More Hate on Campus after Election

Greetings readers and concerned individuals,

This article is taking some work, just because I want to get everything as straight as possible before I publish anything, but I appreciate that my blog already had a ton of hits today, without me even posting anything. I appreciate that people look here for information about incidents on campus, and can only apologize that I'm slow to respond on occasion.

That being said, I'm sure we're all aware by now of what happened on the night of Tuesday, November 6th, 2012 (Election Day). If you haven't, then in a nutshell: after it was announced the Barack Obama won the reelection for POTUS, a group of students, in a state of jilted unrest were found shouting racially charged hate at members of the Minority Student Union house. This gathering, which happened around Fraternity Circle has caused enough trouble to land HSC on the radar for several new sources. I've included a couple of them here, which give the details as they are known by more established reporters than myself:

WSLS

EliteDaily

Additionally, here is the college's official statement, posted on the Hampden-Sydney College facebook page:

Shortly after 11 PM on November 6, a group of about 40 students gathered near the Minority Student Union (MSU) house. Members of the group set off fireworks and threw bottles in response to the presidential election results. At some point, members of the group shouted racial epithets at the men at MSU threatening them with physical harm. The members of MSU notified campus security. The incident lasted less than 45 minutes, and the group was largely dispersed through the efforts of responsible students, especially fraternity officers. President Chris Howard and Dean of Students David Klein went to Fraternity Circle and spent approximately one hour meeting with students to determine what happened.

We are terribly disappointed with the students who participated in this harmful, senseless episode including those men who stood idly by and watched it happen. There is no place for bigotry or racism at Hampden-Sydney. In response to this incident, President Howard called a Town Hall meeting on the evening on November 7. Nearly 300 members of the Hampden-Sydney community gathered to address the incident and its implications for our community. We were all moved by the responses of our students, their condemnation of the incident, and their heartfelt appeals to brotherhood.

The incident on November 6 is under investigation and will be adjudicated by the Student Justice system.

Now, if you recall, this is not the first racially charged incident that has happened this year. In September I sat down with a friend who found a hate message written on the walls of a bathroom. Needless to say, I am bothered that this type of crap keeps happening at my school. What worries me more is that, even though this stuff keeps happening, I've rarely seen anything done to prevent this sort of event happening again.

This time is different, however. Since the story has made national news (even now I'm hearing reports that CNN is visiting campus tonight), HSC is doing something about it. Now, I don't want to sound terribly cynical. Normally, I would attribute the school's drive to action to the desperate attempt to keep negative publicity away from the public eye. I still believe that public relations is a cause of the action, but it is definitely not the greatest factor. No, this time it is because people are genuinely pissed off.

I wasn't there. I was safe in my room watching Supernatural, celebrating with a beer after the election of the man I voted for. I didn't even know anything had happened until I woke up the next morning to hear that one of my friends was so afraid for his life that he actually left campus the night before. I heard that  friend had been shot at with a firework and that racial hate was being directed at people that I consider brothers. It's enough to say that I was pretty pissed off. This whole mess was so crazy that my dad was ready to call the school to pitch a fit (this surprised me of course. It also surprised me that he was also relatively pissed off that the school would address racial prejudice but never really does anything about gay hate...but that's another story altogether).

I'm not the only one in outrage, though. And that brings us to the real point of this article. You can get the story about what happened from any of the news stories that are flying around, but what of actual student reaction? What I decided to do was ask a couple students what they experienced first hand that night. I've collected these experiences, along with other parts of the chronicle of this event, and I am including them here for people to read. It is important for voices to be heard, and I thank these guy for helping me out. I would also like to shout out to several alumni that I know are angry about what happened, and have said so publicly. I'm glad that they still care enough about the school that they want their voices heard.

By the way, if you are reading this, and would like to lend your experience to the article, PLEASE SEND IT TO ME! I would love to hear from more voices. send me your reaction to walter.mccoy91@gmail.com.

