The Vermont Cynic NOVEMBER 14, 2017
VOL. 134 – ISSUE 12
VTCYNIC.COM
Posters highlight racial tensions Brandon Arcari Assistant Breaking News Editor White pieces of paper printed with the phrase “It’s okay to be white” were taped up around campus Nov. 7 by an unknown party. Most of the identical posters, which were affixed to police blue lights, streetlamps and doors, were removed by 7 a.m. that day. “It appears that the signs were posted as part of a national effort. They were removed because they were posted in violation of University posting policy,” UVM communications director Enrique Correderastated in a Nov. 7 email. The signs were created as part of an online campaign to create social unrest. They have been spotted at college campuses across the country, including Tulane University in New Orleans and in the Harvard Yard in Cambridge, Massachusetts, according to a Nov. 3 Washington Post article. The campaign seeks to persuade people to stop believing in media and convert to the side of those who created the campaign: the “alt-right,” according to the Post. Signs were also posted at the University of California, Berkeley Nov. 3, according to a Nov. 7 Daily Californian article. “To the extent that the signs were intended to promote a white nationalist ideology, as news reports have suggested, we condemn the activity in
the strongest possible terms, as it is completely antithetical to our core University values,” Corredera stated in the email. The posters can be interpreted as an attempt at promoting white supremacy, according to the Post article. Because they are seemingly harmless, creators can defend themselves against accusations of racism. Posting the posters around college campuses would demonstrate the news media’s supposed anti-white bias if they were covered as racist, according to the Post. Senior Siobhan Murray, who is a Davis Center building manager, said she did not know about the signs until she was informed by her boss. “Building managers are instructed to take down posters that are not on the bulletin boards on the first three floors,” Murray said. “From my understanding, most were on the bulletin boards so the building manager team did not have any participation in taking them down,” she said. Several signs were posted around the Davis Center, including on the door by the Cynic office, on streetlamps and on blue lights. “Obviously it’s okay to be white, the signs are stupid and at most slightly insensitive,” first-year Jace LaQuerre said. LaQuerre said the person behind the posters was probably just trying to get a reaction out of people or to be funny.
“Reading too much into harmless signs with a redundant message would be silly,” he said. Student leaders of diversity groups held a meeting to discuss the posters. They did not wish to comment at time of publication. The signs went up following weeks of earlier action by student groups on campus regarding calls for greater diversity, equity and inclusion. Diversity groups on campus led a march on the Waterman building Sept. 25 and brought a list of demands for racial reform. The demand led to a racial justice forum. Students protested by taping signs to the doors of the executive wing of Waterman over a perceived failure of administration to meet the demands Oct. 20. One of the demands called for the expulsion of sophomore J.T. Reichhelm, who stole a Black Lives Matter flag put up on the flagpole near the Davis Center Sept. 24, 2016. Reichhelm was subjected to University disciplinary action and so could therefore not be held accountable again for the same offense, University President Tom Sullivan stated in a Sept. 29 email to students. These signs follow the recent arrest of continuing education student Wesley Richter. Richter made threats about black students on campus and is still awaiting Vermont District Court Judge Fenster’s ruling on probable cause.
Pieces of paper with the words “It’s okay to be white” taped on campus light poles Nov. 7. The posters were posted by an unknown party but appear to be posted as a part of a national effort, according to UVM Communications. BRANDON ARCARI/The Vermont Cynic
School responds to sports kneeling protest Locria Courtwright Assistant Sports Editor Six members of the Saint Michael’s College men’s basketball team, as well as a number of team staff, took a knee during the national anthem before an exhibition game against UVM Nov. 4. The gesture was met with hostility from the audience of home Catamount fans. Some audience members shouted at the players to “stand up.” Others booed. In the week since, the kneeling has generated a variety of responses. In a Nov. 8 email to season ticket holders and Victory Club members, athletic director Jeff Schulman condemned the fans’ response to the gesture and said some of the fans’ actions were seen as harassing. “I realize that there are varying perspectives on the issue of kneeling during the anthem and I respect the differing opinions that exist,” Schulman said. “However, I also want to emphasize that the University
The men’s basketball team stands for the national anthem before the game against the University of Kentucky Nov. 12. The unseeded Catamounts lost to No. 5 Wildcats 73-69. Photo courtesy of Hunter Mitchell/The Kentucky Kernel
and athletic department are committed to ensuring that our student-athletes and coaches, visiting teams and fans are able to participate and experience our games in an environment that is free from threats, intimidation and/or harassment.” University President Tom Sullivan echoed Schulman’s sentiments in a Nov. 8 email.
Sullivan said he agreed with Schulman’s thoughts on the matter. “Going forward, I hope that the behavior in Patrick Gym and at UVM will be respectful and civil,” he stated in the email. Several people of color in the UVM community – including UVM players, students and alumni – said they were hurt by
the crowd’s response. “[It] really pained me to hear what some members of our home crowd had to say to the young men taking a knee during the anthem,” first-year guard/forward Skyler Nash tweeted. Former UVM basketball player Dre Wills ‘17 replied to Nash’s comments on Twitter. “You gotta understand that people don’t care about what us city kids see and go through every day,” Wills tweeted. “They don’t care about our friends not making it to their 21st birthdays. They’re too worried about their own privileged lives.” Sophomore Reginah Mako, SGA chair of diversity inclusion and a member of the Black Student Union, echoed Nash’s pain. She said she felt “disheartened” and that the moment “further validated the lack of dialogue between those protesting and those against the protest.” “The entire protest is rooted in addressing and combating police brutality, but it has been warped and misconstrued
to be against the flag when it isn’t,” Mako said. The gesture of refusing to stand during the national anthem at sporting events grabbed national headlines in summer 2016 when then-San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick sat out the anthem during a preseason game. In their first game following the protest, the Catamounts visited No. 4 University of Kentucky. The Catamounts did not kneel during the anthem but rather linked arms, according to Chase Campbell, assistant sports editor of the Kentucky Kernel. The Catamounts put up a valiant effort but fell by a score of 74-69. Their next game is Nov. 17 against Bradley University in Nassau, Bahamas, as part of the Islands of the Bahamas Showcase tournament. Additional reporting from Lilly Young.