Thursday, April 29, 2021
Vol. 130, No. 42
COLLEGIAN.COM
CAMPUS IN CONTENTION An editorial series addressing discrimination in our community
GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY FALYN SEBASTIAN
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THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN
Thursday, April 29, 2021 Vol. 130, No. 42
CAMPUS IN CONTENTION EDITION
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EDITORIAL STAFF Lauryn Bolz | Editor-in-Chief editor@collegian.com Abby Vander Graaff | Content Managing Editor managingeditor@collegian.com Matt Tackett | Digital Managing Editor managingeditor@collegian.com Renee Ziel | Night Editor copy@collegian.com Amy Noble | Design Director design@collegian.com Katrina Clasen | Design Director design@collegian.com Falyn Sebastian | Design Editor design@collegian.com Luke Bourland | Photo Director photo@collegian.com Devin Cornelius | Photo Director photo@collegian.com Tri Duong | Photo Editor photo@collegian.com David Slifka | Webmaster dslifka@collegian.com Laura Studley | News Director news@collegian.com Serena Bettis | News Editor news@collegian.com Katrina Leibee | Opinion Director letters@collegian.com Paul Brull | Opinion Editor letters@collegian.com Scott Nies | Sports Director sports@collegian.com Noah Pasley | A&C Director entertainment@collegian.com Maddy Erskine | A&C Editor entertainment@collegian.com Jeremy King | Social Media Editor media@collegian.com
SPECIAL THANKS TO:
Poynter Wonbo Woo Greg Moore Hodge-SaintJour and Associates
Letter from the Editor: Why we did this series Bias reporting by the numbers
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The impact of CSU’s online community
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Chronicling Campus in Contention
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Rhetoric does not have to harm
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Reporting and protest paradigm
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Letter from the Editor: Why we did this series By Abby Vander Graaff, Lauryn Bolz & Matt Tackett @csucollegian
Dear readers, As we worked on this project, we noticed patterns of events in our community. From divisive speakers and conflicts breaking out on campus to media reactions about racial justice protests to the spread of hate and misinformation online, it was clear that discrimination is alive and well in our community.
Every time this was reaffirmed, we arrived at the same question: Why does this keep happening? Confronting the hate in our own community is difficult. Analyzing where hate comes from, how and why it thrives and proposing ways to combat it is even more difficult. As so many leaders and advocates in our community know, working toward a more inclusive world takes work and lots of thought. We felt we needed a more comprehensive look at the issues,
including turning the focus on ourselves; at what each of us could be doing as individuals, as journalists, as a company and as a community. Instead of merely amplifying the problems, we want this series to be a part of the solution. In conjunction with The Poynter College Media Project, we present to you a series that seeks to analyze discrimination issues in the Colorado State University and greater Fort Collins community in a way that honors their complex
and varied nature. We wanted to look at every part of a problem, from its root cause to its impacts to how it could play out differently in the future. Poynter is working with student media organizations across the country to create projects that increase civil discourse on their campuses. There is so much work that needs to be done, and we recognize that many people in our community are actively doing this work as you read this. We
acknowledge that improvements need to be made at The Collegian just as much as they do anywhere else. We hope this series, in starting conversations we desperately need, can be a small part of that change. Sincerely, Abby Vander Graaff, content managing editor Lauryn Bolz, editor-in-chief Matt Tackett, digital and design managing editor The editorial board can be reached at editor@collegian.com.
Race is the highest reported type of bias at CSU
INFOGRAPHIC BY MADDY ERSKINE THE COLLEGIAN
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Collegian.com
GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY MALIA BERRY THE COLLEGIAN
The impact of CSU’s online community By Katrina Leibee @katrinaleibee
Editor’s Note: ‘Campus in Contention’ is an editorial series by The Collegian staff that examines conflicts in our community surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion and proposes solutions for how we can move forward. A source in this article, Cat Blouch, is an opinion columnist at The Collegian. This article contains media depicting racist slurs and actions and may be triggering to some audiences. Anyone that was on campus in fall 2019 likely remembers the semester by one event. A student named Leana Kaplan and three other students were photographed on Snapchat wearing charcoal face masks with the caption “Wakanda Forever,” holding the according arm pose from the movie “Black Panther.” The photo was taken down quickly, but it sent shockwaves through the campus and still has an impact on the culture even today. This was also one of the first truly seen moments on campus where social media showed students its influence on the community. Although social media is a necessary tool for engaging with the community and spreading information, it has also done a lot of harm, especially on our campus. It raises the question, how does what we do online impact our in-person
campus community? Are they beginning to be one and the same? How has social media turned into an unofficial news outlet, and what are the consequences?