This first bit is the email that was sent to the student body from Dr. Chris Howard, president of Hampden-Sydney College.

Members of the Hampden-Sydney Community,

At approximately eleven minutes after midnight, the Dean of Students, other members of the College faculty and staff, and I received an email from students at the Minority Student Union (MSU) stating a large group had gathered outside their house (formerly Lambda Chi House).  The members of  group set off fireworks and threw bottles evidently in response to the presidential election results.  At some point, members of the group shouted racial epithets at the men in MSU threatening them with physical violence.  The members of MSU notified campus security.  After speaking with Chief Gee on the phone, I walked to Fraternity Circle with Dean Klein and spent approximately one hour meeting with students from MSU, Sigma Nu and Sigma Chi to determine what happened.

I am terribly disappointed with the students who participated in this harmful, senseless episode including those men who stood idly by and watched it happen.  There is no place for bigotry or racism of any kind on this campus.  Dean Klein and I will be meeting with the leaders of various fraternities and MSU today to learn more about the events of last night.  We will also work with leaders of student government, the Interfraternity Council and the Intercultural Affairs Committee to determine the appropriate course of action and to devise ways to ensure our students respect each other despite their racial differences.

I encourage every student, faculty and staff member to take time today to discuss this incident and what it means to Hampden-Sydney.  Our mission is to  produce “Good Men and Good Citizens”;  there is little doubt that some of us failed last night.

I ask those who were involved in or witnessed this incident to consider your responsibility as a Hampden-Sydney Man and contact either Alex Cartwright (CartwrightA@hsc.edu) or Dean Klein (dklein@hsc.edu).

This email was followed up with this one:

Ladies & Gentlemen –  In light of the events that transpired on our campus last night, I ask that students, faculty and staff gather tonight at 7:00pm in Snyder Hall to discuss ensuring that Hampden-Sydney College is a RESPECTFUL and INCLUSIVE Community.

Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the meeting myself due to prior engagements, but I am pleased to hear that it went really well. I've spent the whole day looking for reactions to the meeting, only to come back to my room to find an email from Dr. Howard, with his review of the meeting:

Dear Members of the Hampden-Sydney College Community,

Last night’s Town Hall meeting reminded me why my family and I came to this College.  One after another, almost thirty Hampden-Sydney Men stood before a group of three hundred of their peers, teachers, coaches and staff members to denounce emphatically what transpired on November 6th.  These men renewed their commitment to our student code of conduct and reaffirmed their desire to live in an inclusive and respectful community.  They expressed love for their fellow students and confidence in the Student Court.  Most importantly they pledged to put things right.  My role is to help them do just that.

First, the Dean of Students has assigned a highly-decorated member of our campus security team to investigate the incident.  I can assure the investigation will be timely, professional and thorough.  In order to ensure due process, we cannot broadcast the findings immediately as the Student Court, Interfraternity Council and Commonwealth’s Attorney will need to review the report to ensure all aspects are properly adjudicated.  Most importantly, we have learned our own students diffused the situation themselves exercising leadership and good judgment before authorities arrived on the scene.

Second, building on the tremendous outpouring of support from last night’s Town Hall meeting, I have asked the Intercultural Affairs Committee led by Dr. Rene Severin to submit a plan to me in the next few weeks on how we can better educate students on what it takes to ensure our community is one marked by inclusion and respect.  Several students approached me and my colleagues on the faculty and staff last night asking simply “what can I do to help?”. 

Third, we are ultimately an institution of higher learning and though those individuals responsible for this incident will be dealt with it should also serve as a teachable moment and it shall.

Finally, do not waiver in your belief in our fine institution.  Know there were many more people at our Town Hall Meeting than those who misbehaved on Tuesday night.  Together, we will rise to the occasion.

I'm pretty sure that Dr. Howard doesn't care for me too much (I think he's read the blog), but I know that he cares for this school and for the students as a whole. I'm really thankful for how on-the-ball he has been with reacting to this incident, so even though I have disagreed with his actions in the past, I definitely want to thank him for what he is doing now.

