Race Relations on Campus

A national record of racial incidents at the nation's institutions of higher education.

Race Relations Database

Students, faculty, and administrators are encouraged to send information on campus race-related incidents to:

JBHE

200 West 57th Street, 15th Floor

New York, NY 10019

Fax: (212) 245-1973

E-mail: info@jbhe.com

The source of submissions will be kept in strict confidence.

* Two black roommates at Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts, returned from spring break to find the following message written on their dormitory room door: "Mud Shark's, Tar Baby." The incident was investigated as a hate crime by campus police. (Christian Science Monitor, 4-19-05)

* Jacques Pluss, a professor of history at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, New Jersey, was fired for missing "four or five classes." The professor, who has taught at the university since 2002, claims he was fired for his white supremacist views. Pluss, a member of the National Socialist Movement, had made disparaging comments about blacks and Jews on an Internet broadcast.

On the broadcast, Pluss, referring to black students with a racial slur, said, "I have had basketball players in class who sit in the back, all 6 feet 10 inches of them, while they listen to their portable CD players with their earphones on."

Pluss, who was a tenured professor at William Paterson University in Wayne. New Jersey, for 16 years, claims that he has never brought his personal white supremacist views into the classroom. (Bergen Record, 4-2-05)

* Racial slurs were written in several locations on the campus of Ithaca College in New York. The words "Fucking Niggers" were found written in marker on the glass entrance doors of a campus building. The bulletin board of the Office of Multicultural Affairs was defaced with the words "Nigges Sux!" A black student found the words "You're a fucking nigger" written into the dust on her car which was parked on campus. In addition, the words "Fuck You Niggers" were written on the wall of the dining facility. (Cornell Daily Sun, 4-15-05)

* About 70 black students at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, staged a march to protest what they called unfair disciplinary actions against black student organizations. The protest was held after a black fraternity was suspended for five years after police raided a campus party. A white fraternity, which rented the room for the party to the black organization, was suspended only for the rest of the school year. (Associated Press, 4-28-05)

* Three black students at Trinity International University, a Christian college in Deerfield, Illinois, received racist threats in the mail. Two of the notes were sent through the university's internal mail system, which led authorities to conclude that the author of the hate mail was a student or employee of the university. To increase security for the black students, the university moved the students off campus to a local hotel.

Police later determined that the racist threats were sent by another black student. The police reported that the student wished to transfer from the university and wanted to convince her parents that the campus was unsafe. Police charged the black woman with a hate crime.

Blacks are nearly 13 percent of the student body at the university. (Associated Press, 4-22-05,4-27-05)

* Racist fliers from the National Alliance were posted on public bulletin boards on the campus of the University of Cincinnati. The fliers read, "Don't Have Sex With Blacks. Avoid AIDS." The student newspaper at the university came under fire for reprinting the flier in a news report. (Cincinnati Enquirer, 4-20-05)

* Larry Cochell, the head baseball coach at the University of Oklahoma, resigned after it was reported that he used a racial slur in two separate interviews with sportscasters. The coach was talking with the sportscasters in untaped interviews about freshman outfielder Joseph Dunigan, who is black. In talking about the player's admirable attention to his schoolwork, the coach said, 'There's no nigger in him." (The Dallas Morning News, 5-2-05)

* A racist e-mail was sent to student government leaders at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. The message referred to two black members of the student senate as "niggers" and called for their removal from the legislative body. The e-mail was sent from a computer belonging to a white member of the student senate but this student senator was cleared of any wrongdoing by the dean of students. (Milwaukee JournalSentinel, 4-22-05)

* The Daily Mississippian, the student newspaper at the University of Mississippi, ran an advertisement from the New Century Foundation, an Oakton, Virginia-based white supremacist organization which publishes the newsletter American Renaissance. The advertisement showed a picture of a white baby with blond hair, with the caption, "Will She Be a Racial Minority by the Time She Turns 40?" The text of the advertisement contained the following: "Everyone tells you to 'celebrate diversity,' but for whites to celebrate diversity is to celebrate their dwindling numbers and declining influence. Diversity is a weakness, not a strength. Just look at your campus. Are different racial groups a source of joy or a cause of friction?" (Jackson Clarion-Ledger, 4-16-05)