifle-toting Klansman pretending to lynch a white student in blackface, the staff checked out the photo's date. "We wanted to verify that it was taken in 2001, not 1951," said Kelvin Datcher of the center in Montgomery that tracks incidents of bigotry. "The kids who called us were frantic." The photo, and others of students in blackface wearing Afros, jewelry and jerseys with the lettering of a black fraternity, were taken this year at Halloween parties at two fraternity houses and posted on the Internet by a party-photo service. The incident has rocked the campus of more than 22,000 students, which bills itself as "the loveliest village on the plain" and says it is intent on recruiting minorities. As the photos illustrate, a racist, segregated past is hard to escape. Students at Auburn and other colleges have no personal memory of Jim Crow segregation. But when it comes to socializing, many students gravitate toward those of their own race. And social fraternities and sororities -- many of which used to enforce racial exclusionary clauses -- remain some of the last bastions of segregationist attitudes. Last year, when a black freshman applied to the University of Georgia's all-white Alpha Gamma Delta, most of the members were adamant that she be rejected. "If we had a black girl in our sorority, none of the fraternities would want to do anything with us," one was quoted as saying. That incident came to light because one sorority member, Ali Davis, filed a racial discrimination complaint. UGA temporarily suspended Alpha Gamma Delta during an investigation. Davis, saying she felt ostracized, later left the school. Around the country, the Kappa Alpha Order, which is fond of displaying the Confederate battle flag, has been implicated in various racial incidents in recent years, the Southern Poverty Law Center reported. The Louisiana Tech University chapter was placed on probation after a confrontation with black football players in which frat members made racist remarks, the center said. At Millsaps College in Mississippi, Kappa Alphas dressed in Afro wigs and blackface to protest pro-minority initiatives. In February, the KA chapter at the University of North Texas received a five-year suspension for disorderly conduct and verbal intimidation after some members were accused of racist remarks. Such antics aren't limited to Kappa Alpha or the South, the Southern Poverty Law Center said. Several fraternities and sororities at New Hampshire's Dartmouth College threw a "ghetto party" in which students dressed up as urban African-Americans -- a theme that has surfaced at other campuses -- while a sorority there promoted a "slave auction" fund-raiser. The Sigma Chi fraternity at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln burned a cross at one of its ceremonies. Such incidents leave college administrators, especially those assigned to foster diversity, wringing their hands. "We've been working so hard to do the right thing, and then something like this happens," Doyle Bickers, Auburn's director of admissions, said Wednesday of the warped Halloween humor. "It breaks your heart." "You can't escape your history," added Jim Hardin, an adviser in the student life center. "When something like this comes up, the question is, 'Have you really changed, or are you just putting on a good front?' " What has changed at Auburn, according to many black students, who make up 7.2 percent of the student body, is the administration's swift and open reaction. Interim President William F. Walker immediately condemned the costumes as "shocking and outrageous" and suspended the fraternities, Beta Theta Pi and Delta Sigma Phi. He attended a meeting of the Black Student Union and promised a thorough but swift investigation, which is expected to be completed within 10 days. Stories on the incident were displayed on the university's Web site. Delta Sigma Phi has expelled the two members who dressed as a Klansman and his lynching victim, and suspended four others. "Similar things have happened before," said Roland Harris, a junior management information systems major and member of Phi Beta Sigma, one of four historically black fraternities on campus. "But this time a lot of people saw it, and they have to do something." Auburn admitted its first black student, surrounded by 100 Alabama state troopers, in 1961. The first black man pledged a traditionally white fraternity in 1984, and there currently is one black pledge among those 24 fraternities. Auburn's overall black population is still less than at most Southeastern Conference universities, but stepped-up recruiting efforts led to a 24 percent increase of African-Americans admitted to this year's freshman class. One sign of changing times: The university's Student Government Association president is an African-American. "We were finally beginning to say, 'Thank God, we're making some headway,' and here comes this sad, unfortunate, damaging incident," said John Bello-Ogunu, head of the university's office of multicultural affairs. "It will no doubt be detrimental to our efforts to attract not only minority students, but faculty and other staff as well." Bello-Ogunu said the administration's reaction has been "on the mark." He added that more action is needed, including diversity training for fraternities. At the invitation of university officials and students, the Southern Poverty Law Center will conduct a "mass workshop" on tolerance on Wednesday. Prentice Gilbert, an Auburn senior who oversees the campus' historically black fraternities and who has helped recruit black students, said it will take time to remedy the Halloween incident's impact. "I have to keep reminding myself these were the actions of a few individuals who do not represent Auburn as a whole," Gilbert said. "This is the most devastating blow we could take." "The bottom line is, do we really want to be the 'Auburn family'?" he added. "If so, we really could become the loveliest village on the plain, as our motto says." Ned Hansen Senior Recruiter - Medical Marketing LucasGroup Recruiting Excellence Since 1970 3384 Peachtree Rd, Ste 700 Atlanta, GA 30326 404-239-5630 Ext. 160 Fax: 404-239-5694 800-466-4489 nhansen@LucasCareers.com <mailto:nhansen@LucasCareers.com< www.LucasCareers.com <http://www.LucasCareers.com<; This message is for the designated recipient only and may contain privileged, proprietary, or otherwise private information. 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