I would also like to talk a little bit about the Town Hall Meeting. I wish that I could've been there. Unfortunately, my independent study in theatre required me to be off-campus at the time. I have only heard great things about the meeting, however. It was drawn to my attention by an anonymous commentor on this very post that I haven't drawn enough attention to it. They had something really great to say, though:

most H-SC students are not racists. I know for a fact that there are several campus leaders (including some fraternity presidents) that are raising the accountability bar for their members in the hopes of establishing a stronger brotherhood. High minded men with high minded ideals will always be confronted by inferior individuals who will try to bring them down. I have also found that when people who are "victimized" STOP acting like victims, they are better able to achieve their objectives. In fact, when those who are "victimized" reach out in love and embrace those who seek to diminish them, then they are no longer the "victims" but are, in fact, the VICTORS! Please endeavor to present the sentiments of the majority of the students...people's livelihoods are at stake (particularly the professors who, like the student body, are the heart of the college). We need less chaos in this world...and you are in the perfect leadership position to help change people's minds...let the world see that it's not our sexuality, our race, or our creed that we are judged...but rather that we are judged by the content of our character... as Dr. King prayed for. It is just not fair to the majority of students who share in those sentiments to be cast under the bus with the small minority who chose very poorly for themselves and placed this noble institution in the line of fire. Because of your high-mindedness and great capacity to love, I know you will take all that I have written to your heart. I am praying for a peaceful resolution and for a better Hampden-Sydney College to emerge from this.

This anon was right in urging me to discuss this point. I am disappointed that I haven't been able to speak to any of these students who spoke. I have actually spoken with one student, Matthew Buchanan, Class of 2013, who was able to share his personal experiences, but I don't have anything else to say, except that the meeting was full of people who were ready to see change--full of people who are ready, willing, and hungry to see some form of positivity come out of this horrible atrocity. For those of you reading this, yes it all looks pretty bad, but keep in mind that there is a majority here at HSC that is ready to try to fix things.

Next is a first hand account of last Tuesday as experienced by Kiel Powell, Class of 2014. Kiel is a pretty outspoken Democrat, and I know that he has the ability to infuriate many people with his highly vocal opinions on things, but I also know that he is a pretty good guy. The following is his account of the night:

As a registered democrat and four year supporter of Obama, I was delighted to see CNN and ABC call the election so early on Tuesday night. For us, it was a time of jubilation and excitement. I quickly realized that several of my friends were probably celebrating down at MSU [Minority Student Union] house. James “Bluefield” Lily and I decided to head over sometime between 11:30-11:45.

We both, along with seven other Hampden-Sydney men, live at international house. Due to the position of our house, we had to pass K.A. [A fraternity] While we rejoiced in a resounding victory; the massive crowd at K.A. did their own rejoicing. Only, with their excitement and zeal came fireworks, alcohol, and a lot of hate. They screamed “f**k Obama!” “Romney!” “F**k socialists!” and many derogatory words aimed at Obama and the race he apparently represents. Bluefield and I tried to ignore the obscenities as they quickly saw us and directed their angry rhetoric in our direction. Still, we knew Obama won and nothing they said could take that away from us. As we walked in between MSU and Sigma Chi [another fraternity], the sounds of bigotry, drunken hatred, and fireworks fell a little more faint. Finally, we had reached MSU and could enjoy the company of fellow friends and Obama supporters.

However, several students sat on the front porch of Sigma Chi. As we walked down the hall and turned the corner, several students addressed the two of us. One said, “Yeah! Finally! Somebody is going to take it to those n*****s! Go kick their asses!” to which I replied, “I’m sorry, but I voted for Obama. I have friends here. Have fun being ignorant and hateful.” This caused him to reply consequently, “F**k you too a**hole! You f***ing traitor! F**k Obama! Romney 2012!.” While this was being said, we were already walking to the front door of MSU. Bluefield did not respond to the students’ hate speech and he already was at the door of MSU. I never approached the student or made hostile gestures. This student, likely a Sigma Chi brother, who did have alcohol in his hand, wanted me to attack people because of their race. This is pathetic and despicable! I have never been more offended and angry in my life.

