.-2The Daily Tar HeelFriday, January 20, 1989
World and Nation
Campus
Racial incidents at University
By STACI COX
Staff Writer
The harassment of eight Asian
American students in December 1987
by two white football players at the
University of Connecticut has
sparked student and faculty charges
that the university administration has
been unresponsive to growing inci
dents of racism on the campus.
The Asian-American students
alleged that they were accosted by the
football players on a bus while on
their way to an off-campus semi
formal dance. According to the
students, one of the players spit
tobacco juice on one of the students
and yelled obscenities at the others
while the rest of the passengers looked
on or laughed.
At the dance, one of the players
mooned the Asian-American stu
dents and exposed himself to one of
the girls, dancing around her with his
pants down.
In a university-conducted hearing,
the football players were found guilty
of harassment for their actions on the
bus, and both were removed from
student housing. The events at the
dance were beyond university
jurisdiction.
The names of the accused and the
details of the hearing cannot be
released under the Family Education
Rights and Privacy Act of 1974.
One of the players voluntarily left
school, but the other moved off
campus and was allowed to continue
playing football.
"The university has really dragged
Reagan concerned oveir continued hostage
From Associated Press reports
WASHINGTON President
Reagan said Thursday that he was
frustrated over his inability to free
Americans held hostage in Lebanon
and conceded, a day before leaving
office, "We don't know where they
are."
Even to the end of his presidency,
Reagan said, officials were continu
ing to explore "quietly and privately"
how to win freedom for the nine
Americans. "There hasn't been a
moment that this isn't on our minds,"
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conflict
its feet on this," Jim Faris, professor
of anthropology at Connecticut, said
in a telephone interview Wednesday.
"Overt racism is going on every day
against everyone who is different on
this campus."
Questioning during the hearing
was one-sided, and two witnesses
were recalled 12 hours after the end
of the hearing in an attempt to make
them alter their testimony, said Paul
Bock, professor of hydrology and
water resources.
"There were gross irregularities in
the proceedings. The worst part in
my mind is even though they were
found guilty, the university said the
football players had been tried fairly
and could therefore play football,"
Bock said.
But administrators disagree.
Vice President of Student Affairs
Carol Wiggins, who handles all
appeals for non-housing and severe
housing infractions, said she reviewed
the case thoroughly and found no
irregularities.
"I am totally comfortable with the
way the dean of students handled that
case," Wiggins said. "Of course, that
doesn't satisfy anyone.
"The case is closed. We can't have
double jeopardy. "
University of Connecticut Presi
dent John Casteen made no state
ment concerning the 1987 attack until
May 1988 during commencement,
and then only under pressure from
the faculty and students, Bock said.
Many students and faculty members
were outraged by the seeming indif
he said.
"We know that any overt attempt
at rescue, even if we did have a hint
or a clue (about their whereabouts),
could run the risk of their assassi
nation or execution before we could
get them out," he told reporters for
The Associated Press and other news
services.
Reagan also said in the wide
ranging interview:
He continues to believe U.S. arms
sales to Iranian elements in 1985 and
1986 did not constitute an attempt
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ference of the university toward the
attack and other complaints of
racism, he said.
"The president addressed the
incident at commencement and
joined the Asian-American students
in wearing 'UConn against racism'
buttons," said Debra Burns, execu
tive assistant to Casteen. "It was a
time to make the statement when
students and parents were present and
to remember that UConn does not
tolerate racism."
Casteen does not make a statement
about every incident on campus, and
because students can take their final
appeals to him, a public statement
could be against the defendants'
rights, Wiggins said.
"We're a huge campus with a
diversity of people. There is no more
racism here than anywhere else in the
nation where so many different
peoples are thrown together, and we
are continually working against it,"
she said.
In 1986, racial slurs were written
with feces on the wall and a dead
chicken was nailed to the room door
of a resident assistant who is of
Vietnamese descent, Bock said. The
university administration could not
find the perpetrators and relocated
the entire floor.
"That's like spreading a social
disease," Bock said.
Focusing on an old case is not
getting anything accomplished, and
it must be left alone if the university
is to move ahead and work against
racism, Wiggins said. The admini
to trade arms for the hostages, held
by pro-Iranian Lebanese kidnappers.
Viewing the sale as an attempted swap
amounted, he said, to "a total media
distortion.
He still feels former White House
aides Oliver North and John Poin
dexter will be found innocent of
criminal wrongdoing in connection
with the arms deal. He seemed to rule
out granting pardons for either man
before leaving office at noon Friday,
saying to do so would "leave them
forever after with that guilt hanging
over them.
He said he has great confidence in
George Bush's ability to handle U.S.
Violent protests persist in Czechoslovakia
From Associated Press reports
PRAGUE, Czechoslovakia
Riot police beat protesters with clubs
Thursday and formed human cor
dons to drive 2,000 people from
Wenceslas Square, where activists
demanding more human rights have
rallied five straight days.
More than a dozen protesters were
beaten badly and at least 10 were
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spark debate
stration operated completely within
its guidelines and regulations to reach
a decision, she said.
Faris and Bock accused the uni
versity of trying to cover up the
incidents and reduce embarrassment.
"They did insist on a complete
hearing and following the letter of
their laws," Faris said. "Well, George
Wallace argued that for years on the
steps of Alabama schools."
The administration has tried to
dilute the problems and make them
seem less important than they are, he
said.
