For those of us who have devoted our labor to organizations benefiting UW's minority population, the recent scandal involving the Wisconsin Black Student Union is a devastating blow. This is because we know that we are on a campus that, along with its embarrassing racial history, continually challenges the validity of not only student of color organizations, but students of color themselves.
Due to this, I was not surprised to see that there has been criticism categorizing student-of-color and women's support organizations as racist, economically corrupt and having questionable morals. MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan) and WHAM (Women Happily Advocating Masturbation) have been criticized specifically, and there have been vain attempts to tie those groups into the Black Student Union's financial corruption situation.
MEChA has been accused of wasting students money by publishing \F$@! the White Boy,"" a repeatedly misunderstood two-year-old poem written not as a form of hate, but as a form of healing for countless students of color who have been verbally and physically assaulted during their time on campus. WHAM was criticized for being economically wasteful for holding the ""Sex Workers' Art Show,"" a show of political and emotional support for women who must choose an undesirable occupation due to lack of other occupational opportunities.
No reason was given for these accusations, which leads me to believe that the sole reason the character of the student groups was criticized is because certain parties do not agree with the politics of those student organizations. Such logic would not just wipe out student-of-color organizations, but it would also wipe out every single form of recreation as well as academic and emotional support available to ALL students on campus.
The first to go would be the sororities and fraternities, which are also funded by student dollars. Though they tout their community service and philanthropy, UW's predominantly white Greek system is more recognized for its weekly alcohol-induced antics consisting of underage binge drinking and belligerent behavior. Then there are the to the annual Halloween festivities, for which students must pay tuition and tax dollars to fund the UW and local police department to maintain control over scores of students who, in the last two years, have rioted on State Street and, over the last ten years, have been guilty of wearing racially insensitive costumes that poke fun of Native Americans and other races.
Members of the UW community have tried to use a rare incident as a tool to paint many positive organizations in a negative light solely to appease warped beliefs about which groups deserve financial support. If those who would criticize minority support groups really cared about the misuse of student funds, they would call into question the over $2 million that UW has spent to settle lawsuits filed due to hate crimes committed against UW students-money that wouldn't need to be spent if this campus knew how to deal with its troubled climate.
In the future, those who disagree with the aims and actions of certain organizations should just come out and say it rather than hiding behind the veil of caring about the fiscal well-being of our student body. It is a tired tactic that not only damages your credibility as a person but damages the credibility of this institution as well, painting it as one which upholds baseless rhetoric filled with ancient stereotypes rather than as a welcome, well-rounded environment that promotes universal learning.
Marques Jackson is a senior majoring in Afro-American studies and journalism.
