Kassman responds to off-campus concerns. See page 8. CCC calls for rally Epithet, swastika inspire action Pugh Center Celebrates BY ERIN M. DUGGAN In an official notice sent to stu- Editor-in-Chief dents Friday morning, Cotter said Grand Opening he and the undersigned student ebration on Friday, President Wil- Taking control of what Presi- and faculty were "outraged to liam Cotter spoke of the Pugh Cen- dent William Cotter deemed a think this incident has occurred ter as a further step in making Colby "teachable moment" for Colby, on our campus when the Colby an increasingly diverse college the Campus Community Commit- community at large is united on community. tee (CCC) has called for a rally to the need to fight racism and to "Our work is not done at the be held Friday as a forum for stu- honor diversity." college," said Cotter. "This is a sym- dent reaction to racist and anti- At the end of the notice, Cotter bol of our challenges - a day of Semitic incidents reported last asked anyone having information renewal of commitment." week. about the incident to speak to a Cotter said the Center is just At its first meeting on member of the Harassment Advi- one answer to the general question Wednesday morning, the CCC sory Committee. It was after this "How can we be supportive of our reviewed last week's discoveries, letter that a student living in increasingly diverse student of a racial epithet and a swastika Woodman reported a swastika body?" in the first-floor Woodman hall- had been drawn on her message Josh Woodfork '97, president of way. The committee discussed board the same morning the the Student Association (Stu-A), possible ways of dealing with con- poster was found, according to a and also one of the students origi- cerns recently expressed by stu- second letter from Cotter. nally involved in the petition for dents and agreed a rally similar Colby's harassment policy was this multicultural addition in 1994, to the one held in the spring of revised in the spring of 1994 in an spoke to the crowd on the power of 1994 (after a dozen swastikas were effort to ensure freedom of speech the day. "This is a tangible, visible found) would be most effective. while prohibiting harassment based commitment in the center of the The racial epithet was found on race, color, sex, sexual orienta- Echo photo by Jennifer Atwood campus," said Woodfork. last Tuesday morning by an HR tion, religion, national or ethnic ori- President Cotter gives Stu-A President Josh Woodfork '97 a Now that Colby has taken this in Woodman, on a "milk mus- gin, or disability, according to the piece of the ribbon from the opening ' cereniony. step and built the Pugh Center, tache" poster of Student Activi- current Student Handbook. though, Woodfork raised the im- ties President Josh Woodfork '97 In his letter last Friday, Cotter BY RENEE LAJEUNESSE campus discussions about the need portant questions of how the Col- and President Cotter. The word said the poster incident appears News Editor for a multicultural venue, initiated lege is going to use it, what it is "nigger" was scrawled in marker to violate that policy. Although by the requests of the Students of going to become and what it will over Woodfork's photo, accord- the State Attorney General's Of- The new Pugh Center addition Color United for Change in the represent. He stressed the need to ing to Dean of the College Earl fice was called Friday morning to to the Student Union was teaming Spring of 1994. The Trustee Com- fight the belief that the Pugh Cen- Smith. investigate, according to Dean of with activity on Friday, September mission on Multicultural and Spe- ter is only for "special multicultural "What that word represents," Students Janice Kassman, there are 20. The Grand Opening celebra- cial Interest Housing, specially students," for, as he said, "I'm not said Woodfork, "is me hanging no leads so far. tion, highly attended by students, formed to study this request, rec- sure who 'they' are." from the Pierce balcony or the Tomorrow at noon the Colby faculty and community members ommended the construction of Lawrence Pugh, a member of flagpole not so long ago in this community will congregate in alike, lacked off at 12:30 p.m. in the what is now the Pugh Center as an Colby's Class of 1956 and chair of country. I'm not physically fear- front of Miller Library. All stu- common room. alternative to a multicultural resi- the college's Board of Trustees, pro- ing for my life, but the reality is dents, faculty and staff are en- The new 7000 square foot addi- dence hall. ceeded to address the crowd after someone feels this