“Until the University takes the stance that our first priority is to protect students from harm, then we’ll still be in this situation.” CATHERINE KNIGHT STEELE ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND
One of the first places the news of the blackface incident broke was Colorado State University’s infamous Instagram meme page @ colostatememes. With over 17,500 followers, the platform carries undue weight among students and is often the place where students first hear about campus events. News traveled across platforms as the incident took place on Snapchat, was reposted on Instagram and sparked discussions on Twitter and
Facebook. Everything happened entirely online, but CSU’s physical campus would never be the same. Catherine Knight Steele, former assistant professor of journalism and media communications at CSU and now an assistant professor researching African American culture and new media at the University of Maryland, said what complicates situations like these is the lack of differentiation between online and offline personas. “We don’t have public and private lives, and we don’t have online and offline personas,” Steele said. “Everything is mixed and tangled in a way that makes these situations very complicated.” In the age of social media, students have no separation between who they are on their social media accounts and who they are in person and on campus. In 2021, they are even more active on social media than they are on campus. A look back through the online conversations will show that many students wanted the University to take disciplinary action against the students that posted the photo during that time period. Students took to an Associated Students of Colorado State University senate session to express their disappointment with the students’ actions and the University’s response. The students did not face disciplinary action from the University because their speech
was protected under the First Amendment, according to University officials. “The University is legally prohibited from taking disciplinary action for student behavior that is constitutionally protected, as was the case in the 2019 incident,” wrote Jody Donovan, assistant vice president for Student Affairs, in an email to The Collegian. “In these situations, the University may seek to engage the involved students in conflict resolution processes such as social justice mediation or restorative justice, as we did in the 2019 incident.” Many students were upset with the University’s lack of action toward the student, but as Donovan mentioned, posing in blackface is protected under the First Amendment. Donovan said student behavior only moves beyond constitutional protections when they are “direct threats of violence towards a specific person.” That doesn’t take away the impact though, and some argue that the University still could have enacted more discipline within their realm of the students violating the principles of community. “Until the University takes the stance that our first priority is to protect students from harm, then we’ll still be in this situation,” Steele said. Fast forward to 2020. An incoming white male student
posted racist, homophobic and threatening social media posts online that used a racial slur and promoted violence toward Black people. Again, one of the first places it was reported was on colostatememes, and the posts took the same journey the blackface post did, spreading in CSU’s social media community like wildfire. This time, however, the University’s response was different. They decided that the posts moved beyond the First Amendment. “When student behavior goes beyond constitutional protections, such as direct threats of violence towards a specific person, as was the case with the 2020 incident, the University will enact the student conduct process,” Donovan said. The Student Conduct Code, while not specifically mentioning social media, does say that verbal harassment is not tolerated no matter the student’s location. It then comes into question, however, if the school should create policies for specifically how student speech should be restricted online versus in person. If a student came to campus, stood on The Stump wearing blackface and said “Wakanda Forever,” we have to question if the University would make the same decision. Would it count as a real threat if the student was on campus? >> continued on page 5
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In terms of online and offline communities, David Wolfgang, professor of journalism and media communication at CSU, said we can no longer divorce the two from one another. “When we look at the way online communities and social media and social interactions online affect people, we can see it in terms of the real emotional and psychological trauma that it puts on the targets and victims of these incidents, especially when we’re talking about hate speech,” Wolfgang said. The truth is that social media is a part of our campus, and many believe the University should make online principles of community or specifically mention social media in the conduct code to make it clear to students that their personal social media accounts are not entirely exempt from it. However, some may disagree on if the line gets too blurry between keeping students safe from violent and threatening speech and restricting students' freedom of speech on their personal social media accounts. “I think we’re right on the cusp of the entire country having that conversation,” Steele said. “From the government all the way down to high schools who are having to respond to disciplinary issues for things that their students posted online.” The center of it all An interesting aspect about all this is not just where these posts originated but the life they took on on social media. In light of the blackface incident in 2019, misinformation spread through the rumor mill about what happened, who was responsible, what the disciplinary action was and what was going to happen
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next. As mentioned previously, at the heart of both of these incidents was an unlikely source, colostatememes. The meme page posted on their story and made posts about the incidents, which was some students' primary source for what happened. While it is good the page holds the power to inform students, it also holds the power to do a lot of damage when misinformed. As an unofficial source with no editors or fact-checkers, there is a lot of room for error. In January 2021, the page made a post about ASCSU President Hannah Taylor attempting to give herself and her staff a raise. What happened was uproar from ASCSU, claiming misinformation and asking the page to delete the post. Colostatememes deleted the post, saying they did not have all the information and the post was made without the full context. However, it was later revealed in the senate meeting that Taylor did, in fact, give her staff a raise using discretionary payroll funds because members had lost out on certain pay periods due to the elections being held late. So ultimately, the post was based in truth. What the situation revealed is the impact that one social media page has on the entire campus and it’s student’s governing body. Chief Justice Peyton Dailey directly messaged the page asking, “Are you ever going to post content with full information, or are you just going to continue to mislead and misinform students with partial information?” A heated discussion erupted in the comments section of a followup post. Some people commented about how ASCSU is often an abrasive space for Black and Indigenous people of color and international students and how the
Taylor-Schindler administration has passed little legislation directly for that community. Director of Community Affairs Kyle Kumjian wrote, “What exactly do you want them/us to do? Write a resolution fighting for U+2 reform for low income students, pandemic assistance, food insecurity programs — do these not help BIPOC and international students?” To avoid vitriolic comments like this, the co-owner of the page, Cat Blouch said she wants to have a relationship with ASCSU where the page can be used to help with transparency within ASCSU and inform students and avoid heated, misinformed arguments and discussions on the page. Blouch said Chief of Staff Jasper Sloss even reached out to the page asking if they could have a conversation about working together to do this for students. Blouch said she was open to this but responded asking why it took an incident like the one mentioned for him to reach out and further criticized the communication ASCSU has had with the page. Blouch said she sent her phone number to have a conversation, but Sloss never reached out. Blouch said what is often frustrating is that the page was never intended to be a news source, yet they face the same pressure and criticisms of one. “We’ll get (direct messages) about current events within the community or people who want us to endorse certain political campaign or a lot of stuff with ASCSU,” Blouch said. “They’ll be like, ‘Oh, did you know this is going on?’ That’s how the recent conflict started. We got DMed by a senator about President Taylor trying to put in some sort of policy to give herself a pay raise.”
