PHOTO BY JOSH HALLEY
To clearthe air between Southern University and Louisiana State University,the Southern University Student Government Association held a town hall meetingWednesday to address the statements made by a Louisiana State University policeofficer Monday in the LSU student newspaper, The Daily Reveille.
In thearticle, the Salt ‘N’ Pepper party, a mixer to unite black and white Greekletter organizations, was cancelled due to the police officer’s concern thatthe presence of Southern students may be a threat to security. A predominatelywhite fraternity, Tau Kappa Epsilon and the LSU chapter of Omega Psi Phi, ahistorically black fraternity, were sponsors of the event.
The townhall meeting, which was open to both Southern and LSU students, was held in theStewart Hall Lawless Auditorium at Southern from noon to 2 p.m.
JasonHughes, out-going senior class senator moderated the program.
“Wehope this forum will clarify the problem, not cause a riot,” Hughes saidin his opening statement.
Welcomingthe audience, Southern SGA president-elect Justin McCorkle thanked them crowdfor attending the meeting. He stressed that the police officer’s comments werenot reflective of LSU students.
“Thestatement was not reflected by LSU students, but by one individual,” hesaid.
McCorklethen read the article aloud to the auditorium.
SouthernChancellor Edward Jackson said he called meeting between himself, McCorkle,outgoing SGA president Arthur Monroe and the president of the LSU chapter of Omega Psi Phi to discuss the issue.
“We didn’twant to hinder relations between LSU and SU,” Jackson said. ” I am proud of thethree young men who wanted caution with this issue. I commend them on theirleadership.”
KirbiePillette, a representative from the LSU Student Government Association spoke ofthe campus’s feelings towards the comment.
“TheSGA is very disheartened — the comments are not a reflection of the campus, butof one person. The relationship we have with Southern is indispensable.Although we haven’t done as much as we could with our relationship, that is allgoing to change.”
Pillettealso added, “The official decision to cancel the party was made by thepresident of Tau Kappa Epsilon because of budget problems.”
MassCommunication graduate assistant Anderson Dye speculated on the racialinjustice that would have taken place if a policeman from Southern Universityhad made the same comments.
“Ifthat would have been an officer from SU to make the same comments, they wouldhave been fired. When the Minidome (F.G. Clark Activity Center) caught on fire,we adapted and held the Ms. Southern pageant in Seymour gym. We held ourgraduation at Bethany Prayer Center just so we didn’t have to use any of LSU’sfacilities.”
Ivory Tabb,a former LSU student and current Southern administrator disagreed with Dye’scomments on Tigerland, a privately owned bar that has a strict dress code thatprohibits popular urban wear.
“Asfor the clothes issue, doesn’t Perfect 10 have a dress code for their parties,so what’s the difference?”
Agreeingthat something needed to be done about the police officer who made theupsetting comments, sophomore class president-elect Brittany Bass said, “Ifeel that that statement that the LSU police officer made was inappropriate,but I feel that we cannot punish LSU as a whole. We have learned that racismwill never die, but we cannot let it hold us back.”
McCorkleissued out his e-mail address ([email protected])for students to send questions or comments.
“Weare looking for committed people to help. This problem cannot be solved in oneyear. If we as students stay concerned, things will change.”
DanielleWheeler, senior mass communications major from LSU thought the town hallmeeting was a necessary event.
“Weneed to recognize that core problem is racism in Baton Rouge and between LSUand Southern. Everything mentioned today is a by-product of racism.”
Ryan Berni,another LSU student and member of the SGA executive team expressed the positivepoints of the meeting.
“Ithink it was definitely good. The dialogue was helpful in knowing how thestudents feel. Southern, LSU, and Baton Rouge Community College need to cometogether and see how to move Baton Rouge forward.”
IsaacNetter, director of the African American Culture Center at LSU said he washighly optimistic about the future race relations between LSU and SU.
“I thinkonce LSU and SU students have some serious dialogue between them, they will seethey have many things in common. Just because they are on two different campusdoesn’t mean their struggles are any different. This isn’t just a collegecampus problem — this is a Baton Rouge problem.”