After Student Government hosted a “unity rally” in the Brickyard Thursday, students and faculty held strong feelings on the racist spray-painted messages targeting President-elect Barack Obama in the Free Expression Tunnel the day before.
About 300 people attended the rally, during which Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Tom Stafford said the University would not tolerate racism, saying “enough is enough.”
After all the scheduled speakers had spoken, Tracey Ray, director of the Multicultural Center, gave an impromptu emotional speech, in which she said the University should have informed the public of what was written in the tunnel, and she wanted the students’ involved treated as criminals.
“I want the names. I want them prosecuted,” she said.
Donnie Brown, a first-year student in turfgrass management, said in a school of over 30,000 students, the University should hold a larger event with more publicity.
Chancellor James Oblinger said he had a prior commitment, in taping a commercial for the Jimmy V. Cancer Therapeutics Center, and he could not attend the rally, but Stafford and the Vice Provost for Diversity and Inclusion Joe Picart spoke at the event.
“We will not let the acts of a few define the many,” Picart said.
Picart said the nation’s election of Obama was a “giant and historical step,” but there is work left in confronting racial divisions.
“From this rich diversity of people and ideas, we grow through our interactions,” he said.
Student Body President Jay Dawkins said it was important to begin mending political divisions on campus, that after “campaigning like hell” against each other before Tuesday’s election, students can forget that their opposition was also their friends.
About 20 students joined outside the Free Expression Tunnel Thursday around 9 p.m. to participate in another event, which Matt Woodward said would allow students a chance to speak on the messages more freely.
Laci Weeden, the assistant director of the Women’s Center, walked around the crowd as it grew to show attendees a photo displaying a portion of the graffiti that said “Let’s shoot that n—– in the head.”
“Because [some people] weren’t able to see what was on the tunnel, people haven’t understood what really happened,” she said.
By building awareness and openness, Weeden said people can better address issues like this.
“Knowledge is power,” she said. “By knowing what happened, I think people can move forward.”
Since he didn’t see the tunnel the morning the racist paintings were left, Peter Drankarov, a senior in computer science, said the messages show ignorance in action.
“It’s impossible to prevent something like that,” he said. “Hopefully those people are going to realize that they’re the ones screwing up things.”
'Enough is enough'