A gavel engraved with the Associated Students of Colorado State University name sits on the justice table during the ASCSU hearing May 7, 2019. COLLEGIAN FILE PHOTO
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A member of the gallery holds up a sign at the Associated Students of Colorado State University senate session Sept. 18, 2019, during a discussion of the blackface image that has been circulating on social media recently. PHOTO BY COLIN SHEPHERD THE COLLEGIAN
ASCSU themselves use the page as a way to spread information to the student body, something Blouch said she didn’t expect. “Ultimately, it’s a meme page, and I don’t think we’re trying to brand ourselves like, ‘Count on us for every single current event going on,’” Blouch said. Regardless of intention, an Instagram meme page has turned into a news outlet and, based on the comments and direct messages with senators and cabinet members, a place where CSU’s governing body communicates. As the influence the page carries is realized, ASCSU should understand the things they say online matter, whether it be in a public comment section or a direct message. They are representing the student body, even through their remarks online. While both the student government scandal and the harassment and hate posts online happened through social media, it’s important to remember that at the end of the day, social media was merely the platform. Many might agree when Steele said, “No medium or platform is responsible for human behavior.” But that doesn’t mean people shouldn’t be responsible for their behavior on a platform. A possible solution here is for the University to lay the groundwork for
online principles of community and conduct and lay out the consequences for violating them. The University may only be able to go so far in how they restrict and discipline students’ actions on their personal social media accounts, but the fact is they should be treating it no differently than a student standing on The Stump speaking the exact same words. The impact is the same, and students are affected either way. Members of ASCSU and other student organizations should be aware that their language and actions online are equivalent to their actions in the senate space. For the meme page, they are learning that as a social media account that largely represents CSU’s community, their words often hold the same impact as something reported by a real news outlet. As the world turns more and more virtual each year, social media has been the place where deep flaws in the diversity, equity and inclusion of CSU have been revealed and discussed. It has also been the place where many problems have been solved and protests have been organized. Social media’s impact and significance will only continue to reveal itself in facets of CSU’s community. Katrina Leibee can be reached at letters@collegian.com.
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Chronicling Campus in Contention By Lauryn Bolz @laurynbolz
Editor’s Note: ‘Campus in Contention’ is an editorial series by The Collegian staff that examines conflicts in our community surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion and proposes solutions for how we can move forward. This article contains media depicting racist slurs and actions and may be triggering to some audiences
Campus in Contention focuses on a number of acts that have been called out as discriminatory and regarding hate and bias that occured on Colorado State University’s campus and at other universities across the nation. This timeline puts the events that are mentioned in each of the articles in order to show the broader context of issues concerning free speech and rhetoric at American universities.
Though this is not a comprehensive list of acts of hate that occured on CSU’s campus, it highlights the ones that were most highly debated and had a lasting impact on campus climate. More information on each of these events can be found in the series itself.
MAY 1, 2019 Texas State University’s attempt to ban TPUSA from their campus results in conflict.
Four students were arrested on Texas State’s campus after conflict broke out concerning TPUSA’s presence there.
FEB. 14, 2017 Conservative speaker Milo Yiannopoulos speaks at Michigan State University’s campus.
The Breitbart editor was brought to campus by The MSU Spartans for Free Speech, who stated the event was meant to “highlight the impact that politically correct culture has on society as a whole, especially college campuses …”
OCT. 30, 2018 Dennis Prager speaks on campus.
The conservative speaker, known for founding Prager University, presented at the Lory Student Center. TPUSA sponsored Prager’s appearance, requesting $13,999 from Associated Students of CSU — $1 under the limit requiring review from the ASCSU senate.
FEB. 2, 2018 Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, speaks at Colorado State University.
In response to the conservative speaker’s appearance, members of the Traditionalist Worker Party, which is designated as a hate group, came to campus. They clashed with members of the Young Democratic Socialists of America and antifa, who protested the event. Police ordered a dispersal.
MARCH 5, 2018
OCT. 25, 2018
Neo-nazi Richard Spencer speaks at MSU’s campus.
Students of color told to “go back to Africa” after Bernie Sanders rally.
Violence broke out between attendees and protesters outside the MSU Pavilion, where Spencer spoke. He attributed the hostility to his race, saying, “No other group is treated with this kind of hostility. … It is only us, precisely because we’re white.” 24 total people from both groups were arrested.
GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATIONS BY CHRISTINE MOORE-BONBRIGHT THE COLLEGIAN
A student named Alexandra Owen attended a Sanders rally at the Lory Student Center wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat and shirt. When approached by students Rodica Ninguin and Diamond Nicholson, who wanted to understand her purpose of attending the rally, she told them to “go back to Africa.”
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JAN. 27, 2021 ASCSU President Hannah Taylor increases cabinet members’ pay by 6%.
Information about the pay increase was spread through the Instagram account, @ colostatememes. Members of ASCSU said the posts contained misinformation.
SEPT. 13, 2019 Photo of CSU students in Blackface surfaces.
The photo, which was spread through Snapchat, showed four white students in charcoal face masks holding an arm pose, with the caption “Wakanda Forever,” a reference to the film “Black Panther.” Following the spread of the photo, CSU President Joyce McConnell sent an email to the student body saying the University could not take punitive action against the students under the First Amendment. CSU students protested by writing messages in chalk outside the Lory Student Center, saying “CSU admin condones blackface” and “racists condone racists; Pres McConnell, blackface is not okay.” On Friday morning, students arrived on campus to find the chalk messages were washed away. Hundreds of students attended the Sept. 19, 2019, ASCSU senate session to denounce the administration’s lack of action.
OCT. 23, 2019 Charlie Kirk returns to CSU for “Culture War” event.
Charlie Kirk returned to campus, this time with Donald Trump Jr., to speak at the University Center for the Arts. Proud Boys, who are identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a general hate group, attended the event and clashed with protesters from the Young Democratic Socialists of America and others
JUNE 8, 2020 An incoming student posts racist, homophobic and threatening social media posts online.
