Cornell Blog: An unofficial blog about Cornell University

Tonight there was a panel discussion at Noyes Community Center about the assault that occurred last Saturday on West Campus. About 30 members of the community–mostly Cornell staff and a handful of students–joined Vice President Susan Murphy, Judicial Administrator Mary Beth Grant, Dean of Students Kent Hubbell, and Captain Kathy Zoner to discuss the incident. The basic facts were reviewed, followed by a question and answer session in which questions of community, race, and campus safety dominated.

The only new information released in the discussion came from Poffenbarger’s release of certain information. Judicial Administrator Grant said, “Nathan Poffenbarger was temporarily suspended (pending a full hearing on the merits) on Feb. 18, 2006. The judicial administrator will pursue the matter in the campus judicial system after the criminal matter has been resolved.” Gwen Wilkinson, District Attorney, plans to see the case in court this summer.

Mary Beth Grant, Kent Hubbell, and Susan Murphy

When asked about the weapon used in the stabbing, Zoner refused comment, citing the current active investigation. However, a young Asian girl in the audience expressed concern over her safety without a weapon:

I can understand why some students want to carry a weapon, because things like attitude cannot be that easily changed. This is the type of crime where I am very concerned. I came from a place where I had rocks thrown at me because I’m Asian, so I come here and I realize that this is all happening again. I myself am having doubts if I should be carrying a weapon.

Other audience members commented that students have either been increasingly carrying small knives and other weapons for protection, or seriously considering it. However, CUPD representative Zoner was quick to point out that carrying any tool which could inflict damage to another person was illegal on campus.

About Holiday, Murphy indicated that he has been released from the hospital and is recovering well. His wound, which affected a lung, will take time to heal, but he is expected to “recover completely.” Murphy also promised to lead a Cornell contingent up to Union College to watch Holiday’s next play.

For more information, please feel free to download a recording in mp3 format of the forum.

Justin Davis, president to the Cornell University Black Students United, sent the following response via email. None of the numerous typographical errors or general formatting has been corrected:

I would like to begin this concise email with a thank you for all those concerned students, faculty, staff and administration that have answered the call to engagement induced by the recent incident involving a black student being stabbed under the auspices of hate. The wonderful thing about Cornell’s student body is its propensity to tackle pertinent issues that may threaten this ideal of Ezra Cornell ‘to create a new institution, where any person can find instruction in any study’. As salient as that may seem across racial, class and gender lines it does sort of holistically give * *anyone** the aptitude to defend this right if threatened. However now, in this time, currently it predicates that everyone is still so strikingly unequal and discriminated against and it only pushes people to polarize along issues that need to be tackled as a community. This incident bothers me yes. 1)because I am a black student 2) because I am a Cornell student 3) because I am an American citizen and this threatens my safety and security. With that being said we challenge you all to not make this incident a Black Cornellian issue but an all encompassing one. Yes the urge to hold up the fist of unity propels us to centralize ourselves, however, looking around campus to see the few black students who are acknowledging the incident, thinking about the incident and then following through are quite scanty. BSU condemns all acts of hate, discrimination, violence, sexual assault etc. but we do not condemn them alone. This one dimensional (only black) way of thinking will result in no response from the administration or student body; at least not large enough to subside these issues and rectify the often crumbling rhetoric behind ‘open doors, open hearts, open minds’. BSU will work in systematic meaningful ways to provide a solution to what events have transpired within the days of the 2005-2006 academic year. BSU will not just hold the administration accountable (which to most seem to only consist of Susan Murphy, Kent Hubbell, Biddy Martin and Hunter Rawlings) but we will hold the student body accountable for their actions seeing that it is the student body that commits these heinous acts of violence and hatred not the administration. BSU cannot and will not commit time to one-dimensional logic that will get the black students on this campus half way there or let down as a result of ‘un-supporting’ students whose apathy and callus disregard for their well being eclipses that of those who care. BSU will unify and collaborate with other student groups whose goals are to see a better Cornell. BSU will collaborate with facets of the Africana experience (Ujamaa, Africana, Black Graduate Students and Black Faculty and Staff) in hopes to find mentoring and advice how to grasp the message from all of this and not miss it due to the anger caused by it. In closing, I hope this message finds you all well and pushes us all to engage in meaningful ways not just reactionary ones. Keep hope alive and take care of Black people but never forget that our lives are inextricably bound to the lives of the other 18,000 grads and undergrads on this campus. Take care and God Speed.