"They've set up committee after
committee and tried to pass respon
sibility to somebody up the line. The
university lives in mortal terror that
they're going to be sued."
Bock said the university isn't doing
enough to raise awareness of racism
and its consequences. He cited an
incident in which the student news
paper referred to a visiting speaker
as "half American, half Asian."
"When we complained, they
couldn't see that as a slur. He was
an American citizen, not half any
thing," Bock said.
Faris agreed that students need to
be educated about different cultures
and that resident assistants in partic
ular need extra training.
"UConn is in the middle of the
countryside and doesn't offer much
to the minority students, most of
whom are from the inner city. A lot
of the local good old boys rarely come
in contact with different people until
they get here," Faris said.
Soviet relations.
As to the hostages, Reagan said
their situation did not parallel that
of the 52 Americans freed from
captivity the day he took office, Jan.
20, 1981, after 444 days as prisoners
in Iran.
During the 1980 campaign against
Jimmy Carter, Reagan criticized the
president for being unable to win their
release.
Reagan had criticized Carter's
handling of the hostage taking at the
U.S. Embassy in Tehran as "too
sluggish" and had said on Jan. 7,1
1980:
dragged away by police during a
melee that broke out after authorities
shouted through loudspeakers that
the rally was unauthorized.
It was the most violent clash
between protesters and police since
the gatherings began Sunday.
The crowd had been chanting
slogans demanding broader freedoms
in the communist-ruled nation, but
Inaugural address to ask for
public's support, Bush says
From Associated Press reports
WASHINGTON George
Bush, on the eve of his swearing
in as president, said Thursday he
plans no instant domestic initia
tives, no "first 100 days" and isn't
ready to entertain a new East-West
summit or arms talks pending a
reassessment of superpower
relations.
Bush said his inaugural address,
after taking the presidential path
at noon Friday, would be "a broad
appeal to the American people to
pitch in and help," but without
many specific calls to action.
"It will be an expression of
satisfaction about how far we've
come as a nation, and a recogni
tion that we've got a long way to
go," the president-elect said in an
interview. At the same time, he
called the concept of a busy "first
100 days" initiative with Congress
one "that doesn't really apply" to
a sitting vice president elected to
the presidency.
Mayor denies drug connection
WASHINGTON Mayor
Marion Barry Jr. appeared under
subpoena Thursday before a fed
eral grand jury investigating his
ties to a suspected drug dealer.
Barry told reporters he had done
nothing wrong and was not the
target of the probe.
"I'm not in trouble," Barry said
at an impromptu news conference
as he headed into the grand jury's
meeting room in the federal court
house. "The public sometimes has
captivity
"I believe it's appropriate to suggest
that anything that has been done by
the administration so far, could have,
should have, been done in the first
hour.
In Thursday's interview, Reagan
declined to take back the criticism.
"We were facing two very different
situations, he said, noting that in the
earlier situation, more than 50 people
had been taken prisoner in the
embassy and had been kidnapped by
the government of Iran.
On the other hand, he said, the
Americans held in Lebanon ; were
kidnapped individually by terrorists.
those slogans changed to "Gestapo!
Gestapo!" when the baton-wielding
wave of riot police swept through,
lashing out indiscriminately.
Mayor Vdenek Horcik appealed
for the "provocations" to stop. In an
address on national television, which
appeared after the main evening
news, Horcik urged parents and
teachers to keep young people off the
streets and said the police action was
necessary to maintain order.
The crowd assembled shortly after
5 p.m., when many Prague residents
were on their way home after work.
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the impression that going before -a
grand jury means that someone
is guilty . . . but it only means they '.
are investigating. That's the Amer- ;
icanway."
The mayor was subpoenaed -after
failing to answer an informal
request that he appear. Barry is
expected to testify before the
grand jury again next week, -Mundy
said.
Marcos remains in hospital
NEW YORK A hearing on
whether Ferdinand Marcos is too
sick to stand trial on racketeering
charges was interrupted Thursday
with word that the deposed Phi
lippine president had suffered a
collapsed left lung.
Prosecutors were cross
examining a doctor who had
testified that Marcos was a "dying
man," too ill to be brought to trial,
when a FBI agent entered and
handed a note to a prosecutor with
word on the 71 -year-old former
president.
After conferring with lawyers in
his chambers, U.S. District Judge
John Keenan announced that
Marcos' left lung collapsed that
morning and that he was returned
to the intensive care unit at St.
Francis Medical Center in Hono
lulu, where he has been since
Sunday with pneumonia and
bronchial asthma.
in Lebanon
Nine Americans are prisoners.
Associated Press correspondent
Terry Anderson has been held the
longest, since March 16, 1985.
On the question of U.S. dealings
with Soviet President Mikhail Gor
bachev, Reagan said he thought Bush
would move forward on the issue of
reducing stockpiles of long-range
nuclear weapons, but that caution
should be used.
Reagan said he does not believe
he is less popular in Europe than
Gorbachev, as some polls have said.
"I cant quite accept that he's more
popular than I am," Reagan said.
They shouted "Free Havel!" and "Let
them go!" referring to human rights
activist Vaclav Havel and 14 others
jailed for taking part in earlier
protests.
Hundreds of officers poured into
the half-mile-long square from side
streets when the protesters refused to
leave, charging the crowd and push
ing them along the boulevard.
Police vans and ambulances with
sirens blaring arrived to help force
away the demonstrators. Water
cannons were brought onto the
square but not used.
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