The social media posts by Neal Van Houten prompted the creation of a change.org petition to have his admission to the University revoked. The petition gained more than 3,300 signatures. President Joyce McConnell sent an email regarding the posts to the student body stating that Van Houten violated the Student Conduct Code.
JUNE 10, 2020 Fort Collins community joins in national Black Lives Matter protests.
Protests broke out all over the world following the murder of George Floyd by police officer Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis. It did not take long for protests to arise in Fort Collins, as the community stood in solidarity with victims of police violence.
OCT. 19, 2020 Melina Abdullah speaks at 20th annual CSU Diversity Symposium.
The event sparked criticism from the CSU community because of Abdullah’s history of supporting religious leader Louis Farrakhan, who has made anti-Semitic remarks. In response to an email from Joyce McConnell in which she denounced Abdullah’s presence, over 140 students signed an open letter to her, saying “You have solidified whiteness as a standard that allows white supremacist speakers to come to campus and exercise their right to free speech without condemnation while failing to hold the same standards for one who fights for Black liberation.” McConnell responded to the letter, expressing understanding of the situation that the Black and Jewish communities were put in.
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Rhetoric doesn’t have to harm: The impacts of speech on campus By Abby Vander Graaff & Lauryn Bolz @csucollegian
Editor’s Note: ‘Campus in Contention’ is an editorial series by The Collegian staff that examines conflicts in our community surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion and proposes solutions for how we can move forward. This article contains terms that may be triggering to some audiences. If you’ve spent any time on Colorado State University’s campus — or any college campus — you’ve seen that free speech is a pillar of our higher education system. More than that, the ability to hear new ideas and debate them with other people is central not only to us growing as human beings but to the very functioning of our democracy. What happens, then, when free speech causes conflict? Over and over again, members of the CSU community have watched debates, protests and altercations take hold as controversial speakers visited campus. While free speech is a necessary and protected right, many students feel that certain types of speech are harmful, especially in efforts to strengthen diversity, equity and inclusion. This creates a fundamental irony in which students are more likely to be oppressed by free speech than liberated by it. We need to consider the implications of the contentious dialogue on campus that favors the privileged. Re-examining the way we react to the use of First Amendment rights as a defense for harming others may be the first step in driving real social change. The impacts of campus speech go beyond the intentional; speech can cause harm even when its goal was to do the opposite. We saw this most recently in the controversy over the presence of Melina Abdullah, co-founder of the Black Lives Matter chapter in Los Angeles, who spoke at the 20th annual CSU Diversity Symposium.
Less than a week before Abdullah was set to speak, Jewish community members expressed concern over her previous rhetoric in emails to the Presidential Task Force on Jewish Inclusion and the Prevention of Anti-Semitism. They cited a tweet she wrote in 2019 that expressed support for Louis Farrakhan, a religious leader who has made anti-Semitic remarks.
“What you might consider hate speech someone else might consider free speech and vice versa, and what we always want to prevent, and can within the limits of the law, is to protect people’s safety: their physical safety or the safety of their property.” JOYCE MCCONNELL CSU PRESIDENT
“Some members of our community view her as a champion of diversity, inclusion and equity values,” CSU President Joyce McConnell said in a statement on Oct. 19, 2020. “Others, particularly members of our Jewish and LGBTQ+ communities, see her invitation as undermining equal protections and lending legitimacy to figures and organizations standing in opposition to CSU values.”
In response, over 140 students and community members signed an open letter to McConnell, criticizing her for dividing the Black and Jewish communities on campus. “In the public denunciation of Dr. Abdullah, you have solidified whiteness as a standard that allows white supremacist speakers to come to campus and exercise their right to free speech without condemnation while failing to hold the same standards for one who fights for Black liberation,” the letter said. Speakers have brought controversy to CSU’s campus before in ways that impacted student safety more directly. In February 2018, a neo-Nazi group arrived on CSU’s campus the night of an event hosted by CSU’s chapter of Turning Point USA, where Charlie Kirk, TPUSA’s founder, spoke. Members of campus protested the event, including Young Democratic Socialists of America. The neo-Nazi group Traditionalist Worker Party, which is designated as a hate group by Southern Poverty Law Center, moved onto campus armed with shields, bats and gas masks, according to The Collegian. The night ended when there were altercations between the neo-Nazis and antifa, an anti-fascist group, and the police ordered a dispersal. Conflict broke out again in October 2018 when a student wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat told students of color to “go back to Africa” in an altercation following the Bernie Sanders rally that was held in the Lory Student Center. The next week, Dennis Prager visited campus. Prager is the leader of Prager University, a conservative media group known for releasing false and misleading information. Various students voiced concerns before Prager’s visit during an Associated Students of CSU senate session. TPUSA invited Prager to campus, requesting $13,999 in funding from ASCSU — $1 under the limit that requires the request be reviewed by the senate, according to a previous article from The Collegian. The article notes that students felt the use of their fees to bring Prager to campus was unjust due to his discriminatory views on women, LGBTQ+ and Muslim communities. In 2019, Kirk returned to campus with Donald Trump Jr. for a “Culture War” event. Proud Boys, labeled a general hate group by SPLC, stood outside the event amid protests led by Young Democratic Socialists of America. While each of these situations is complex and multifaceted, they
share common elements — most notably the endangerment of marginalized communities under the guise of free speech. Much debate has been raised over what the University’s role is in keeping hateful speakers at bay. According to CSU’s website, “The University celebrates, honors and respects the First Amendment and your right to free speech. However, those rights are not without limit, and it’s important to understand what constitutes protected expressive activity and what is not permitted at this public university.” Speakers can either be invited to campus through a University-sponsored event or through a registered student organization, according to Mike Hooker, director of media relations and Denver outreach. Hooker explained that for University-sponsored events such as the Diversity Symposium or Monfort Lecture Series, the department responsible for the event will determine who to invite. In these cases, the University has discretion in who comes to campus. If the event is put on by a student organization, that group has “broad latitude” to choose the speaker as long as it does not disrupt University functions or harm students, there is space available and the event follows all University policies and guidelines, according to Hooker.
