'Humor' story stirs outrage at the UW

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'Humor' story stirs outrage at the UW

Student publication's article assailed as offensive, racist

Saturday, May 20, 2000

By RUTH SCHUBERT
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

An article in a student humor publication at the University of Washington has set off a firestorm of outrage that runs from top UW officials to minority students.

The mock article yesterday in The Mutt says that under a new outreach program, the UW will meet its diversity goals by recruiting black prison inmates.

"It's an outrageous, offensive, racist and homophobic piece," UW President Richard McCormick said. "I have seen miserable things in The Daily (the student newspaper) before, but this is the worst. It is so blatantly racist and so offensive in every way."

In Friday's UW Board of Regents meeting, two students who are among the most actively involved in minority recruitment expressed their anger about the article. McCormick and the board plan to draft letters condemning the made-up story.

"That was the only question I had in the meeting today: 'Why?'" said Tyrone Porter, a doctoral student in bioengineering who addressed the regents. "It's the same question that was asked in the '60s, the same question that was asked in the '70s, it's the same question that's been asked through the decades."

The student editor of The Mutt, which is a separate publication but is distributed in The Daily, the UW student newspaper, said that he was surprised at the reaction to the story.

"It's meant to be parodying those who think the only point of an outreach program is to recruit underqualified minorities," said Jason Sykes, editor-in-chief of The Mutt. "Reading it again (yesterday), after I heard that there were complaints about it, I realized I was reading between the lines to get the point of the parody."

Sykes said he planned to write an open letter to The Daily to apologize.

The article says that "Bubbha Buthlter" had entered the UW just eight weeks after his release from the Washington State Penitentiary and is eagerly awaiting the transfer of six of his former prison brethren.

The program targets "uneducated, middle-aged minorities," who sign a behavioral contract with their parole officers before stepping on the UW campus, the article says.

The story purports to quote McCormick as saying that the new prison outreach program had solved the problem of getting black students on campus.

The would-be parody also quotes white students who say they're scared, including one who says, "I am afraid to use the IMA (Intramural Activities building) showers."

The phony article appeared at a time when the UW is working to boost minority enrollments, which plummeted after the passage of Initiative 200 in 1998 outlawed the use of affirmative action in admissions.

"During a year when we've been working so hard to expand this university's outreach to young men and women of color to recruit them to the university, to have something like this happen is so incredibly damaging," McCormick said.

The article has hit black students hard.

"To tell you the truth, I was thinking of going to graduate school here, and now I'm having second thoughts," said senior Tyson Marsh.

Sykes said that other students read the story before it was printed, but no faculty or administrators saw it. Still, many are disappointed that no one raised a red flag about the article.

"There ought to have been someone over there, someone on The Daily board, someone among the students . . . who said, 'Wait, this is racist. We shouldn't publish this.'" McCormick said.

P-I reporter Ruth Schubert can be reached at 206-448-8130 or ruthschubert@seattle-pi.com