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Police, students to discuss policy
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by Pedro Oliveira Jr.
Friday, September 21, 2007
University of Wisconsin students discussed the possibility of an open forum to debate UW Police Department procedures concerning hip-hop-based events targeted to minority students at a meeting Thursday.
The idea comes in light of a series of incidents in which students say the UWPD has failed to act effectively in the process of planning events.
The most recent case culminated in the cancellation of a Lambda Theta Phi Latin Fraternity event last Saturday, though attendees mentioned a list of incidents from previous years.
According to the students, most minority-oriented organizations undergo extra scrutiny when planning hip-hop related events, a process other organizations are not subjected to when planning events playing different musical styles.
Wisconsin Union policy states every student-organized event to take place at either union must be submitted to a safety committee, in which a UW police department representative and Wisconsin Union Directorate staff discuss possible safety concerns and strategies.
"With Plan 2008 and university administration constantly talking about diversifying campus, [administrators] need to make changes providing inclusive policy that allows people of color and people of the hip-hop culture to feel welcome," graduate student Shayna Hetzel said. "If there's one place students should feel welcome, it is at the union."
Students said UWPD has inconsistently put forth procedures restricting and discouraging efforts to create programming intended to promote a more culturally diverse campus.
"We simply can't do that if we keep getting hassled," said UW freshman Quoctrung Bui, Wisconsin Union Directorate music director.
A representative from the Offices of the Dean of Students and Wisconsin Union Directorate staff were allowed to sit at the meeting but did not participate in the discussion.
"It's great that they're worried about student population, but I feel that a lot of the times UWPD is taking the lazy approach when they threaten to shut down events rather than solve them," Bui said. "While problems can arise, hip-hop events should face the same sort of scrutiny that even the smaller events face."
Lambda Theta Phi and Alpha Phi Alpha did not attend the meeting.
Josh Healey, who works at the Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives, said it is important to pay attention to who is allowed to attend certain union events.
"One of the major things is double standards about who is welcome at the union and especially that policy of off-campus folks and how that's enforced," Healey said.
Healey said the union has held several events that several hundred non-union members attended, such as the World Music Festival and the Jazz Fest, both held at Memorial Union grounds and opened to the public.
"Then you have Blue Scholars, [a hip-hop event], and a million red flags are raised," Healey said.
The committee will hold a meeting open to students Sunday, Sept. 23 and another meeting including UW administrators Thursday, Sept. 27. Depending on the outcome of the meetings, the committee is hoping to hold an open forum within the next two weeks.
Anonymous (September 21, 2007 @ 9:46am):
I'm sick of hip-hop. I remember when black people used to sing. Hell, anybody can get up and make words rhyme. I want to hear talent, not the street garbage they spew out and make a ton of money.
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