“How am I supposed to sit in class when there are tanks outside, and they are putting up barricades because they are bringing in a speaker that, last year, made it so I couldn’t go out all weekend or walk around?” JAYLA HODGE FORMER CSU STUDENT AND FORMER COLLEGIAN OPINION EDITOR
He also noted that the University may not prohibit a speaker from coming to campus due to a viewpoint, as they are protected under the First Amendment. “I know that hate speech is hurtful, and I mean that in a very profound way,” McConnell
said. She explained that we have a responsibility to engage in inclusive discourse and to try to move forward. “What you might consider hate speech someone else might consider free speech and vice versa, and what we always want to prevent, and can within the limits of the law, is to protect people’s safety: their physical safety or the safety of their property,” McConnell said. “What we can do when people are being harmed by speech and feel harmed is really be there to support them in multiple different ways.” The American Civil Liberties Union notes that while potentially harmful speech is protected under The Constitution, it is necessary and more impactful for universities to address the root causes for why this type of speech exists in the first place. Impacts and solutions The fact remains that the conflicts these events seem to bring have a serious impact on students. Jayla Hodge, the opinion editor at The Collegian from 2018-19, was not able to write about her own experiences during the 2018 Kirk event for her own safety and at the discretion of The Collegian’s management at the time. She spoke out eight months later when Prager was brought to campus, an event that she felt echoed what happened earlier in the year. According to the column Hodge wrote, the neo-Nazis’ presence on campus caused University personnel, accompanied by armed police officers, to escort her and other Black students to the Black/African American Cultural Center office. “We were told we hadn’t done anything wrong, but it was unsafe for us to leave,” Hodge said in her column. “Together, we stood shocked and nervous. Employees told us they could not force us to stay in the room, but they did not recommend we go.” Hodge believed Kirk’s presence created a space for white supremacists in the community to come out of the woodwork. “I was terrified because these people live here, they are among us (and) they are walking around bold as day right now, but they also walk around every day in the crowd,” Hodge said in an interview. “Now, I have to be aware that I don’t know who is around me, and I don’t feel safe anymore in my day-to-day.” Not only was this a threat to Hodge’s physical safety, but it also affected her emotional state and her schoolwork.
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“I pay money to go to CSU and to get an education, and I can’t focus on what I’m paying to do, to go and learn, because I’m worried about my safety,” Hodge said. “And I’m worried about my friends. … How am I supposed to sit in class when there are tanks outside, and they are putting up barricades because they are bringing in a speaker that, last year, made it so I couldn’t go out all weekend or walk around?” CSU is not the only university with events that have caused harm to students. Jaden Edison, the editor-in-chief of Texas State University’s The University Star, witnessed a string of conflicts transpire after TPUSA funded a student government president under the table. “Brooklyn Boreing became our student government president, and … it came out that she got donations from Turning Point USA, … and none of those contributions were listed,” Edison said. “She resigned from her position and never confirmed or denied the allegations.” Following Boreing’s resignation, Texas State’s student government began a legislation that attempted to ban TPUSA from its campus. Backlash arose from this, notably from a rightwing group called the Texas Nomads. According to Edison, on May 1, 2019, this drew a crowd from both sides of the political spectrum, and though the Texas Nomads never showed up, a conflict started within the crowd. “Long story short, … four students of color get arrested,” Edison said. “All of that stemmed from things that happened with TPUSA.” According to Edison, TPUSA has not been as active on campus this year, but their rhetoric still affects students on campus. “A lot of students weren’t happy (with the university), and a lot of them are still facing legal battles from the May 1 incident,” Edison said. “They felt that they didn’t receive a lot of support from the university.” The Collegian could not reach CSU’s chapter of TPUSA for comment. “The limits to free speech are few, and violence is one of those limits,” McConnell said. “Anytime … we have any sense that there’s going to be violence, we are always going to be prepared to protect our students, faculty and staff, but we always have to balance that against our obligations to free speech.” Greg Dickinson, chair of the department of communication studies, said there are ways we can effectively respond to hateful speakers. “When we’re in the public sphere and someone is saying something that we don’t like, our temptation as humans is to shut down that speech,” he said. “The communication studies response and rhetoric says, rather than
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shutting down speech, do more speech.” When Kirk returned to campus in 2019, Dickinson and other professors within the communications department held a “teach-in” event as an alternative. The event included conversations
to meet with the Colorado State University Police Department to discuss safety measures when it brought Kirk to campus. How journalists can help As journalists, our job is to balance speech and to tell the whole story accurately. However, when
2018, respectively. Brigid Kennedy, a journalist for the The State News, a student-run newspaper at MSU, at the time, noticed increasing conflict on campus. “Things were tense (in the newsroom), and things at State
A sign from the protest at Aurora Municipal Center June 27, 2020. Some signs alluded to the death of George Floyd, who said “I can’t breathe” before officer Derek Chauvin killed him. PHOTO BY KATRINA LEIBEE THE COLLEGIAN
around the history of race and racism in politics and how political engagement has been challenged. “We knew how many were responding to the fact he was here: the anxiety, the worry, the concern and the sense of creating a campus space that was less welcoming for … minoritized folks,” Dickinson said. “We always draw the line at violence, but the question (is) always, ‘Is it the speaker who’s creating the violence, or is the violence being created by people who are coming to hear the speaker?’” McConnell said. “We’re always very concerned about remaining content neutral while keeping everyone safe.” ACLU notes that instead of denouncing speakers in a performative way, universities should “step up their efforts to recruit diverse faculty, students and administrators; increase resources for student counseling; and raise awareness about bigotry and its history.” McConnell mentioned that actions such as preparing professors to facilitate conversations about the elections or allowing Black Lives Matter demonstrations on campus help to create an inclusive campus dialogue. McConnell noted that the University could work with student groups to help them keep their peers safe during events. For example, she said TPUSA had
reporters are unable to attend events because the speaker threatens their safety, it inhibits them from speaking out about the truth. According to Hodge, her decision to attend the Kirk event was driven by her duties at The Collegian.
