Stupidity or Reprehensible Racism?

[maya54]

http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/10/us/citadel-pillowcases/index.html

[ucbalumnus]

Perhaps some of both? They are not mutually exclusive, of course.

[LakeWashington]

Well, the Citadel traditionally has not been known as a bulwark of progressiveness. It has suffered at least one sensational racist incident since the 1980s; and it fought as hard as it could against admitting female applicants. Fellows I knew from VMI said that there was racist nonsense at the Citadel which would never fly at VMI.

[Overtheedge]

I think sheer stupidity.

[EarlVanDorn]

The story says they were singing Christmas carols while dressed as “Ghosts of Christmas Past.” Really dumb, but if true there is no doubt a video of them singing the carols.

[cobrat]

Damn. What were those cadets thinking. The manner in which they’re wearing those pillow cases is very reminiscent of some old photographs of some early KKK members in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. And I can see how they can conjure up horrific memories for AAs due to the horrific past history of their terrorist activities against the AA population from the late 19th century onwards.

Would be interesting to see whether those cadets can fight the suspension proceedings on free speech grounds considering the Citadel is a state funded public institution.

Would be more interesting to see defenses of these students from some of the usual suspect posters here on CC.

[MommaJ]

Let’s get real. In Mane, it would be stupidity; in South Carolina it’s racism.

[jym626]

Overall Admission Rate 76% of 2,625 applicants were admitted

Qualifications of Enrolled Freshmen
Average GPA 3.59
SAT Math 500-600 range of middle 50%
SAT Critical Reading 490-590 range of middle 50%
SAT Writing Not reported
ACT Composite 20-25 range of middle 50%

Not impressed with Citadel students-- and this lame-brained stunt confirms that.

[happy1]

I’d say it is both stupidity and racism.

[Youdon_tsay]

Both.

[romanigypsyeyes]

Both. Idiots.
They’re also now suspended according to NPR.

ETA link: http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/12/10/459255377/the-citadel-suspends-8-cadets-over-white-hooded-photos

[TooOld4School]

I don’t see any robes. Once again, rampant PC

[jym626]

The Citadel is just up the road from where the horrific shooting occurred in Charleston earlier this year. What the heck were they thinking???

[romanigypsyeyes]

For what it’s worth, the NPR link has much more of the backstory. Including:

The images reportedly came to light after a woman rebuffed a man who was making advances via social media, according to Charleston’s ABC 4 News. But the failed connection enabled her to see what was in his feed, and she was stunned by what she saw.

The woman wasn’t interested in the man’s overtures — which reportedly included the line “I always wanted a black girl.” But ABC 4 says the woman noticed that the man’s Snapchat account included images of white men dressed in white hoods with eyeholes cut out, along with a man in a Citadel sweatshirt — so she saved a copy and posted it online.

[cobrat]

Overall Admission Rate 76% of 2,625 applicants were admitted

Qualifications of Enrolled Freshmen
Average GPA 3.59
SAT Math 500-600 range of middle 50%
SAT Critical Reading 490-590 range of middle 50%
SAT Writing Not reported
ACT Composite 20-25 range of middle 50%

Not impressed with Citadel students-- and this lame-brained stunt confirms that.

A college classmate from SC and an article I remembered reading about them resisting admitting women did mention one supposedly popular Citadel motto which underscored all that:

“2.0 and go!”

It was a factor in why he didn’t bother filling out an unsolicited application to join their “scholar’s program” when he was applying to colleges.

[OspreyCV22]

Wow that’s incredibly tone deaf. Rather than kick them out they might benefit by each writing a paper on why it was a stupid idea. Since it’s a military school I would not be surprised if the pillowcase wearers are freshmen and are being “required” by the upperclassmen to wear the hoods. Those look like uniform pants, T shirts and pillowcases.

[cobrat]

Rather than kick them out they might benefit by each writing a paper on why it was a stupid idea.

They aren’t being kicked out. They are being suspended which is temporary. Do agree that if upperclassmen instigated this, they should also be held responsible and punished.

[Pizzagirl]

I don’t see how their SAT scores are relevant to anything. God bless CC!

[T26E4]

The underclassmen don’t get a pass on this. At institutions like the Citadel, they’re expected to lead at every stage. Sorry but letting stuff like this go unchecked leads to the culture which invites video of Marines defiling enemy corpses. And to the point about “there were no robes” ??? There wasn’t a flaming cross nor nooses around either. It wasn’t lost on any of the participants what this represented. The deep legacy of segregation at the Citadel cannot be lost on any student. I hope these young men move fwd with a serious lesson learned.

[scout59]

You do know that the Citadel has a long history of racist “incidents,” right? In 1986 five cadets wearing white robes and pillowcases burst into the room of a black cadet, screaming racist insults at him and burning a paper cross. The FBI got involved. In the 1990s there was a “60 Minutes” story about the Citadel that exposed a real fascination with the Nazis and the KKK on its campus.

I know that times have changed since the 80s and 90s, and yet - here we have students in hoods on campus. Again.

I’m sure that the campus is oh-so-much more civilized now, but it’s hard to change a culture completely. Placed in the context of the history of such shenanigans at the Citadel, I think these students knew exactly what they were doing.

My vote is “racism,” with some stupidity thrown in…