# University benefactor and board chairman uses N-word **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 17, 2007, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-benefactor-and-board-chairman-uses-n-word/412112 "2007-07-17T11:25:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-benefactor-and-board-chairman-uses-n-word/412112/1 "2007-07-17T11:25:07Z")
What a dumbass. This guy, Ralph Papitto, chairman of the board of Roger Williams University, upset over suggestions on how to diversify the board, refers to the black candidates for the position as “niggers.” OK, as a strategy for diversity, not his best effort. But that ain’t a pimple on the butt of his dumbassery. His explanation? A three pronged defense. A) It just slipped out. B) It is the first time I have ever used the word. C) THE FIRST TIME I EVER HEARD IT WAS IN A RAP SONG! That’s right. This 80 year old white American male _had never even heard the word_ until he just happened to be, you know, chillin’ to some beats and the man on the mike drops the N-bomb. Unbelievable. [Dimmy Jeans Pure Puke Sauce Linkages.](http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/07/16/racial.slur.ap/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-benefactor-and-board-chairman-uses-n-word/412112/2 "2007-07-17T11:59:49Z")
Eh, just like a stupid wop to use the N-word like that. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-benefactor-and-board-chairman-uses-n-word/412112/3 "2007-07-17T12:17:23Z")
_Roger Williams_ University? I thought he was a country singer. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-benefactor-and-board-chairman-uses-n-word/412112/4 "2007-07-17T12:40:25Z")
So, not only is he an idiot, but the lies he’s chosen to tell to defend himself go a long, long way towards supporting the supposition that he thinks that the public is even stupider than he is. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-benefactor-and-board-chairman-uses-n-word/412112/5 "2007-07-17T13:08:46Z")
Or he’s just an asshole trying to make a point about the double standard that occurs because the “N” word is commonly used by black artists who are popular and rewarded huge sums of money for saying the same thing. What he doesn’t realize is that he needs a good back beat and some strong effect loops to really pull it off. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-benefactor-and-board-chairman-uses-n-word/412112/6 "2007-07-17T13:10:53Z")
Alzheimer’s, perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-benefactor-and-board-chairman-uses-n-word/412112/7 "2007-07-17T13:16:48Z")
[QUOTE=Rilchiam] Alzheimer’s, perhaps? [/QUOTE] I’d say his best bet is to claim that it is and retire quietly. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-benefactor-and-board-chairman-uses-n-word/412112/8 "2007-07-17T13:16:58Z")
[QUOTE=BubbaDog] Or he’s just an asshole trying to make a point about the double standard that occurs because the “N” word is commonly used by black artists who are popular and rewarded huge sums of money for saying the same thing. What he doesn’t realize is that he needs a good back beat and some strong effect loops to really pull it off. [/QUOTE] Did you read the article? Does this scenario seem even remotely likely? He chose a university board meeting of a small private school in Rhode Island to make this point? ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-benefactor-and-board-chairman-uses-n-word/412112/9 "2007-07-17T13:20:56Z")
I think they should give back his $7 million dollars and change the name of the place to Inward University. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-benefactor-and-board-chairman-uses-n-word/412112/10 "2007-07-17T13:21:13Z")
[QUOTE=Jackmannii] _Roger Williams_ University? I thought he was a country singer. [/QUOTE] Well, that would certainly explain things, since we know all country singers and country music fans are white bigots. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-benefactor-and-board-chairman-uses-n-word/412112/11 "2007-07-17T14:02:22Z")
[QUOTE=Contrapuntal] Did you read the article? Does this scenario seem even remotely likely? He chose a university board meeting of a small private school in Rhode Island to make this point? [/QUOTE] I suspect you’ve been whooshed. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-benefactor-and-board-chairman-uses-n-word/412112/12 "2007-07-17T14:08:24Z")