“If I’m writing to 100 people that don’t agree with me, and 99 are going to fight me, but one person changes their mind — or at least, God forbid, opens it a little bit — that makes it all the more important.” LETA MCWILLIAMS FORMER COLLEGIAN OPINION EDITOR
“We had to get an article out that night, and I’m the editor, so I have to balance my role as a student with my identity with my role as a boss,” Hodge said. “So I had to go and cover it.” Conservative speaker Milo Yiannopoulos and neo-Nazi Richard Spencer visited Michigan State University’s campus in 2016 and
were so tense already during that time,” Kennedy said. “I’m pretty sure that was the height of (Larry) Nassar trial stuff — just, everything seemed very serious and very big all at the same time.” Kennedy had originally planned to cover the Yiannopoulos event but left after feeling unsafe upon encountering people who previously harassed her at a Trump campaign headquarters in Lansing, Michigan, during an election night watch party. Stories like Kennedy’s are not unique. The Collegian’s own reporters have been put in jeopardy as a result of their work. Leta McWilliams, a former opinion editor for The Collegian, was doxxed after writing a column about why student fees shouldn’t be used to bring Prager to campus. To dox someone is to share their private information, such as an address or phone number, as a form of retribution. McWilliams started receiving threatening phone calls and emails, and so did her parents. She said she would receive a call about every 20 minutes, noting that it seemed like “organized harassment.” “My parents’ house was getting the phone calls first,” McWilliams said. “People were trying to tell my parents that I was being disrespectful, that I was being slanderous toward a celebrity or
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some sh*t, all the typical terms of ‘libt*rd’ and ‘snowflake,’ all of that … rhetoric was definitely thrown about.” McWilliams noted that although she felt supported by her peers in the newsroom, the experience made her feel unsafe on campus. “If it doesn’t fit into the narrative that they feel comfortable with or have based their reality and existence on, (people) will do pretty much anything to try and diminish you as a person … just because they’re unwilling to learn,” McWilliams said. “If I’m writing to 100 people that don’t agree with me, and 99 are going to fight me, but one person changes their mind — or at least, God forbid, opens it a little bit — that makes it all the more important.” In addition to solutions on a campuswide level, there are ways that journalists can help keep one another safe. These solutions could include improving media literacy and increasing support for journalists in the newsroom. Much of this comes down to diversity in the newsroom in general; the more identities there are in a room, the higher the chance that students will be better represented in final decisions. According to Hodge, there were years in the newsroom she felt that her writing was more supported than others. “My editors were all white,” Hodge said. “They didn’t understand where I was coming from, and if they wanted to change something in my writing for flow purposes or grammatical purposes, I’m arguing that they are changing my point, and they can’t see that.” Since articles pass through so many different hands in the production process, having a diverse group of editors can stop miscommunication from happening and provide essential perspectives on media literacy. “In my experience, newsrooms aren’t homogenous,” Kennedy said. “The process of editing can change a story so much. … A lot of times, people think that the reporter is the one who has created this whole narrative, and it’s not always true. … I wonder if there’s a level of media literacy that the general public doesn’t have, if media literacy in general could help solve some of those problems.” Editing and management decisions are especially important when they have to do with pieces on controversial speakers, as they have the potential to put writers in danger. McWilliams noted that one way to reduce this harm is to stand by reporters’ work. “You need to have a backbone and integrity, and you need to stand behind your writers,” McWilliams said. “And if it’s factual and valid, you need to publish it, and then you need to essentially put together a wall to make sure the information is protected.” >> continued on page 10
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McWilliams and Kennedy also noted that preparing journalists and audiences for possible situations of tension could help dissolve conflict before it arises. According to McConnell, the reason a wide range of speakers are brought to campus is in the pursuit of truth. “If there’s violence that’s actually going to physically threaten someone from getting that truth, then absolutely, we want that person to be protected, and that’s … why we work so closely with the CSUPD when there is going to be any kind of threat of violence,” McConnell said. CSU’s free speech policy addresses safety in terms of physical harm and property damage, but the broad concept of safety can mean different
things to different people, especially when it comes to marginalized groups that are greatly affected by the rhetoric promoted by some speakers. The University’s ideas of safety don’t necessarily match that of individuals. Because the policy does not address safety in terms of mental and emotional harm, students are not always able to speak their own truth. In this way, bringing speakers to campus who inhibit safe access to free speech undermines the very values these speakers claim to promote. Editor’s Note: Leta McWilliams and Jayla Hodge are former members of The Collegian. Hodge currently works with The Collegian as a diversity, equity and inclusion consultant. Abby Vander Graaff and Lauryn Bolz can be reached at editor@collegian.com.
