Controversy struck the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee when the speaker of the Student Senate’s racially charged comments on a blog resurfaced in the past week.
Kyle Duerstein originally posted the comments on his blog, Panther Talk Live, four years ago. Students at UW-Milwaukee are now lobbying to have Duerstein removed from his position in the Senate, as well as his membership in the Senate’s Financial Committee.
In a blog entry dated Nov. 12, 2005, Duerstein wrote in a post referencing Milwaukee Journal Sentinel columnist Eugene Kane, “If mainstream black anglo-hating racists can’t find a way to function in normal society and use the intelligence that God gave them, perhaps they ask to be held down and discriminated against, and placed back into slavery.”
Duerstein defended his comments, claiming he was worked up at the time and did not think his comments over before posting them.
“I posted the comments four years ago, and they teach you in journalism that you need to do news that sells, so I was trying to do controversial things to get viewers to my blog and while I did so, I said things that were not an accurate reflection of who I am,” Duerstein said.
Since the controversy erupted, Duerstein has stripped the blog of all of it’s posts but one, where he apologized to members of the UW-Milwaukee community.
Duerstein added he believes an opponent he defeated two years ago in an election released Duerstein’s blog comments for revenge purposes. He said the comments were written after he had just started his blog and sees them as a lapse in judgment.
He added he apologized to the Senate and is working on learning from his mistake.
“I’ve talked a lot to the Senate. I can’t do much more than apologize and demonstrate that that’s not who I am as a person,” Duerstein said. “I’ve implemented better practices of not posting what I am thinking right away because if I write when I am angry, it does not accurately reflect what I believe.”
However, Achieving Student Action Through Progress, the opposition party in the UW-Milwaukee Student Association, does not believe Duerstein’s excuses are justifiable.
“I think the biggest concern is that Mr. Duerstein made some very defamatory remarks and he is in a position in the Senate that requires exercising neutrality,” said ASAP Vice President Julio Guerrero.
Both Guerrero and ASAP member Michael Hirthe said Duerstein’s past comments raise the question of whether or not his personal beliefs can be kept separate from his work.
“I’ve questioned how he can maintain objectivity in his work life if he has these views about minorities,” Hirthe said.
ASAP plans to raise awareness within their student body through news releases about the issue and work with the administration to remove Duerstein, Guerrero said. He believes ASAP will succeed in getting Duerstein removed with the help of many people on campus who are concerned about the issue.
Hirthe added the organization promises to fight for Duerstein’s removal, regardless of how long it takes.
