OPINION • PAGE A4
FOOTBALL• PAGE B4
Use of racial slurs at WKU is unacceptable
Hilltoppers 3-0 in C-USA play for first time since 2015
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2019
WESTERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY
VOLUME 95, ISSUE 07
Another video with racial slur emerges BY LAUREL DEPPEN HERALD.NEWS@WKU.EDU
Another video has emerged of a WKU sorority member using a racial slur. The Herald obtained a screen-recorded video from the Chi Omega bid day Snapchat story in which a Chi O
member used a racial slur while singing along to “Act Up” by City Girls. Director of Media Relations Bob Skipper confirmed the video’s legitimacy. The university was made aware of the video the same day it was posted, Aug. 20, Skipper said. Charley Pride, director of Student
Activities, spoke with the chapter’s president and adviser that night, and the national organization was made aware of the incident the following morning, Skipper said. The WKU chapter was told how the video “could be perceived,” and removed it from Snapchat, Skipper said.
“I don’t know if the national has — if they’ve taken any action against them, but I think they were on the same page in trying to do some education with how a post like that could be perceived,” Skipper said. SEE CHI O • PAGE A3
Students react to new bus routes BY LEO BERTUCCI HERALD.NEWS@WKU.EDU
BRENNA PEPKE • HERALD
A crowd gathers outside the Bowling Green City Hall on Saturday, Oct. 5, after marching from Circus Square Park during the annual Pride celebrations. The daytime festivities ended with speeches from local politicians and LGTBQ members and allies.
TAKE PRIDE
Bowling Green Pride Festival • B1
SGA members plan protest against AXiD
BY JACK DOBBS HERALD.NEWS@WKU.EDU
Two members of WKU’s Student Government Association will lead a protest in response to a video posted on Twitter showing members of WKU’s Alpha Xi Delta sorority singing a racial slur in a rap song. The protest will happen at Kappa Delta’s annual philanthropy event, Shenanigans. The protest is organized by Symone Whalin and Anthony Survance, two SGA members. “I’ve heard a lot of stories of Greek organizations being exclusionary, especially to people of color on our campus for a long time,” Survance said. “The video just seemed like a useful spark to start a discussion within Greek organizations and the culture they breed on our campus.” Survance said this protest has also been inspired by SGA’s narrow vote to cancel Tuesday’s student senate meeting for Shenanigans. He said he believes that canceling the meeting for the event sends an inappropriate message from SGA. “Maybe it’s a little risky for SGA to send a tacit endorsement to Greek, right after this video comes out and there’s clear evidence of racism existing in these organizations,”
Survance said. Shenanigans is an annual philanthropy event organized by Kappa Delta and hosted at SKyPAC, involving many of WKU’s Greek organizations. The event raises money for at-risk children through the Family Enrichment Center of Bowling Green and Prevent Child Abuse America. Kate Adams, the president of WKU’s Kappa Delta chapter, issued a
for the protest named “Demand Alpha Xi Delta’s Removal.” As of Oct. 7, nine people are confirmed as going and 29 people are “interested.” Part of the goal of this protest is to hold the WKU administration accountable for its inaction with this issue, Whalin said. “Their inaction just proved that students have to do action in order for anything to be done,” Whalin said. “It
“Kappa Delta is committed to a diverse and inclusive community at Western Kentucky and sincerely hopes this situation results in open dialogue and education for all students.”
Kappa Delta President KATE ADAMS
statement on the protest. “Kappa Delta is committed to a diverse and inclusive community at Western Kentucky and sincerely hopes this situation results in open dialogue and education for all students,” Adams said in the statement. Since SGA voted to cancel the meeting for Shenanigans, Whalin and Survance have created a Facebook group
signals to minority students that we aren’t a priority to the administration.” The Facebook group’s page said that the Twitter video incident “demonstrates the long known reality that Panhellenic organizations on our campus do not care to defend people of color and constantly breed toxic environSEE PROTEST • PAGE A3
The bus was full. Completely full. Gabriel Brannon had to walk. The freshman film major from Bowling Green often uses the Topper Transit bus to get to class, but this day, he had to walk from the Russellville Road lot to his destination, the Fine Arts Center. The Topper Transit bus routes, which shuttle students like Brannon to class and elsewhere changed this semester. The Red Line and the White Line have become the Big Red Route and Hilltopper Route, respectively. The Green Line Shopping Shuttle runs exclusively on Saturdays from 4-8 p.m. Tim McWhorter, assistant director of transportation told the Herald in an interview earlier this year that one of the goals in mind when redesigning the Topper Transit routes was to improve service to the west side of WKU’s campus. “In years past, the [White Line] went straight down from DSU and Keen Hall,” McWhorter said. In order to serve the west side of campus this semester, the Hilltopper Route, which is in service from 7:15 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays, turns right towards Kentucky Street from College Heights Boulevard. The bus stops at Kentucky Street, 12th and 13th Avenue and Center Street are meant to be useful for those who live in the Kentucky Street Apartments,
KEILEN FRAZIER • HERALD
WKU students use the public transit buses to get to their destinations on and around campus.
Midtown Apartments, and The Columns Apartments, McWhorter said. The Valley stop has been moved to its original location, which is in front of Hilltopper Hall, and a new stop has been added at McCormack Hall. Across the boulevard from the McCormack Hall stop is a Big Red Route stop next to Parking Structure 1. “The students that live at The Registry or McCormack can come to this stop and they’ll travel around to the classroom buildings,” McWhorter said. Josh Conner, a Murray native who
SEE TOPPER TRANSIT • PAGE A2