Noose hung at UC San Diego Fuels More Post 'Compton Cookout' Protests

The racial situation at UC San Diego just goes from bad to worse. First it was the hideous "Compton Cookout" organized by white students to mock Black History Month, and then funding was pulled for student media programs after a student run TV station aired a racially derogatory video, making fun of black people protesting the "Compton Cookout"

This time a noose was found hanging from a light fixture in the campus main library. (See it here.)

A UC San Diego student admitted Friday to hanging a rope noose from a campus library bookcase in an act that triggered more protests at a school already roiled by other recent racially charged incidents.

Angry students responded to the incident by storming and occupying the office of UC San Diego Chancellor Marye Anne Fox. Source: Noose ignites more protests at UC San Diego, A student who admits she hung it in the campus library has been suspended. Los Angeles Times

Angry students responded to the incident by storming and occupying the office of UC San Diego Chancellor Marye Anne Fox.The sit-in continued for about six hours Friday and ended without arrests, and a sympathy protest at UCLA lasted about an hour, officials said. Source: Noose ignites more protests at UC San Diego A student who admits she hung it in the campus library has been suspended, Los Angeles Times

As disheartening as it is to see pre-Civil Rights era, Jim Crow style racism on a college campus in 2010, it is even more encouraging to know that the social justice protest methods, honed in the '60s on college campuses around the country, are also alive and well, and effective.

Police did not release the woman's name or race or provide any information about a motive. The incident was the latest in a series of events sparking racial tensions and concern at the San Diego campus. On Feb. 15, an off-campus party, described as a "Compton Cookout," mocked Black History Month, leading to large student protests.

A few days later, a campus satirical group defended the party and used a derogatory term about blacks on a campus television show. Fox said she suspended the student who hung the noose pending further investigation.

[ ]Under state law, hanging a noose, a symbol of racism and lynchings for many African Americans, if done with "intent to terrorize," is considered a misdemeanor that can bring up to a year in county jail and a $5,000 fine. Source: Los Angeles Times

Black students say that these events call attention to the generally hostile atmosphere for black students at UC San Diego. University of California administrators are now paying attention to the problems.

On the San Diego campus, about 300 students gathered for a protest rally at which Fox condemned the noose incident. But some students then occupied her office, complaining that recent events prove that UC San Diego's climate is hostile to blacks. They noted that African Americans make up just 1.6% of the school's undergraduates, a proportion administrators say they will try to raise.

Later, in evident solidarity, a group of black UCLA students organized a brief sit-in outside UCLA Chancellor Gene Block's office. It ended after Block met with them and read a message from all 10 UC chancellors decrying the noose and other "acts of racism, intolerance and incivility." A UC spokesman said the incidents at issue included the recent carving of a swastika on the dorm room door of a Jewish student at UC Davis. Source: Los Angeles Times

College is supposed to be the time when we are most open to expanding our social horizons. WHY DO YOU THINK, in 2010, racial hostility is erupting on these California university campuses?