Once inside, we embraced our fellow Obama supporters. However, not even a minute after we arrived, several members of MSU left through the back door. Bluefield and I followed suit. I believe 5-7 other MSU members, including the president and myself, approached the massive crowd gathering at KA. This crowd, this mob, was at least 50, maybe even 70 strong. I want to also make clear the following: not all members of this crowd were KA brothers (many in fact were), there were also members of Sigma Chi and Sigma Nu [yet another frat], as well as students of every college class. However, I must stress the fact that they were a mob of angry, intoxicated students.

They fired off about a dozen fireworks as we approached. None aimed directly at us. Some straight into the air, others slightly towards MSU or International House. Some were even fired towards their own bunker. Anyways, the president of MSU approached the mob slowly and calmly. He stood in defense of MSU, its members, and against the mob’s prejudice. What he did was nothing short of rave. To try and settle this problem with so many on their side; I have great respect for him. Immediately the mob formed a half circle, or a wall, behind the members of the crowd that we were trying to talk to. They looked like they were getting ready for a fight. Many members of this 50+ crowd were focused on the situation at hand. They weren’t screaming; however, they were still muttering hate speech, including “f**k these n*****s.” As a civil conversation began between the President of MSU and several representatives. After a minute or so of discussion it appeared as though their hatred would finally subside.

However, as it remained comparatively tame and quiet, a member of the crowd stood up and shot fireworks at us. The fireworks, narrowly missing myself, hit the ground ten or fifteen feet behind myself and the other seven MSU members. The fireworks, nearly hit two students and a young woman who were passing by.

I hope something is done in regards to the fact that fireworks were shot on the premises of KA, most likely by KA members. Fireworks are illegal in the state of Virginia. These fraternities involved need to be closed this weekend and long term penalties had better be pursued for their involvement! KA’s racism is well known in and out of the HSC community. If the school permits this to continue you will see very few minorities applying here and many leaving. I will not be a part of this school my senior year if it tolerates such hatred. Soon after we were shot at, a member of KA, I believe [name omitted] tried to make sure the situation did not get out of hand and he talked to the other MSU members and they headed back towards MSU.

As the other members of MSU returned to the house, I noticed Bluefield was near International House. As I proceeded to walk away, not saying a word, the mob’s attention turned towards me and I was addressed. They screamed “F**k you Kiel! You’re an a**hole! F**k off!” repeatedly until I crossed the streets and reached my house. I walked inside and called campus security twice. I assumed the campus security was busy and dealing with similar problems on campus. However, it is still unacceptable for them to not answer. In hind sight, with what happened four years ago, the police should have known this would happen. But I have great respect for everything they do on this campus. I then grabbed my car keys and moved my car with Bluefield.

When I returned inside to get Bluefield to come out with me to move my car, he and Davonte Bradley were talking about what we experienced. We all decided it would be best if we left campus, one reason being Davonte was black. We became concerned for our safety and believed that the violence and anger of the mob might come across the street to our house. For this reason we left campus for about half an hour, in hopes that maybe their aggression would calm down. The 50+ member mob, primarily composed of KA brothers, could have easily decided to follow Bluefield and I back to our house. I locked the front door and deadbolts. I did not sleep that night. I locked my dorm door.  I stayed up with my knife next to me. With how violent the crowd was, coupled with the alcohol being consumed, I expected the worst.