[QUOTE=OneCentStamp] Well, that would certainly explain things, since we know all country singers and country music fans are white bigots. 😉 [/QUOTE] No, he was just riffing C&W lyrics: “They took away my office, over words they had heard. Gone is my career and my fame, now they curse my name! Even my dog died of shame… The day… that I used… the N-word.” _twang_ ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-benefactor-and-board-chairman-uses-n-word/412112/13 "2007-07-17T14:16:02Z")
[QUOTE=Count Blucher] No, he was just riffing C&W lyrics: “They took away my office, over words they had heard. Gone is my career and my fame, now they curse my name! Even my dog died of shame… The day… that I used… the N-word.” _twang_ [/QUOTE] Man, that was beautiful. I got a tear in my eye … Now sing about how your woman left you and you’re rotting in prison because you were set up by the sheriff for rustling those cattle even though you were busy beating up an umpire at your child’s little league game at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-benefactor-and-board-chairman-uses-n-word/412112/14 "2007-07-17T14:23:03Z")
[QUOTE=Contrapuntal] That’s right. This 80 year old white American male _had never even heard the word_ [/QUOTE] This 80 year old white American male, founder of the Fortune 500 company [Nortek](http://www.nortek-inc.com/corpback.htm) in 1967, who started by founding [Glass-Tite Industries, Inc.](http://www.answers.com/topic/nortek-inc?cat=biz-fin) way back in 1956–this guy who has been in the thick of the American business community for the last 51 years, including during the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s… …had never heard the n-word before. Until he heard it “on television or rap music or something.” Uh huh. Somehow gives an Onion-y resonance to the phrase [“Ralph R. Papitto School of Law”](http://law.rwu.edu/), doesn’t it? Law school for the stupid? ---
**Author:** ![Spit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/76d3ee/32.png) [@Spit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spit)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-benefactor-and-board-chairman-uses-n-word/412112/15 "2007-07-17T14:25:36Z")
“We don’t take kindly to you “nigger-guys” 'round here!” [/southpark] Old guy drops the N-bomb…eh. Old guy drops the N-bomb because he was smokin’ blunts with his ho’s…Now THAT is a story! ---
**Author:** ![athelas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@athelas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/athelas)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-benefactor-and-board-chairman-uses-n-word/412112/16 "2007-07-17T14:42:00Z")
He should have just settled for graft. It’s much more lucrative, and you don’t get pounded as hard if caught. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-benefactor-and-board-chairman-uses-n-word/412112/17 "2007-07-17T15:33:04Z")
[QUOTE=Rilchiam] Alzheimer’s, perhaps? [/QUOTE] Maybe early onset Budwisers? ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-benefactor-and-board-chairman-uses-n-word/412112/18 "2007-07-17T15:37:49Z")
[QUOTE=EddyTeddyFreddy] I suspect you’ve been whooshed. [/QUOTE] Well now that would just suck. I demand satisfaction! In every way possible. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-benefactor-and-board-chairman-uses-n-word/412112/19 "2007-07-17T15:46:27Z")
[QUOTE=EddyTeddyFreddy] I suspect you’ve been whooshed. [/QUOTE] I’m not whooshing. I really believe he had no chance of pulling it off without some decent rhythms and a good Bass riff. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2007, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-benefactor-and-board-chairman-uses-n-word/412112/20 "2007-07-17T15:52:22Z")
“I apologized for that,” Ralph Papitto said in an interview on WPRO-AM. “What else can I do? Kill myself?” Considering how high tempers can run over this sort of incident, I’m not sure I’d be offering up suggestions of that sort. I suppose it’s just my insatiable curiosity for the lurid, but I wish the article would reveal exactly what he said, rather than coyly hinting around about it: "He had been discussing the difficulty of finding blacks and other minorities to serve on the 16-member board, which at the time included 14 white men and two women. Barbara Roberts, then a board member, said Papitto became irate when he discussed pressures to make the board more diverse, at one point using the slur to refer to black candidates to the board." [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/university-benefactor-and-board-chairman-uses-n-word/412112.md?page=2)