way about me." couraged to attend.Q tion to Colby was a direct result of Addressing the crowd at the cel- See PUGH on page 3 Hammering away at America's racial violence Civil rights lawyer Morris Dees draws huge crowd f orSpotligh t Lecture BY BENJAMIN JOHNSTON he said, create a high level of frus- beaten to death with by a group of Contributing Writer tration within the black community skin heads who had just attended and only work to widen the racial a meeting with the vice president Under the protective eye of at lines dividing the country today. of WAR. Dees was able to prove least two, FBI agents, Morris Dees, After co-founding the Law Cen- that this violence was incited by founder of the Southern Poverty ter in 1971, Dees has become one of the greater organization and was Law Center, entered the Student the most famous, and to some the not a random act by select hate Union last Thursday to deliver most hated, trial lawyers in history. group members. Colby's second Spotlight Lecture of His work at the Law Center has Dees stressed the theme of love the fall semester. centered around civil-rights viola- between the common man, point- In his lecture at Colby, Dees de- tions and racially motivated "hate ing out how much we have in com- scribed the United States as a coun- crimes," and has lead the Ku Klux mon, but also raised a question try "deeply divided along many Klan to name him "an enemy of the which has plagued America since lines," the deepest of these lines people." its birth: "If America is really great being racial. In 1981, Dees won a $7 million because of its diversity, than why "We've got to have love to pull lawsuit against the United Clans of can't we get along?" us together," said Dees. While quot- America (UCA), a while suprema- This is one question with which ing Pete Seager's "If I had a Ham- cist group affiliated with the KKK America will continue to grapple , mer," Dees spoke of the need for "a for their role in sparking an incident but Dees said he has seen an im- love between the brothers and the in Mobile, Ala. According to Dees, provement. Today the South is sisters that we can share." this was the first time a hate group much more tolerant than it used to Dees spoke of the many glass had beervbrought to trail for the acts be and many of the church ceilings that still exist in corporate of its members. burnings which have been mak- America and how blacks with the Dees later brought the White ing headlines lately are not actu- same credit history as their white Ayran Resistance (WAR), a west ally racially motivated, he said. Echo photo hy Tanya Scnwls counterparts are turned down for coast white supremacist group, to Still, "we have a long way to go in Morris Dees delivered the second Spotlight Lecture of the loans at twice the rate. These facts, trial when an Ethiopian man was this country/'Q semester last Thursday. " - ' -J U ^ ^ HHaaMla HNaal a |M |a \ HMa |H || H | M|M |taa B HB Welcome back to Cotter: mmmmmT ?5* ^ v^ SS^ ^^^ ^^^ ^ ^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^ ^^^^^ ¦ ^ ^ /Af¦ - jO ^ ^^ - ^^ v. A ' * Students return from studying abroad Ijilpws Briefe - BY KRISTEN NORTH Contributing Writer sentiments. Karina Schoultz '97 returning students of several re- spent a semester in Sevilla, Spain. entry" opportunities the Dean of The Dean of Students Office Although she summed \ip her Students Office has organized to Wideman speaking today and the Office of Off-Campus time abroad as "fantastic" allow students to share their expe- Author John Edgar Wideman will deliver today's Spotlight Lecture Studies co-sponsored a dinner on Schoultz added that "Some people riences and utilize the skills they in the Page Commons Room of the Student Union. Wideman, two-time Wednesday, September 18, in an feel isolated when they get back. learned during their time away winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award, will be reading from his latest effort to help returning students It will be interesting to share ex- from Colby. As well as the dinner, novel, The Cattle Killing, a book about love and family, ancestors and get reacquainted with Colby and periences [with other students]." Denney informed them of a "Big inheritance, salvery and freedom and the bonds separating black and their peers after spending a se- "The dinner will help me catch Sib" program which matches stu- white. Wideman has been termed "our most powerful and accom- mester or year abroad. up witheveryon e," said Amanda dents that studied outside the plished artist of the urban black world," by the Los Angeles Times Book Martha J.