I have never seen hatred towards a group of people like this! This attitude, which was clearly and openly displayed for all to see, should serve as a wake-up call to all of the Hampden-Sydney community. This racism that is well known has persisted for far too long! We must stand united against such hatred so that we become the brotherhood we say we are! What I witnessed Tuesday night was something out of a civil rights documentary. I have never felt so ashamed to be a Hampden-Sydney man. The members of this mob that I bared witness to, as well as the events which took place before I arrived at MSU, should leave us contemplating the school’s true message. Are we a brotherhood or a school that has brothers that tolerate such hatred? I hope the school, administration, and the community can stand united in the course of acceptance for all Hampden-Sydney students. We cannot tolerate this hate any longer. It can and should end with us. We all have the ability to move forward to a brighter future in which all Hampden-Sydney College students are treated equally and respectfully. We must also make certain those involved pay for their transgression. This is 2012, not 1968! It’s time we make a change and act like this is the 21st century!

Hate is vicious. It is gross and disgusting and has no place at an establishment that prides itself on creating "good men" and "good citizens." Something has to be done about this sort of hatred. Also, I just got off the phone with Tanner Knox, Class of 2013, a member of Sigma Nu and an avid reader of my blog. Like me, he is greatly disturbed by these events. He also asked me if I could remind everyone (just as I should've have done, but forgot to do before I posted this the first time) that these are student reactions, and should, in no way, be considered as absolutely true evidence. No one has been proven guilty in this incident, and wont be proven so until after the investigation. Additionally, Tanner let me know that Sigma Nu as an organization does not condone the behavior of the students from Tuesday Night. I've spoken with members of Sigma Nu in the past, and I know Tanner as an honest person, so I would like to include that I don't think they were responsible for this. I don't think any of the fraternities, themselves, were responsible for the incident, anyway: Instead, the incident was caused by individuals, not organizations.

This next statement is from James "Bluefield" Lily, Class of 2014, who was with Kiel that night. Bluefield is another great guy who is active in his church, in campus activity, and is a genuinely loving and caring individual (if not a little weird at times).

My name is James Lilly. I am a Hampden-Sydney student and I support this college. I was one of the people who witnessed the disgrace that happened Tuesday night. I did try contacting Campus Security by phone, but was unable to get in touch with them (I want to make it clear that I fully believe that the police had good reason for this). I saw what I saw from my place of residency on Campus, the International House. I had previously walked with Kiel Powell to help move his Obama Sticker covered car from the street. We were concerned that it would be damaged by students. We walked to the MSU house to celebrate the announcement that Obama won, which had just been announced. I left the house within a few minutes of arriving, leaving to go to my room because I had a paper to finish and had gone shortly ahead of the group who came after me, so I was not able to see faces. On my way back to the house, I saw what appeared to be KA leaders (I don’t actually know for sure) shout to the crowd that everyone who is not a KA member needed to leave. His request appeared to have been ignored. I had just walked in my housed door when I heard a lot of commotion so I went outside to investigate. I witnessed a large gathering of people (40+ people) which started at KA (I'm not directly accusing KA) start shooting Roman candle fireworks from the roof of the KA house holding the fireworks in their hands. The fireworks were brought to the ground and were set off; some hit the KA house, others went toward the MSU house. I saw 5 or so MSU students plus Kiel Powell came out of the MSU house and walked toward the parking lot between the ex-Beta house and KA and went toward the KA group. I heard one MSU student ask them to not shoot the Fireworks toward the houses, warning of possible fire. I then witnessed the large group of people from the KA property form a half circle and ONE person started to shoot the fireworks toward the MSU group, the balls of fire going only feet from their heads and ONE or TWO students threw glass bottles at the MSU group. The whole time, a few students were shooting remarks like "kill them n*****s." I was calling the police at this point and went inside to warn my black roommate Davonte Bradley '14. A short time later Kiel came into the room and he tried to call the police 3 times. We decided that we, all Obama supporters, needed to leave campus to be safe, so we went to get McDonald's. I think the group of the people who did this acted on their own, mainly out of drunkenness, and not as a whole. I think it is wrong to say that this college is full of racists because it is not. A majority of this Campus does not support these acts. I do believe the individuals involved should be punished, but I think that this situation has been blown out of proportion.

