Guilford Rumor

A commenter to my post ACLU Gives Up has this to say:

I think the footballers should demand a public apology from the faculty member who sent out the email and staged the private assembly of non-white students. She stated that the Palis were victims of a hate crime. As I understand it, she also led the Palis to the magistrate's office to swear out warrants.

Interesting that "she" led the Palestinians to the magistrates office to swear out warrants on the football players. That action may place "her" in legal jeopardy.Pipeline News has a copy of the letter and the name of the person who sent it.

Perhaps the shrill, racially charged statement by Guilford's director of multicultural education, Sekinah Hamlin demonstrates the level of bile being ginned up by this controversy and the degree to which some have prejudged the event.

"Students of Color and/or International Students:

By now, most of you have heard about the situation that occurred on Friday night between some football players and Faris Khader, Osama Sabbah, and Omar Awartini (a student from NC State). Faris, Osama, and Omar were defending themselves against students (and possibly perspective students) that were attacking them physically and simultaneously verbally with phrases like "sandnigga'", "terrorist", etc. The incident was a hate crime.

We must be united as people of color more than ever. What happened to these three young men could have happened to any one of us. That is the reality of racism and no institution, including Guilford, in this country is free of it.

We are concerned about your safety and your mental, spiritual, and emotional health. If you feel unsafe, need to talk, or anything else, please do not hesitate to contact us. In addition, we will have a gathering to discuss how this is affecting you/us/people of color Monday, January 21, 2007 (tomorrow) at 9pm in the International House. This meeting is ONLY for students of color. This affects us in a different way than our white allies and we need to have a safe place to discuss how we are feeling.

I have included cell numbers for myself and Jorge Zeballos, International Student Advisor and Latino Initiative Coordinator. We have been working with Faris, Osama, and Omar and meeting continuously this weekend. If you have any questions or concerns, we will be able to answer them. In addition, if you would like to reach out to other Multicultural Education staff members, I have included their information as well.

Thanks and I see you on tomorrow.

Sincerely,

Sèkinah Hamlin
Director of Multicultural Education"

Guilford College says that Hamlin does not speak for the school.

Greensboro (WSJS) -- A Guilford College official says an e-mail letter purportedly written by the school's director of multicultural education regarding the incident involving several football players and three Palestinian students does not represent the official views of the college. Nic Brown, assistant director of college relations, says aware of the e-mail but is unable to verify its content. He says no one at the school is under a gag order and is free to express their opinions. The family of Guilford College football player Michael Bates, accused in the beating of three Palestinian students, released a statement regarding the incident claiming Bates, Michael Six and Christopher Barnette have been "unfairly prejudged." The statement also includes what the family says is the first paragraph of the e-mail, in which director Sekinah Hamlin writes, "Faris, Osama and Omar were defending themselves against students (and possibly perspective students) that were attacking them physically and simultaneously verbally...the incident was a hate crime." Brown says he doesn't think any disciplinary action would be taken against Hamlin, who may have rushed "to use language short of the gathering of all the facts." Hamlin has not responded to a call by WSJS for comment.

Ah, the ever popular rush to judgement.

Guilford is doing much better with this than Duke is doing with their Gang of 88 who have also taken a fairly fact free approach to the false accusations against the 3 Duke students.

Cross Posted at Classical Values