Black faces at GSU

Tyrone N. Butts

APE Reporter
52

Students disown blackface at GSU

Hundreds of students gathered at a Georgia State University ballroom Thursday to speak out about a racial incident at a fraternity party in January.

School officials called the meeting after word spread around campus and students started posting fliers to protest the incident.

During the weekend of Jan. 24, the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity hosted an off-campus party with the theme "Straight Outta Compton," with guests encouraged to wear hip-hop clothing, said Rebecca Stout, the assistant vice president and dean of students.

br>Two fraternity members showed up in blackface, and members of a historically black fraternity that was in attendance reported the incident to university officials the next week. The fraternity that re

port
ed the incident, Phi Beta Sigma, did not want t
o file charges against Pi Kappa Alpha or the students, so the university did, Stout said.


The two students have been suspended from their fraternity, and the university has charged them with discriminatory harassment under the student code of conduct, Stout said. Discipline may range from diversity training to possible expulsion. The university also filed charges against the fraternity, and a hearing will be held in a few weeks.

About a third of the student body at Georgia State is African-American. Organizers estimated that 700 students attended the forum Thursday. After it was over, some students hugged, while others cried and shook hands.

"All students were able to express that racism will not and should be
tolerated at Georgia State University," said Alvatina Upshaw, 22, a junior from Atlanta.


************
Off campus, non school sponsered, private party... It is none of the univer
isty
's Godd
amn business! Get a lawyer and sue the school! Does any
body complain that Michael Jackson is always in whiteface?


T.N.B.
 
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