Alabama Student Expelled For Online Racist Comments

[spamking]

Get on the scoreboard and start screaming racial slurs and you just might need to be disciplined for it.

That's the equivalent of the scenario you just posed.

Yes . . . the only equivalent and scenario possible . . .

Good grief.

 

[hillelslovak87]

Instead of expelling the students, make him debate someone who is not a stupid racist on the pros and cons of racism. He'll get his ass kicked with rationality and logic, and thus maybe have a chance to amend his views, and grow, rather than kicking him out, further bolstering his views, and fostering a feeling of being oppressed by a system that is racist towards him.

 

[Falsedawn]

Yes . . . the only equivalent and scenario possible . . .

Good grief.

One person hearing it vs lots of people.

Welcome to "Dealing with scale 101", i'm Falsedawn and apparently i'm teaching you this.

Protip: Broadcasting your bullshit on the internet is liable to have a very wide reach, hence us talking about it.

 

[Trotsky]

Instead of expelling the students, make him debate someone who is not a stupid racist on the pros and cons of racism. He'll get his ass kicked with rationality and logic, and thus maybe have a chance to amend his views, and grow, rather than kicking him out, further bolstering his views, and fostering a feeling of being oppressed by a system that is racist towards him.

It's a girl.

Not all racists are men, you sexist.

 

[hillelslovak87]

It's a girl.

Not all racists are men, you sexist.

Damnit, back to the whip room

 

[Necromantic]

The university's Greek organizations were segregated by race from 1963 until 2013, when 11 African American students and three students from other minority groups received bids, or invitations, to join a historically white sorority.

Hmmmmm....where are all the white Alpha Phi Alpha members at I wonder? The tri-lambs accepted white students finally.

PS my frat had everything. White, black, indian, muslim, dominican, chinese. Ok, so I don't know if they were muslim but my pledge master's name was Osama....which changed to Sam after 9/11

 

[Sir Galahad]

Recently a federal judge recently found that expulsion for online racist speech that is not targeted at other individual students violates the first amendment. The conduct here is identical except the other case was about high school students and in Berkeley. I think this girl has a lawsuit if she wants it. I have viewed the content of her social media video and she does not target any student or faculty member. Rather she proclaims her right to use the n word and makes some generalized derogatory comments about African Americans. I am not sure whether the rant violates forum rules so I am not linking to it but you can look it up on youtube. This country is going to need to have a real conversation about free speech in the near future. I hope she pursues litigation because she has a good claim and it is abhorrent for a government entity to penalize someone for making a statement that in essence asserts that this woman has the right to use provocative lanuage.


https://www.cbsnews.com/news/harley...school-after-posting-video-using-racial-slur/
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- A University of Alabama student repeatedly used a racial slur in videos posted on social media, prompting immediate condemnation from school officials and her apparent expulsion Wednesday. A video of the former student using the n-word multiple times went viral on Martin Luther King Day this past Monday, prompting a protest on UA's campus that was organized on Wednesday, CBS Birmingham affiliate WIAT reports.

University President Stuart R. Bell called the videos "highly offensive and deeply hurtful," and said the student, Haley Barber, is "no longer enrolled here."

"We hold our students to much higher standards, and we apologize to everyone who has seen the videos and been hurt by this hateful, ignorant and offensive behavior," Bell said in a statement.

The videos, in which Barber repeatedly uses a racial slur for African-Americans, were first posted on a private Instagram account, but recordings of the posts became widely shared on social media and brought to the attention of school administrators.

Barber told the New York Post that her actions were wrong.

"I don't know what to do and I feel horrible," she was quoted by the paper as saying. "There's just no excuse for what I did."

Barber did not respond to a request for comment The Associated Press sent to her university email account.

The 19-year-old told the newspaper she had been expelled from the university and was returning home to New Jersey. The university would not confirm her expulsion. Spokesman Chris Bryant told the AP he could "only provide directory information, and this student is no longer enrolled."

In the first Instagram video, Barber says, "I love how I act like I love black people because I ... hate ... ." In a second expletive-filled video responding to criticism, she says she'll use the word "as much as I want."

"I don't care if it's Martin Luther King Day," she says before saying the slur again and again. She then says she will use the slur "as much as I want" noting she is both from New Jersey and, "I'm in the South now."

The videos were first reported by al.com.

Barber identified herself in the videos as a member of Alpha Phi sorority and said she had wanted to be in the sorority since high school. Linda Kahangi, executive director of Alpha Phi, said Wednesday that the student "is no longer a member of Alpha Phi."

"Alpha Phi is a diverse, values-based organization and condemns the language and opinions in these videos," Kang wrote in an email response to a query from the AP. "They are offensive and hateful to both our own members and to other members of the Greek and campus community."

