The racist Front?

The Western Front, the student paper for which I write, has had a tolerably good run of issues this quarter--small, but quality. Today, though, I discovered something totally unexpected: The Western Front is racist...

...at least according to one faculty member, that is.

The latest issue had a news scoop about a student in the athletic department who was arrested on suspicion of "delivery of marijuana." It made for a really good front page--as odd as that may sound to the normal people outside of the journalism elite. What I mean is that it was our top story and, as such, it was very eye-catching and newsworthy. It included the guy's football mug and a balanced account from both his side and the police. I have noticed the story get a lot of attention around campus, so I can only assume that it was a success.

I'm sure most people would agree with me too. It's not every day that someone on the football squad gets arrested. Besides, I was surprised at how many people said they knew him or at least knew of him.

Down to the point though. Note: I'm not going to name names or departments for now considering I just heard about it and I want to look into it more.

I happened to talk to a good friend of mine tonight. One of her professors had come into her class with an obvious chip on his shoulder and the reason soon became apparent. He held up a copy of the newspaper and demanded that someone tell him what was so wrong with it. From what I gathered no one answered and so he went on to say that it was a very racist portrayal of the student in question (yeah, he sort of looks like a minority student in his photo). I wish I knew the details of the prof's actual allegations of racism, but by my friend's account, he didn't get very specific but instead went on to say that it was also a poorly written story in the first place. He claimed, erroneously, that it had inadequate sourcing. My friend was good enough to gently point out the fact that it did have enough from the parties involved, but he insisted that the reporter should have talked to the football coach. My friend pointed out to him that the reporter had indeed talked to the football coach and had in fact quoted him, but he again denied this was so. My friend persisted and he finally picked up the paper again, looked the story over, and acknowledged that the quotes from the coach were indeed present. However, as far as I know, he did not retract his accusations of racism. You can judge the article for yourself by following this or the above link.

When I first heard about this exchange, I was naturally incredulous and I figured this guy should be confronted about the accusations he made in front of his class--a typical act of cowardice, not to mention unprofessionalism. He could have confronted the paper about it--who knows, though; maybe he will in the coming days.

But it gets worse...

When I expressed my indignation to my friend at such stupidity and said that he should not get away with such comments, she calmly informed me that this professor is a minority faculty member.

Funny how a detail like that can tilt the situation in a totally different direction.

Developing...