Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

West Virginia U. Black Student Union protests Rushton's speech
By Shay Maunz
The Daily Athenaeum, West Virginia U.
March 12, 2009

With at least 100 onlookers staring at him and students filtering in and out of the Mountainlair, Carlton Smith stood atop the Mountainlair steps amidst the noise and chatter of classes switching and began to sing the first verses of the Black National Anthem.

Smith, a senior criminology and investigations major, at least 50 other protesters from of the Black Student Union and faculty, staff and students joined together Wednesday to protest West Virginia University’s decision to host a lecture by controversial psychologist J. Philippe Rushton.

Rushton, currently a professor at The University of Western Ontario, is known for developing an intelligence hierarchy based on racial differences. In his major published work, “Race, Evolution and Behavior,” he places Asians on the superior end of a spectrum, blacks on the inferior end and Caucasians between the two.

“If the attention is on us for protesting a great cause, let it be. But we want the attention off of him,” said senior political science major and BSU Political Affairs Chair Tiffany Ford. “Because anything that’s coming out of his mouth totally goes against what the Black Student Union stands for, what this University stands for and the whole mission of the University since 1863.”

As Smith finished his microphone-less rendition of the anthem, the protesters gathered homemade signs that said, “You call it science, we call it racism,” and “Is Rosa Parks inferior?” and began to march down University Avenue, onto Willey Street, up Prospect Street, through the Mountainlair and finished on the steps of Oglebay Hall – in front of Ming Hsieh Hall, where Rushton spoke later that night.

As they marched down the street chanting “Educate, don’t discriminate,” cars honked evoking rounds of cheers from the protesters.

The protest, which began at 1:15 p.m., was deliberately scheduled as classes were changing. With the homemade signs laid along the rails leading to the Mountainlair, the protesters caught the attention of students mingling in front of the Mountainlair or those traveling to and from class. Some looked on in confusion and others muttered under their breath. Some stopped to watch and joined the protest.

The protest was not limited to members of the BSU, though.

Senior music major Evan Vockley heard about the event from someone in his English class and spread the word to all of his friends. He said he was with the BSU “only in spirit,” and he came equipped with his own sign, which quoted a song by John Lennon.

Melissa Latimer, an associate professor of sociology at WVU, was familiar with Rushton’s work even before attention was given to him at WVU. She chose to protest because she is critical of his work and the message it conveys.

“You know, as a sociologist, we have an anti-discrimination policy and so do the anthropologists,” she said. “Promoting research that basically argues that one group is inferior to another is just completely unacceptable. And the research is faulty.”

Protestors entered the Mountainlair silently, as required by University regulations, but held their signs and their fists in the air. They finished with loud chants atop the steps of Oglebay Hall, fists in the air accompanied by car horns in the background, and they let out a few last unifying chants before going their separate ways for the remainder of the day.

The protest was originally supposed to pick back up again that night as Rushton spoke, but the BSU dissembled those plans after they decided they made their presence and views known.

“We decided that the really vocal part of things was earlier (Wednesday) ... But here, you know, we just kind of want our presence to be known, but it won’t be on the same level that it was earlier. Now it’s like we’re here to listen to what you’re going to say,” said junior international studies major Lauren Collins, the BSU’s executive vice president. “We want to present this in the most professional, non-violent way possible.”

Wednesday night during his lecture, Rushton did not speak about his studies in racial inequality, he instead talked about his research on altruism.

But protestors still felt that Rushton’s appearance at the University should not go unnoticed.

“We just want the University to know that we’re aware of what’s going on, and we’re not happy with it,” said junior journalism major Chelsea Fuller, the president of the BSU. “Students pay attention to everything.”

And while at least one passerby questioned the protesters’ intent, the message did not get lost Wednesday afternoon among a crowd of rushing students.

“It’s not to protest his speech tonight or to publicly protest him, because we understand that this is America, and you can say what you have to say,” Ford said. “Our whole goal is for people to not be infused with his ignorance.”

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