Comic offends minorities
By Laura Pelner
Special
Projects Editor
Black students held a press conference Monday to
discuss their concern over a syndicated editorial comic that ran in
The Exponent last week because they say it shows blatant ignorance toward
minority groups.
The Exponent, Purdue's independent daily student
newspaper, printed the comic April 4 on its opinions page. Pat Oliphant,
a Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist whose work appears in more than
400 newspapers, draws the comic.
The comic features Abraham Lincoln as a leader
unwilling to give slave reparations because blacks are no longer slaves.
It also makes a side comment about the Academy Awards, insinuating that
blacks won "best actor" and "best actress" because of race.
"I felt it was totally uncalled for and inappropriate,"
said Robert Nibbs, a sophomore in the School of Liberal Arts. "It was
disrespectful and shouldn't have ever been shown on this campus."
Nibbs and other black students held a press conference
Monday morning to discuss the issue and what should be done about it.
At the conference, the Black Student Union, Black Graduate Association
and Purdue Student Government were represented, as well as other concerned
students.
Chrystal Westerhaus, a sophomore in the School
of Education and Black Student Union president, said the comic offended
her. She said the fact that The Exponent ran it shows work needs to
be done on campus.
"Race is still an issue," she said. "If it hadn't
been us who said anything, it would've gone by and people would've thought
it was acceptable."
Dave Stephens, a junior in the School of Agriculture
and Exponent editor in chief, apologized for running the comic. He said
it is not an indication of what Exponent staff members believe.
"We like our opinions page to present the ideas
of everybody," Stephens said. "This particular cartoon does not reflect
the views of The Exponent. It was there as an opinion expressed by this
cartoonist."
Despite requests that Oliphant be pulled from The
Exponent, Stephens said the cartoonist's work would still run in the
paper. He said running the comic is not intended to outrage any group
on campus, but he does not want to censor anybody from the opinions
page.
Lee Salem, editor of the Universal Press Syndicate,
the company that syndicates Oliphant's comic, said via e-mail that he's
heard no other complaints about the comic. Yet he also said Oliphant's
cartoons are known for creating controversy.
"In addition to being called a racist, he has offended
about every special-interest group one can think of," Salem wrote.
Black students on campus say one of the comic's
primary problems is that it goes against Purdue's message of advocating
diversity. Thomas Robinson, vice president for Student Services, said
at Monday's press conference Purdue stands for democracy and strives
to make campus welcoming for everyone.
Robinson also emphasized The Exponent is independent
of Purdue and its content is not controlled by the University.
In addition to the April 4 Oliphant comic, students
are also upset about a comic that ran April 5 and some of the news presented
in the paper recently. Felix McElroy, a junior in the School of Management
and president of Alpha Phi Alpha, the black fraternity on campus, said
one of the goals of the press conference was to voice concerns about
The Exponent's recent decision making.
"I feel The Exponent has a long way to go in terms
of long-term commitment with goals set forth in terms of diversity training
and contacts among diverse groups," McElroy said. "Not only African
Americans, but minority groups on campus."
Brenda Shea, student body president, said some
of The Exponent's recent editorial decisions have offended not only
minority groups, but the whole Purdue community.
Stephens said the paper plans to create focus groups
for next fall to help The Exponent's staff further understand the issues
and concerns of different groups on campus.
Concerned groups plan to take further action and
may expand their campaign to a national level, McElroy said. Westerhaus
added the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
has been contacted and many groups plan to write letters.
"We were just upset (this comic) was allowed at
our University," Westerhaus said. "There wasn't even a thought that
this isn't what the University feels."
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