Bluefield has an excellent point that I think it is important to remember. Just as we saw at the Town Hall Meeting that Dr. Howard talked about, this campus is not full of racists. Unfortunately, there is a group of people who are totally willing to make the whole school look bad, and they are the ones that we are having a problem with. I personally disagree with Bluefield's belief that the situation has been blown out of proportion. I believe that this is a big deal, and has been a big deal for a really long time. I think that it is incredibly important that this incident is being discussed so much. If it is "out of proportion", then I believe it has to be for a good thing. If this kind of ignorance and hate continues to go unnoticed, then we are giving off the message that it doesn't really matter.

It DOES matter. No one should ever have to experience this sort of hate, either directly or indirectly. This next piece is from Davonte Bradley, Class of 2014. I've known Davonte since his freshman year. He's a great guy and is always willing to help people out. I think he's funny, smart, and honest about his opinions.

When the election was finally called and President Obama was declared the winner, I had a very strong feeling that there would be quite the negative response around campus, and especially on Fraternity Circle in the direction of KA. Shortly after Obama's re-election was decided, I heard what sounded like three gunshots go off somewhere on the Circle. Bluefield and Kiel both went to move their cars after the "shots" were heard, but they learned that the "shots" were actually fireworks. I was still rather worried at that point, however. I heard news from Adam [Turner, another Junior] that people were getting rowdy and destructive at E dorm which made me think that something similar was bound to happen down where we were. A little later Bluefield and Kiel decided that they should go down to MSU as they knew a few friends who had in fact voted for Obama and wanted to celebrate with them. I didn't think it was a great idea, so I stayed behind in my room. Minutes later I heard Bluefield running frantically up the stairs and he entered the room looking panicked. He told me that we need to either lock the doors or leave campus. I immediately knew that something had happened down there, or something WAS going on down there that was dangerous. Bluefield informed me that there was a lot of angry drunk people outside upset about Romney's loss, and those people were firing fireworks and throwing beer bottles at people near MSU. From what he said, and what I could hear from the room, it sounded like there was a mob out there that was targeting African Americans. Kiel returned shortly after Bluefield and told me that there were racial slurs being shouted and that he was actually told to go into MSU to attack people there. That confirmed my suspicions. MSU is predominantly African American and I assumed that they would all be considered Obama sympathizers. It was then when I decided that I didn't even want to be anywhere near the campus because I felt like the campus was at the brink of utter chaos. I feared for my safety and we unanimously decided that we should leave, and we did. We didn't return for about 30 minutes or so and by that time everything had cooled down.

However, to be completely honest, that situation didn't surprise me at all. Friends of mine, myself, and a great deal of people at MSU felt like something like this was going to happen if Obama was re-elected. We all saw it coming. Actually, I thought it was going to be far worse than it was. In the case of racially charged incidents on this campus, I can't say that I'll ever be surprised about them. I think it's sad, however, that it feels like there's nothing I can do to prevent these sorts of things from happening even though I know that they WILL eventually happen at some time, some place, to some person. 

Davonte, it makes me sad that you weren't surprised, because that means, as you suggested, you were expecting it. This sort of racially charge hate (or hate of any kind, for that matter) shouldn't be something that we just expect and accept as a sort of inevitability. Instead, we should be able to feel safe at this school. We should be able to feel welcome and appreciated.

In conclusion here, I want to ask a very simple sort of question that attributes to a huge worry that I have: Why couldn't these guys reach campus security? Why wasn't campus security on the circle? If students like Davonte could predict that something like this would happen, why wasn't Campus Security worried, as well? I know that neither Kiel nor Bluefield blame Campus Security for being unreachable, but I kinda want to. What the hell? I have personally never seen Campus Security do anything. Sure, I'll see them patrol around a bit, and occasionally pull someone over, but I've never seen or heard of them dealing with these really big matters, or even being prepared to deal with them. I have tried in the past on multiple occasions to reach campus security to no avail. Incidents that happened in my first year here might've been avoided, had they answered, but no. Do you know what I want? Campus Security. We do not have Campus Security. We have a group of officers ready to serve as campus police, but we do not have a force prepared to offer any sort of support and security to this school. The guys at MSU should not have had to deal with the incident from last Tuesday. Students should not be so frightened that they have to leave campus. Hell, I should be able to walk around campus with my boyfriend without the fear that one of us will be hurt by a drunken bigot! Yes, education could help prevent some of these problems from happening, but it wont stop them all. What we really need is a force to help protect us when they do, inevitably, occur.

