University of Maryland Bemoans ‘Racism’

European American groups absent from campus structure

By Susan Kinzie

WASHINGTON – A couple of weeks into classes at the University of Maryland, a rope tied into what looked like a noose was found hanging outside the campus’s African-American cultural center. Campus police reports this month included two incidents of racially disparaging remarks, one written on a workstation and one in the student union bathroom.

In another incident, a swastika was spray-painted on the car of a member of the Kappa Alpha fraternity, which one member described as a Christian fraternity.

It’s not the only campus that has seen intolerance. A Maryland congressman is asking for a probe into nooses left among the personal effects of a black cadet at the US Coast Guard Academy and on the office floor of a staff member doing racial sensitivity training after the initial incident.

This month, more than 200 students at the University of Virginia protested cartoons depicting starving Ethiopians and a slave that ran in the student paper.

Because so many colleges are more racially and culturally diverse than ever, with students hanging out, dating, and studying together, such incidents have left many wondering: What’s going on?

And what are schools doing about it? Some professors think there are more incidents than ever. Others think people are just more aware of them thanks to YouTube, Facebook, and e-mail.

Full Article

List of student organizations at UM

ASIAN AMERICAN STUDENT UNION
ASIAN BAPTIST STUDENT KOINONIA
ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN GRADUATE STUDENT ASSOCIATION (APAGSA)
ALPHA THETA GAMMA MULTICULTURAL SORORITY, INC.
ANOKHA — American Indian

BLACK BUSINESS ASSOCIATION
BLACK ENGINEERS SOCIETY
BLACK GRADUATE STUDENT ASSOCIATION
BLACK HONORS CAUCUS
BLACK MBA ASSOCIATION
BLACK STUDENT UNION

BULGARIAN STUDENT ASSOCIATION — racially inclusive

CHABAD JEWISH STUDENT ASSOCIATION

CHINESE CULTURE CLUB
CHINESE LANGUAGE ENTHUSIASTS OF MARYLAND
CHINESE STUDENT AND SCHOLAR ASSOCIATION
CHINESE STUDENT ASSOCIATION

GRADUATE LAMBDA COALITION–Hispanic

GREEK HERITAGE SOCIETY–defunct
GREEKS FOR A BETTER COMMUNITY–defunct

HELLENIC GRADUATE STUDENT ASSOCIATION (DIGENIS) — stagnant
HILLEL’S PROGRAMMING ORGANIZATION
HINDU STUDENTS COUNCIL
HISPANIC HERITAGE COALITION

IL CIRCOLO ITALIANO–defunct
INDIAN STUDENTS ASSOCIATION

IRANIAN GRADUATE STUDENT FOUNDATION (IGSF)
IRANIAN STUDENTS’ FOUNDATION
JEWISH MBA ASSOCIATION
JEWISH RENAISSANCE PROJECT
JEWISH STUDENT UNION

KOL SASSON JEWISH A CAPPELLA SINGERS
KOREAN BIBLE STUDY
KOREAN CAMPUS MINISTRY
KOREAN GRADUATE STUDENT ASSOCIATION
KOREAN INTERNATIONAL STUDENT ASSOCIATION
KOREAN STUDENT ASSOCIATION
KREATIVITY
 
LA UNIDAD LATINA, LAMBDA UPSILON LAMBDA FRATERNITY, INC. – PHI CHAPTER
LA VOZ LATINA
LAMBDA CHI ALPHA
LAMBDA PI ETA ( PI CHAPTER)
LAMBDA THETA ALPHA LATIN SORORITY, INC. -UPSILON CHAPTER
LATINA/O GRADUATE STUDENT ASSOCIATION
LATINA/O STUDIES WORKING GROUP
LATINO STUDENT UNION

MINORITIES IN AGRICULTURE NATURAL RESOURCES AND RELATED SCIENCES

MULTIRACIAL AND BIRACIAL STUDENT ASSOCIATION
MUSLIM STUDENTS’ ASSOCIATION
MUSLIM WOMEN OF MARYLAND
NAACP
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BLACK ACCOUNTANTS

ORGANIZATION OF ARAB STUDENTS
 
PAGAN STUDENT UNION–defunct
PITA – THE PRO-ISRAEL TERRAPIN ALLIANCE
PRIDE ALLIANCE–gay/lesbian

SOCIETY OF AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES
SOCIETY OF HISPANIC PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS
SOUTH ASIAN FELLOWSHIP OF MARYLAND
SOUTH ASIAN STUDENT ASSOCIATION (SASA)

TAIWANESE AMERICAN STUDENT ASSOCIATION
TAIWANESE STUDENT ASSOCIATION
THAI STUDENT ASSOCIATION
THE REFORM JEWISH COMMUNITY
THE UNION OF PROGRESSIVE ZIONISTS
THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES (?)
TURKISH STUDENTS ASSOCIATION

UNITED GREEK COUNCIL–no website

ZIONIST ORGANIZATION OF AMERICA – UMD CHAPTER

What you can do

2007-10-01