[424] in Discussion of MIT-community interests
due process
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Paul D Elbourne)
Tue May 1 11:32:39 2001
Message-Id: <200105011532.LAA28473@linguistics.mit.edu>
To: letters@the-tech.MIT.EDU
cc: mit-talk@MIT.EDU
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Date: Tue, 01 May 2001 11:32:28 -0400
From: Paul D Elbourne <elbourne@MIT.EDU>
I was disturbed to read President Vest's statement about the recent events at
ATO. In it, he refers to "an ugly and totally inexcusable incident" and says,
"Totally offensive racial epithets were reliably reported to have been shouted
at visitors to our campus from the roof of the Alpha Tau Omega house."
It is my understanding that the incident is still under investigation by the
IFC and the Campus Police. The fraternity said, "We fully understand how the
statement was construed as racially offensive." They do not admit, then, that
any "totally offensive racial epithet" was used; they seem to think that it is
a matter of interpretation whether the words used constituted racial abuse.
Given these facts, it is not President Vest's place to set himself up as judge
and jury and broadcast his own interpretation of events. His action can only
prejudice the ongoing investigations and any future disciplinary proceedings.
The damage has already been done, but if President Vest cares at all about due
process, he should withdraw his statement and apologize.
Given the prejudice displayed against them by the head of our university, the
prospective defendants might want to think about contacting the ACLU or the
Foundation for Individual Rights in Education for support.
Yours sincerely,
Paul Elbourne G
