The Daily OrangeStudents consider next step in response to blackface costume
By J.P. Nuthall
Posted: 11/4/03, 2:44 AM EST Section: News
For the third time this semester, the Syracuse University community is responding to a major bias-related incident, this time involving a student who dressed in blackface on Halloween.
Department of Public Safety officers investigated reports Friday night of a bias-related incident involving a State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry student dressed in a racially insensitive Halloween costume, university spokesman Kevin Morrow said.
The student had dressed as a "Pacific Islander" by covering himself in dark body makeup, wearing a grass skirt and carrying a wooden staff, Morrow said. The student was sighted on Marshall Street, on the SU Quad, at a house on the corner of Henry and Standart streets and on College Place.
Public Safety officers responded to complaints from students and approached the student as he was walking on College Place, Morrow said. The student was taken into the Public Safety office, where officers photographed the costume and questioned the student, he added.
The SUNY-ESF student affairs staff is addressing the case, Morrow said.
Becca Johnston, a senior political science and Spanish major, said she saw the student while she was standing in front of Faegan's Cafe & Pub on South Crouse Avenue. The student appeared to be drunk and actually looked black at a distance, she said.
"I was a little surprised and obviously disgusted," Johnston said.
Johnston said she was shocked by the student's costume, especially in light of previous incidents involving blackface costumes. In May 2002, a student and Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity member went to several Marshall Street bars dressed in blackface. The fraternity was put on interim suspension and the student was penalized by Judicial Affairs.
SU's black community and other students have mobilized in response to the incident and are calling for action from the administration. More than 60 concerned students, including members of the Student African-American Society, met Monday night in Maxwell Auditorium to discuss the incident.
Department of Public Safety officers investigated reports Friday night of a bias-related incident involving a State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry student dressed in a racially insensitive Halloween costume, university spokesman Kevin Morrow said.
The student had dressed as a "Pacific Islander" by covering himself in dark body makeup, wearing a grass skirt and carrying a wooden staff, Morrow said. The student was sighted on Marshall Street, on the SU Quad, at a house on the corner of Henry and Standart streets and on College Place.
Public Safety officers responded to complaints from students and approached the student as he was walking on College Place, Morrow said. The student was taken into the Public Safety office, where officers photographed the costume and questioned the student, he added.
The SUNY-ESF student affairs staff is addressing the case, Morrow said.
Becca Johnston, a senior political science and Spanish major, said she saw the student while she was standing in front of Faegan's Cafe & Pub on South Crouse Avenue. The student appeared to be drunk and actually looked black at a distance, she said.
"I was a little surprised and obviously disgusted," Johnston said.
Johnston said she was shocked by the student's costume, especially in light of previous incidents involving blackface costumes. In May 2002, a student and Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity member went to several Marshall Street bars dressed in blackface. The fraternity was put on interim suspension and the student was penalized by Judicial Affairs.
SU's black community and other students have mobilized in response to the incident and are calling for action from the administration. More than 60 concerned students, including members of the Student African-American Society, met Monday night in Maxwell Auditorium to discuss the incident.