Unfortunately, whatever message there might be in BSU’s “press release” is buried below a thick, crusty layer of implausible grammar and unfocused narrative. The very first sentence alone, which attempts to define the scope of the audience, assumes the existence of a yet unverified hate crime, qualifies its introduction to pro-black supporters, and uses two passive verbs! The rest of the “release” reads similarly, and for a well-educated Cornell student, faculty, or staff member must seem overbearingly illiterate and incomprehensible. That it is written for a primarily black audience is no excuse.

From my best gloss–I cannot verify the accuracy of my interpretation, because only Justin Davis knows what these words mean–I will try and summarize BSU’s points:

• Our response must extend beyond the black community
• The administration and student body are both responsible
• We must find an appropriate way to respond to the stabbing
• Don’t offend any white people in response to the stabbing

Unfortunately, I fail to see why BSU has the authority to “to provide a solution to what events have transpired within the days of the 2005-2006 academic year.” It’s my belief that the Ithaca courts will decide justice in the matter of this stabbing, not the Black Students United. Furthermore, it doesn’t make sense to hold either the administration or the student body accountable for the isolated actions of three black men, a white male, and his girlfriend. Dear BSU, there are no “meaningful ways” to engage this stabbing, except to pass it off to law enforcement authorities and forget about it.

If, in the course of the investigation, it becomes clear that this was a racially motivated assault, there’s still nothing worth engaging. There are not 100 Poffenbargers burning Aaliyah CDs on Ho Plaza chanting “Burn black culture.” And therefore, because this issue doesn’t concern a racial community, there’s no need for a “release” from BSU and my own longwinded commentary.

Turn Left, the student newspaper for which Nathan Poffenbarger, who allegedly stabbed a Union College student last weekend, wrote has issued a statement condemning racist or violent actions, and at the same time stating that Poffenbarger had “absolutely no propensity for violence or racism.” The full statement is reproduced below:

As most of you are aware, there was a serious incident late Friday night on West Campus. A black male Union College student was stabbed just outside of the Baker Tower archway by a white male Cornell student, who had allegedly been yelling racial slurs prior to the stabbing. The victim is currently reported to be in stable condition at the Arnot Ogden Medical Center in Elmira.

We also regret to inform the TL community that the suspect in the stabbing– Nathan Poffenbarger ‘07– is a member of the Turn Left news staff. He has reportedly turned himself in to the local authorities, and he will be arraigned in the coming days. Nathan joined Turn Left’s news staff last fall, and since then, he has written two news articles and one feature article for the paper. According to TL editors and staff members who had worked with Nathan, he had shown absolutely no propensity for violence or racism.

As always, Turn Left condemns any racist or violent actions, and we are saddened to see that racially-motivated violence is still present in our society, even among people who ostensibly oppose such bigotry. TL also extends its most heartfelt sympathies for the victim, and wishes him a safe and speedy recovery.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Sincerely,
Evan Marshak, Editor-in-Chief, and Wayne Huang, Editor Emeritus
www.cuturnleft.org

The statement is perplexing because it (1) assumes that the stabbing was a hate-crime, (2) assumes the guilt of Poffenbarger, and (3) continues to support in some measure an individual that they clearly believe is guilty of a violent hate-crime. In particular, the statement reads disingenuously in the last paragraph, which begins “As always,” as if Turn Left were merely repeating the words that public sympathy and politics demand, without any real feeling. Yet, an insincere apology is better than none.