Nigger. It is a powerful, controversial, polarizing and fighting word. It is a word that was found here and has no business here. We as a campus should do our duty as seekers and instructors of higher education to exterminate this word and address the causation of such fundamentally flawed and socially destructive belief systems.

White students: Do you care that racist graffiti has appeared on your campus? Have you asked any of your classmates how they feel about it, thought about how hurtful it must be, thought about how drastically different your life would be if you were born a person of color or asked yourself if you are prejudiced?

The appearance and recurrence of such slurs on campus is a psychological lynching of our faculty and students of color, and a shameful humiliation to white faculty and students. I spoke to some students and faculty of color, who have voiced concerns about the impact these hateful acts are having on people of color at UW-Platteville. Their worries include uneasiness, anxiety, mental and emotional duress when one sees that justice is not more vigorously sought out by administration and tension in living quarters and classrooms.

This issue is, for the most part, going unaddressed. It does not appear to be important enough for the administration to publicly acknowledge more forcefully than a simple e-mail. A lack of a more serious response is disrespectful. Events like these may have an effect on the decision made by students of color who are considering leaving UW-P in favor of a more accepting and diverse campus. The anxiety in students and faculty of color when they do not know who committed the act of racism leads to a distrust in their white peers. It reaffirms the demoralizing and self-defeating thought process of “No matter where I go, no matter what I do, they are still going to see me as a nigger.” It can lead them to second-guess their decision to attend UW-P when they see that racist low lifes occupy it as well.

On Nov. 8 from 7:50 to 8:06 p.m. I polled 10 random men and 10 random women at the Karmann Library. I asked the following questions:

• Do you check your school e-mail?  Yes.

• How many classes are you taking? Approximately five classes per student.

• How many of your professors brought attention to the racial graffiti? Only three.

So, students and faculty members who are a person of color: Is it a great day to be a Pioneer?

-Jesse James Brogley