Northwestern senior checking in. Yes, it’s possible people are overreacting to what’s happened here. But there have been several racist graffiti incidents here since the spring, and I hope you can appreciate that some people are rather alarmed by that. The students who had those things (“sand nigger,” etc.) written on their doors were probably quite alarmed. Police have been investigating those.
Now, the ‘attention’ issue is a big one. I don’t think we have a Nazi presence here, and it’s entirely possible that making a big deal out of these incidents only encourages the people who did them. That sucks as well, but ignoring them isn’t so good either. What’s the appropriate thing to do given those two options?
Also, keep in mind that there have been an unusually high number of robberies and muggings (10 so far, I think, and we’re about 8 weeks into the quarter) near campus this year. It’s not related, but people are a little jumpier than usual.
Xander Saide made up his stories, it seems, to draw further attention and support to this anti-hate movement. That’s according to the news reports regarding his confession to the Evanston police, anyway. There was one large protest a week and a half ago; this scumbag was the first speaker. There was a little chanting and there were speeches from members of various minority student groups. The question I asked before the rally, and have asked since, is “Great, but what are we actually doing?” Nothing, as far as I know. If the incidents with Saide had been real, we might’ve had a criminal on campus, but there’s not some sort of racial chasm here. Nothing that you wouldn’t find in many other enclaves of the upper middle class, anyway. Which is not to say things are perfect here on that level, but they’re not terrible either.
So perhaps some pointless rallying and chanting is okay. It does no real harm.
There’s some of that here, as there is everywhere else. But the things we’re dealing with here are unquestionably racist. Swastikas, racial epithets, that sort of thing. It’s not oversensitivity in that sense. Maybe a mountain has been made of a molehill, but oversensitivity isn’t the problem.
People here were stunned when the found out the Saide incidents were made up. I think expulsion would be a small price for him to pay; he’s being charged with two felonies and deserves a conviction from where I sit.
Occasionally, a frat does indeed have a problem with the administration. I’m gonna guess that’s not a very unusual thing; NU has not ‘gone to hell’ as far as I can see. A jerk or a few jerks (given the lack of evidence that it’s anything worse) doesn’t mean anything has really happened to the school overall. Bernadine Dorn (whom the FBI isn’t interesting in, so who gives a shit?) is also a non-issue. 