Article angers minority students

Outraged over an article in the recent issue of The Red & Blue that depicts Haitians as "beyond help," United Minorities Council members are expressing their disgust by writing letters to the administration and the publication itself. Wharton junior Jeremy Hildreth wrote the article, entitled "One Man's Vision of Haiti," which criticizes the government for its involvement with Haiti because "some people 'round the earth are just going to have to die and the Haitians may sometimes be among them." Because many UMC members felt shocked that a student could write an article deeming Haitians as "too far behind the times to constitute a worthwhile investment," they discussed the publication at their meeting before Thanksgiving break. Many students say the article had false information about Haiti and could only have been written to hurt students. College senior and UMC Chairperson Liz Melendez will distribute a letter to University President Judith Rodin, Provost Stanley Chodorow and other administrators on behalf of the UMC. Requesting a meeting with administrators, Melendez called for the University to re-evaluate its racial harassment policy in the letter. Currently, the University does not punish hate speech. "It's an issue that has not been looked into since the suspension of the racial harassment policy," Melendez said. "We'd like to hear the new administration's take on it." Members of the Haitian Students Association, also called Dessalines, posted flyers around campus which said, "Stop the Ignorance -- One Blind Man's Vision of Haiti" with excerpts of the article. Refuting Hildreth's argument that "voodoo is silly" and "the only imports from Haiti we have in this country are exiled dictators and cab drivers," Dessalines President Colette Lamothe sent letters to Hildreth, The Red & Blue editors and the Student Activities Council. While The Red & Blue does not receive SAC funding, it is recognized by the organization. "Many Haitians came here and helped with the war for independence in the American Revolution," Lamothe said. "I suspect that [Hildreth] was talking about Aristide when he mentioned exiled dictators, but Aristide is not a dictator," Lamothe added. "He was democratically elected." According to Hildreth, the article represented his own opinion and did not necessarily represent the views of other members of the magazine's editorial board. While many students called the article racist, Hildreth claims that "is not the case." He would not comment further on the content of his article.