This Makes No Sense.

The BBQ Pit
#1

We’re in the middle of a really heated Student Council Presidential race at the moment. Usually only a small percentage of the student body gets involved in elections, but this one has been different. The two candidates, Ed Hallen and Daisy Lundy, have had a very intense campaign, and while the rest of the elections are over, the presidential race had to go into a second round of voting.

I, personally, am for Ed Hallen. I don’t have much of an opinion either way, but Ed has been endorsed to me by a lot of people I trust, I agree with more of the points on his platform, and he seems to have a generally better character, from what I’ve heard.

This does not mean that I don’t like Daisy. She has many legitimate points, raises good issues, and has a lot of charisma.

Daisy also happens to be African American. And last night, as she was walking out to her car to get her cell phone, some random, ignorant, stupid son of a bitch came up behind her, slammed her head off her steering wheels, hit her, and told her that “no one wants a nigger to be president…”

I was speechless when I heard about it. This is one of the most horrible things I have ever heard of happening here. Ever. Especially at an “institute of higher learning,” the idea that there would be somebody that terrible just boggles my mind.

I hate that this happened. I hate that she had to feel the sting of a hate crime in the fucking 21st century. And I hate that part of me can’t help thinking “Well, this is the university where a frat house got busted for doing a blackface routine earlier this year.” I absolutely love this school; on the whole it is a very tolerant institution.

And I hate that some rogue asshole has made me doubt that last statement.

#2

That sounds truly horrible… but I can’t really say that I’m surprised. Any place where you gather a large group of people, it stands to reason that some of them are going to be ignorant assholes who should quickly be placed into pits full of poisonous reptiles. I hope she’s okay and doesn’t let a small minority stop her from following this course to the end.

In a small aside, I hope that neither of the following situations occur:
A) She wins, but only because she received some sort of mercy vote.
B) She loses, and everyone jumps all over it, crying racism and such.

#3

That is awful. Is she okay?

:frowning:

#4

What’s even more disgusting is that hate crimes are so fucking common that they rarely receive serious national attention unless something outstandingly revolting happens like dragging someone to death behind a truck because of the hue of their skin.

#5

Sorry, I should have posted about her condition. She’s doing fine; she was released from the hospital this morning.

Here’s the article from the school newspaper.

#6

And thus appears one of my syntax peeves. Tolerant and Tolerate have the same root. How do you feel about things you tolerate? They’re things you put up with, even though you don’t want to. What does it mean to be tolerant?

#7

hijack

One of my big peeves too. But general usage is way ahead of us.

/hijack

#8

[devil’s advocate]
Is it possible that this incident didn’t occur exactly as it is portrayed by Ms. Lundy. My cynical side sees shades of Tawana Brawley, done for the purposes that Sqube labels as unwanted situation “A” above. Do the cops have any independent witnesses?
[/devil’s advocate]

In any case, people seem to be taking this little popularity contest/ politician training ground way too seriously.

#9

That’s UVA for you. For better or worse, it’s a big deal there.

I’m pretty dismayed by this incident, but not shocked. UVA is a very traditionally “Southern” school–no slam against the South or its people, but the popular image of the South is pretty accurate for the school. Racially-motivated violence is not par for the course, but it’s not unheard of either.

Here’s a link to the school paper’s coverage. Lundy had filed police reports about threatening phone calls in the last few weeks, which makes me doubt that she’s being dishonest.

#10

people suck

#11

I saw that article earlier today (along with the assault story, based on Jester posting it elsewhere).

The calls may be linked to the assault, may be independent of the assault, or may be fabrications by Lundy. The Kampus Kops are tight-lipped, as they should be since “The case is active and under investigation.”

From the other coverage in the student paper, this race seems to be full of dirty tricks that make both parties look like junior Nixons in training.

#12

UVa has an elected student president?

At Virginia Tech, I think we just awarded the title to the guy who could drink the most beer.

#13

Hell, a woman who wasn’t even a student at GMU got elected president there (an office restricted to students of GMU, by the by).