I know that I said I was concluding, but I do have one more thing to say that just came up. Prompted by the posting on the Hampden-Sydney College page on Facebook of the college's official statement, students, alumni, and others have shared their opinions of matters involving the event, as well as other concerns that they have. One that bothered me, specifically, is the suggestion that MSU "is apparently a place for racial segregation." MSU is not a place of segregation. In fact:

The MSU was established to educate as well as make the Hampden-Sydney community aware of different cultures and backgrounds that exist on campus. Moreover, this organization provides its members with an environment to express views and concerns that are unique to minorities. Although we are officially a club, our organization more closely resembles a fraternity. This organization is open to any and every person on campus who would either like to promote diversity on campus or be a part of a close-knit family. (Taken from the HSC Website).

MSU provides a home to anyone who finds themselves a part of a minority at Hampden-Sydney, and even opens it's arms to people who would defend and support diversity at an otherwise non-diverse college. I could, if I wanted, join MSU as a gay man, even though I'm white. I'm pretty sure there's even a white student living in the MSU house this semester. Anyway, my point is, it is not for segregational purposes.

Another thing that bothers me is this comment:

 "Why is this on Facebook? Shouldn't this be dealt with internally in private?? Poor taste putting this out there........"

NO! THIS IS EXACTLY MY POINT! This is the whole point of this blog, too! HSC tries to handle too many things internally, and cover up when this type of bad thing happens. But the school should be embarrassed. We should all be embarrassed. It was that single group of students that did the deed, but by covering things up and not exposing this type of hate--by not accepting responsibility for the wrongs done at this school--we are all individually to blame for this act of hatred. Several people on the page have also expressed their concerns about the post even being put on the Facebook group. "It might hurt our recruitment efforts" seems to be the concern for these people. ARE YOU F***ING SERIOUS!?! If this type of BS is going on at this school, recruitment efforts should be hurt. Especially if your concern is for recruitment of new students, and not for the safety of students who already attend. /sarcasm It's great to know that the school cares about the students until they get here, and then we don't! /end sarcasm.

Another point: I know that there is concern that not all sides of the story are being told. Surely MSU prompted this attack? From reports that I have heard, yes, MSU was there, celebrating Obama's victory. They were just as much within their right to do this as members of KA or others were to express their disappointment at Romney's defeat. To an extent, it is okay with MSU to have taken bragging rights, and rubbed it in the faces of Romney supporters. Even though it's immature, I hear that that is actually part of what happened. That being said, MSU was not throwing glass bottles at anyone. They were not aggressively shouting messages of hate or launching fireworks at anyone or near anything that could burn. I am saddened to see that people have begun to victim-blame MSU. The members of this mob--this riot, even--are the ones responsible for this. Even if MSU "instigated" anything with their celebration (and I don't believe that they really did), they are the victims of this event, not the perpetrators.

This discussion is still on-going, and I simply don't have time to read all of it (I am a student, after all. I have homework), so I am going to end this article here, with a quick reminder: If you would like to add anything to this article, email me at walter.mccoy91@gmail.com.

Stay Strong, readers. There is hope for the future of Hampden-Sydney. I used to think that this school would be better served as a crater with a monument in the center, but I have grown to believe that there is a chance that this wretched wasteland of a college can grow and return out of the past and into the present.

This is Walter McCoy, Class of 2013, signing off!