In the videos, Barber referred to the Instagram account she was using as her "finsta," a made-up word meaning "fake Instagram," a secondary account that some Instagram users create to share certain posts with a select number of people.

Someone made a screen recording of the post and shared it publicly.

In 1963, the University of Alabama gained notoriety when then-Gov. George C. Wallace infamously stood in a schoolhouse door to protest the enrollment of African American students. Wallace relented under pressure from President John F. Kennedy's administration.

The university's Greek organizations were segregated by race from 1963 until 2013, when 11 African American students and three students from other minority groups received bids, or invitations, to join a historically white sorority.

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Yeah but she's from New Jersey.

 

[Strychnine]

This is a tricky one.
First it is a public school, so she should have freedom of speech, no matter how offensive. I think she is a piece of shit but she can voice her opinions. If it was a private school well they could easily throw her out and it would not be a freedom of speech issue.
The card the University can play is every University has a code of conduct. I am sure being racist is a violation of said code of conduct.

Beat me to it.

 

[Lord Coke]

Beat me to it.

The Constitution trumps all other law including a uni's code of conduct.

 

[panamaican]

I think the sorority is the only relevant factor here. With the sorority, you can argue that this speech has a nexus to the school. If a judge buys that you can at least argue that the speech rose to something above mere offensive conduct and violates a individual’s sense of physical, as well as emotional and psychological, security.. I just don't think that it meets that standard because no individual student is named. If she had named say a black sorority then I think your position would be much stronger.

I agree that my position would be stronger with a named student but I think there's enough here to work with.

As someone else noted, she also specifies that the video is in response to something that other people have said to her. If they can find who those other people were and at least one of them was an Alabama student then the university has it's directed speech.

 

[elfeliz]

That seems so weird to me that people allow a word to have so much influence over their emotions.

you obviously don't know what it means for a black person to be called that so shut your mouth

 

[Trotsky]

Hmmmmm....where are all the white Alpha Phi Alpha members at I wonder? The tri-lambs accepted white students finally.

PS my frat had everything. White, black, indian, muslim, dominican, chinese. Ok, so I don't know if they were muslim but my pledge master's name was Osama....which changed to Sam after 9/11

There are a lot of white and white-hispanic APA members.

 

[Strychnine]

The Constitution trumps all other law including a uni's code of conduct.

Unless the hate speech is directed at a singular person.

I'm sure that someone she said that to will be found.

Remember that one scene in Robocop 2?

CEO - "They'll need to be evidence of her going rogue..."

Laywer - "Sir, whether it exists or not, I'm SURE I can find it."

Is that right? NO. But people will be people.

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. We all have choices to make in life.

 

[Lord Coke]

I agree that my position would be stronger with a named student but I think there's enough here to work with.

As someone else noted, she also specifies that the video is in response to something that other people have said to her. If they can find who those other people were and at least one of them was an Alabama student then the university has it's directed speech.

I agree that it is a much harder case if the speech was directed to another AU student. I had a hard time listening to the video because it was so vulgar so I did not catch that when I listened to it.

 

[panamaican]

I agree that it is a much harder case if the speech was directed to another AU student. I had a hard time listening to the video because it was so vulgar so I did not catch that when I listened to it.

Yeah, I was definitely surprised by the vehemence in her voice and how young she was. And it's crazy that she was that bold with other people in the car with her.

 

[Renard]

I don't think students' personal opinions are any business of the university. They're literally poking their nose in social media posts that don't concern them in order to find a thought crime. It's her case it's a blatant transgression against social norms, but with how far left the universities are getting next year it'll be someone is expelled for thinking biological sex exists. How's that for 'systematic racism' by the way? Look at how outraged society is when they manage to find a genuine racist.

 

[Islam Imamate]

One person hearing it vs lots of people.

Welcome to "Dealing with scale 101", i'm Falsedawn and apparently i'm teaching you this.

Protip: Broadcasting your bullshit on the internet is liable to have a very wide reach, hence us talking about it.

In her defense it was supposed to be on a private Instagram account.

 

[D3thr0n3d K1ng]

Weird that any expressions upset people.

If only everyone could be a Vulcan like you.

 

[Teppodama]

Thought crimes, thought crimes everywhere.

 

[tehend]

You're an idiot.

Stunning and brave.

It's amazing how many people can't seem to distinguish between the two.

What's amazing is that he thought they were similar enough to use in an example.

you obviously don't know what it means for a black person to be called that so shut your mouth

Oh piss off. No one's speech should be curtailed because it might offend one portion of the population more than others.

If only everyone could be a Vulcan like you.

I agree, so much bullshit would disappear overnight.