WITHIN THIS YEAR, A DIVERSE SET OF CARDBOARD SIGNS WERE CREATED BY THE LOCAL COMMUNITY IN FORT COLLINS, COLORADO, TO SPREAD AWARENESS ABOUT RACIAL INEQUALITY. PHOTOS BY MATT TACKETT THE COLLEGIAN
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Thursday, April 29, 2021
@CSUCollegian
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Protest paradigm and the journalists’ responsibility By Laura Studley @laurastudley_
Editor’s Note: ‘Campus in Contention’ is an editorial series by The Collegian staff that examines conflicts in our community surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion and proposes solutions for how we can move forward. Protests this past summer amplified the cry for justice tenfold. Since the death of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Elijah McClain and so many more, people have taken to the streets in demand for change — change that still has yet to happen. “Between (May 26, 2020), the day after Floyd’s death, and (Aug. 22, 2020), (Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project) records over 7,750 demonstrations linked to the (Black Lives Matter) movement across more than 2,440 locations in all 50 states and Washington, D.C.,” according to ACLED’s website. Journalists all over the country covered demonstrations, sometimes for a majority of the day, dodging rubber bullets and tear gas alongside their community members. But was it different for journalists covering the events of Jan. 6 in Washington, D.C.? On that Wednesday, protesters converged on the United States Capitol, leaving five people dead. “White supremacy and racism doesn’t die or go away, it just hibernates for a little while and then comes back,” said Tori Arthur, a Colorado State University journalism assistant professor. “(The events of Jan. 6) will have a lasting impact on the United States. I don’t think anybody will ever think about security in any place, in any government building, the same way ever again.” Multiple media outlets rushed to find answers and cover the events as they unfolded. But was there an expectation to treat this demonstration differently than the ones in the summer because these
protesters were predominantly white? How can local journalists cover these protests responsibly, diligently and fairly? Arthur explained that in the wake of the incident that happened at the Capitol, the media is beginning to recognize that outlets need to be more “mindful of how they are characterizing these instances,” but even so, there is still a long road ahead. “There aren’t very many Black and brown people in newsrooms across America,” Arthur said. “And so these events are being essentially narrated by predominantly white journalists who are not necessarily versed in issues related to race and identity and the ways in which stereotyping can come in.” In a 2014 study titled “Triggering the Protest Paradigm: Examining Factors Affecting News Coverage of Protests,” authors describe the protest paradigm as a pattern of news coverage that perpetuates negative ideas about demonstrations, including highlighting violence and property damage, thus influencing the “public opinion against the protesters and privileges sources from or supporting the government.” Arthur explained the protest paradigm through her own experience at West Virginia University. There was a WVU tradition that when the football team won their game, people would take to the streets, disrupting traffic and burning couches, she recalled. Arthur explained there was a difference in the language used to describe these individuals in the media in comparison to those protesting. “(Participants were described as) kids having fun, … as partiers,” Arthur said. “They were destroying property … setting illegal fires … swarming businesses, … but the language that was used to describe them, because they were primarily white and male, was much different from the language that is frequently used in the media to de-
GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY KATRINA CLASEN THE COLLEGIAN
scribe people who are protesting.” Words like agitator, looter, disruptive, resistant, chaotic and riot are all examples of language journalists should avoid when reporting on specific instances, Arthur said. She said this type of coverage can shift the public’s perception of these demonstrations. She used her family as an example. “My Black family is using racially coded language to speak about people within the Black Lives Matter movement, and it’s because of what they’ve consumed in the media,” Arthur said. “It’s highly, highly persuasive. … It will make people, even who would agree with basic ideas about human and civil rights, say ‘I don’t want any part of this because this is violent and it’s thuggish.’ It’s a powerful phenomenon.” According to data provided by ACLED, peaceful protests were reported in over 2,400 locations around the United States last summer. Violent protests have been recorded in less than 220 locations, “under 10% of the areas that experienced peaceful protests.” The Denver Post reporter Noelle Phillips explained that it would be irresponsible not to report on the property damage and the events happening. It’s the job of the journalist to document what is going on at that given point in time, she said. “If violence happens, that’s going to become the focus of the story,” Phillips said. “If somebody pulls out a gun and fires a shot at what previously was a peaceful protest, then that’s going to rise to the top of the story, and we cannot ignore it. It’d be irresponsible to ignore it.” However, Phillips explained that putting things into context is important, asking questions about why these protests are happening, why people are reacting the way they are. Additionally, Arthur also places an importance on providing context for readers.
