George Fox president denounces Obama display
by Noelle Crombie, The Oregonian
Wednesday September 24, 2008, 10:10 AM
Motoya Nakamura/The Oregonian
The Barack Obama cutout was found hanging from one of the trees outside Minthorn Hall.
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The president of George Fox University this morning denounced the hanging of a likeness of U.S. Sen. Barack Obama on campus along with graffiti aimed at minority recipients of a scholarship program.
President Robin Baker discussed the incident today during the twice-weekly campus service, which was packed. With dozens of Act 6 students and student leaders in front of the stage, he urged students to show that the display, found Tuesday, has no place in Christian ideals.
"We absolutely cannot hate those around us and say we love God," he said. "It is not possible."
"Yesterday was not a good example of what it means to follow Jesus," he said.
Quoting the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Abraham Lincoln, the president said the university has long had difficulties recruiting nonwhite students and his dream has been to help create a university that "more broadly represents the kingdom of God."
George Fox University, which is in Newberg, was founded in 1891 by Quaker pioneers.
"My vision was to bring students here to help us see new perspectives, to create a richer dialogue in our classroom ... to further enrich our community," said Baker, who has presided over the Christian college for about a year.
A campus custodial crew discovered the cutout of the Democratic presidential nominee about 7 a.m. Tuesday. Crew member Katlyn Search, 21, a George Fox senior from Battle Ground, Wash., said the cutout was hung by fishing line from a tree near Minthorn Hall. She, another student on the crew and their supervisor took down the cutout and reported the incident to the administration. Search said Obama cutouts can be purchased at a local supermarket.
The cutout was accompanied by the words "Act Six reject." Act Six is a scholarship program that was established two years ago and is aimed at including more low-income and minority students in the George Fox student body. Students are chosen for their leadership potential; all receive full scholarships.
Baker, the university president, said about seven of those students are African-American. About a quarter of the student body is minority, "which for us is a really significant achievement," he said.
Baker said he met with the students in that program late Tuesday to discuss the incident.
"Their reaction was quite positive," Baker said.
After Baker's speech to students this morning, one Act 6 student, Courtney Greenidge, 19, said, "I just felt that they weren't ready to have a black person running for president. And I felt like they were just putting our program down."
Another Act 6 student, Vanessa Wilkins, 19, of Hillsboro, said she felt confused as well as angry. But she added that she is focused less on finding whoever put the display up and more on "addressing the issues" that person has.
"This creates all these doors for us to be able to talk about" issues that people normally would avoid discussing, she said.
George Fox has about 1,800 undergraduates on campus. The school's spokesman, Rob Felton, said its incoming class is about 25 percent nonwhite, including international students.
A few students had not heard of the incident before a school e-mail was sent this morning with a description of the incident and an announcement that the matter would be addressed today.
Nate Brown, 21, a senior from Seattle, lauded the school's administration for "confronting these issues."
"It's sad because it's just someone being immature more than anything," Brown said, adding that he is not aware of any racial tensions on campus.
Jared Rogers, a 21-year-old senior, also was among those who found out about the incident when he read the campus-wide e-mail.
"I was surprised. Obviously. it's not something you'd expect for a Christian campus," Roger said. "To me, it's someone who wanted a lot of attention."
He said he thinks the hanging of the cutout was "definitely racist."
"Why would you connect Obama to Act 6 unless you were intending racist undertones?" he said.
But he added, "We've never had anything like that on campus. In general, George Fox is not racist at all."
Amanda Stone, a senior from Sacramento, Calif., who is studying history and political science, said she found the incident disgusting.
"We've always been a very open campus when it comes to racial issues," she said. "That's absolutely shocking."
Anette Foglio, whose son, Cole Whitehurst, is an Act Six scholarship recipient, was stunned to learn about the incident. She said she visited the campus last weekend and was impressed with how peaceful and pretty it is, though her son, who is biracial, remarked that the school lacks diversity.
Still, Foglio said the majority of students appear to welcome their minority classmates.
"We are not in Georgia, Mississippi or Louisiana," she said. "We are in Oregon...To have this happen is really disappointing."
Cole's father, Mitchell Whitehurst, spoke to The Oregonian about his reaction as he drove from Portland to George Fox, where he planned to hear the college president speak about the incident. Whitehurst said he wanted to support his son and the school's other minority students.
Whitehurst, dean of students and athletic director at Jefferson High School, said students in the Act Six program have received a lot of leadership training since they arrived at school.
"This is an unbelievable early test for them," he said.
Whitehurst, who himself was one of a few African-American students at Linfield College in nearby McMinnville, said his 19-year-old son is up to the challenge of confronting racism.
"My son is a very articulate, responsible, bright young man," he said. "He is a change-maker in a controversial situation. Not a lot of kids can deal with this. This is a high level of racism."
Sahar Wali, spokeswoman for Obama's campaign in Oregon, called the George Fox incident "unfortunate."
"It's not going to change what we do here in Oregon," she said. "This race is about the issues. Across this state, we have gotten a very positive response from Oregonians."
-- Noelle Crombie, Helen Jung and Suzanne Pardington; noellecrombie@news.oregonian.com
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/09/racial_incident_rattles_george.html