“We have to think about what happened on Jan. 6 in the context of this long history of supremacist violence (and) terror,” she said. “The media has to do a better job of contextualizing that terror, historically, because it’s so easy to brush these incidents aside. I think we need to make sure that we are accurately situating what happened in the history of this country because it’s not a unique incident.” Phillips said that readers will perceive coverage differently. Some will view protesters as heroes while others will say they are criminals, she said. “I always say, I can write all day long, all the facts and what happened, but I cannot control how someone interprets what they are reading,” Phillips said. Denverite and Colorado Public Radio reporter Kevin Beaty explained that the protests that took place after Floyd’s death solidified the importance of responsible reporting. He explained that people who were asking to be listened to had the opportunity to be heard. But with so many protests that were happening daily, it was difficult for a smaller publication to cover each and every event. He discussed having trouble distinguishing which articles would actually add to the conversation, and which would get lost in the sea of information. “When I think about how these things are covered responsibly, I really think these sort of pressures from editorial manner and pressure to deliver something that the uninitiated might care about,” he said. “I really don’t want to minimize the message … (but) these protest messages … we’ve covered 20-30 days of this, do we write the same story again?” In the journalism industry, there is a need to be first, Beaty said. Get to the source first, uncover the story first, publish the article quicker than your competitors. Beaty said that as journalists, reporters must stop chasing the
“adrenaline binge” in an attempt to get information out as fast as possible because that leads to providing inaccurate facts and misses the opportunity to actually speak with people. “I don’t know how you stop the speed race that the entire industry is engaged in without everyone doing it together,” he said. “Just listen to the people who are out there. Don’t forget to mention the entire nuance of the things you saw that day. The protest began, and (you) only talked about tear gas going off; it would clearly miss a chunk of the day.” Denverite and CPR reporter Esteban Hernandez did not anticipate the high level of response from the Denver community during his time covering protests this summer, but he understood the importance of being there and listening to community members. “Part of the reason people are demonstrating is to call out racism and try to combat it and try to end it,” Hernandez said. “We know that journalism as a whole has done a pretty sh*tty job of covering people of color over the years, so I think the protests have been a way to make sure we build trust in the communities that we cover.” He explained journalists have the responsibility of making sure reporters do things that do not harm the communities they’re covering. “We’re not just covering demonstrators, we’re covering our neighbors,” Hernandez said. He said reporters need to educate themselves and reach out to the communities with the intention of learning, not to get an interview. “One of the things that wasn’t taught to me in (journalism school) is that sometimes you just talk to people because you just need to talk to them,” he said. “It doesn’t always have to be a story. You should grab coffee with somebody and catch up and learn something that will help inform your reporting.” >> continued on page 12
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Hernandez also echoed Arthur’s thoughts when discussing the importance of language. He used the word riot as an example, saying it was a loaded term. “We just didn’t think it was an accurate depiction of what was happening,” he said, referencing the protests last summer. At an Aurora City Council meeting, he recalled council members referring to the demonstrations in Denver as the “Denver riots.” Hernandez remembered being surprised, stating that it was an inaccurate description. “It was like, ‘Wait a minute, is that how people in Aurora are perceiving this? Is this how some elected officials in Aurora think of what’s happening in Denver?’” he said. “This was in a public meeting in a public setting and they were comfortable enough to call what was going on in Denver ‘riots.’” In January, when conflict ensued in the U.S. Capitol, major outlets like The Washington Post, CNN, NBC News and CBS News characterized D.C. protesters as “rioters.” CSU communications professor Martin Carcasson explained that it is easy for people to want to label events like this. “Some of those things are good, some are problematic, but likely justified in some ways, and some are obviously very bad,” Carcasson said. “People will inherently pick the terms that fit their existing narratives — best case for their side, worst case for the other side.” In the past, primarily white demonstrators have been afforded the term “protester” rather than rioter.
“We have to make sure that as people who study journalists, as people who are in newsrooms or who are going into newsrooms, that we’re bringing a sense of cultural awareness so that these double standards do not exist,” Arthur said. With the public’s perception of social justice in the context of protests being heavily influenced by the media, journalists must proceed with caution. “When people are in the streets and they’re saying ‘Stop killing us,’ and you’re using racially coded language, or you’re using language that paints these people as agitators, that’s problematic,” Arthur said. “It can sway the public’s opinions of people who are doing what they need to do just to be treated as human beings.” Being straightforward and getting to the point is the duty of reporters, Hernandez said. Additionally, Arthur explained that just stating the facts, without using racially coded language, is responsible journalism. However, Phillips said that even if facts are presented, people will still be critical. “They don’t like what you write about, so they get mad at the facts,” she said. “There’s nothing I can do about that. All I can do is write about what happened, give you the facts on a plate, and if you don’t believe it or you think I’m biased because the truth hurts, I can’t control that.” Close to home In Fort Collins and on CSU’s campus, residents were no stranger to the demonstrations happening this past summer. The Collegian covered a
multitude of events held by local community members and organizations. “We recognize the pertinence and the necessity of these protests and are working to make our coverage reflect the nuances of the situation and the impact it has on the Fort Collins community and the entire world,” a May 2020 letter from the editor read. During the summer, most demonstrations in the Fort Collins area were peaceful, with Fort Collins Police Services Police Chief Jeff Swoboda stating he was proud
of the community for exercising their right to protest. “A safe community requires open communication, diverse perspectives and a foundation built on trust,” Swoboda said in a statement released June 1, 2020. “Let’s keep having the important conversations, even when it’s difficult. Especially when it’s difficult.” And even in instances of violence, The Collegian attempted to not make any assumptions. Video links were included for readers to watch the events unfold rather than the reporting including descriptive details. On June 11, 2020, The Collegian produced a digital edition that captured the events happening around Fort Collins and the country. Spread thin, reporters shared the same struggle Denverite faced. Students were home for the summer. There were just not enough people to cover everything that was happening. Plus, most students at The Collegian, reporter or editor, were not being paid for the work they were doing at the
protests. But that did not deter what few writers The Collegian did have. There were multiple demonstrations that occurred on campus and each brought members from the CSU community. At these events, Collegian reporters talked to multiple attendees, walked the routes, listened to speakers and reported on what happened. Our coverage kept a couple goals in mind: no sensationalism, no angle, no bias. Only facts. And though The Collegian is trying to maintain those goals, we, as student journalists, still have a lot to keep in mind. Journalists have the responsibility to cover demonstrations in a way that places care and attention to why these protests are happening. To not forget the reason behind the movement. To listen to the community members’ stories and to understand the harm that has been done by journalists in the past. To reestablish trust and learn to be better along the way. Laura Studley can be reached at news@collegian.com.
THROUGHOUT THIS YEAR, VARIOUS MOVEMENTS HAVE SPARKED OVER THE COUNTRY DUE TO RACIAL INEQUALITY AND POLICE BRUTALITY. THE LOCAL COMMUNITY IN FORT COLLINS AS WELL AS STUDENTS FROM COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY ALSO TOOK TO THE STREETS TO MAKE THEIR VOICES HEARD AND EXPRESS SOLIDARITY TO THE CAUSE. PHOTOS BY MATT TACKETT AND RYAN SCHMIDT
