Taking Down The Issues Committee

Nathan F · Post by **Nathan F** » 2003-11-19 05:07pm

As many of you may remember, I posted a thread about the Issues Committee here at UT Knoxville. See, the Issues Committee is tasked with bringing a balanced amount of liberal, moderate, and conservative speakers to the school. They brought their first conservative speaker in at least 5 semesters a couple weeks ago, finally (there last liberal speaker, Sy Hersch, was the first in the last year or so that hasn't compared the US to Nazi Germany). Well, we uncovered that they recieve 90 grand from the school to do this, and their excuse for not bringing conservatives was that they didn't have the money. So, my Seikh friend wrote an article in the paper about it, and told how they were incredibly liberally biased. The next day, there was a letter to the editor run denying that they were liberals. Thing is, we have a mole within the Issues Committee. Our mole is a former member who quit because of the rabid liberal bias, but they haven't taken him off of their email list, so we have a source of all their internal communcations. Well, apparently, they sent an email out to their group that was very derogatory, and included an admission that they were a liberal organization, and a statment that said, quote, "...if you see that rag head, shoot him in the fucking face." Well, when Sukhmani heard about this, he didn't take kindly to it, and nor did we. So, what we do is leak this information to the school newspaper, and we now have a couple local TV stations wanting this scoop to run on TV. Today, we printed out 600 flyers that included on them the statement of 'shooting the ragheads in the f---ing face' and the admission of liberal bias. We stuck them up around campus, and although they were taken down by 12:00 today, plenty of people saw them.

Needless to say, heads in the Issues Committee (and their faculty advisor who is all part of this) are going to roll. In this case, we're not going to be satisfied until every single member is fired and a whole new board is appointed. This time with a fair amount of liberals, moderates, and conservatives. I'll keep you guys posted on the events that go on, and provide the links to the media coverage of it. The local news media is just digging for scandal to cover here at UT, as we just got over an ordeal of firing the President for fiscal mismanagement and had a big deal over some fraternities painting their faces black and insulting African Americans.

Nathan F · Post by **Nathan F** » 2003-11-19 05:07pm

Oh, and on a side note, damn I love college activism.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2003-11-19 05:45pm

What kind of "liberal" uses derogatory terms like "raghead?"

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2003-11-19 05:46pm

Darth Wong wrote:What kind of "liberal" uses derogatory terms like "raghead?"

A racist one?

Nathan F · Post by **Nathan F** » 2003-11-19 05:59pm

Darth Wong wrote:What kind of "liberal" uses derogatory terms like "raghead?"

The same Issues Committee members who would let the previously mentioned Sukhmani Singh Kahlsa onto their board because he is too 'closed minded'.

Nathan F · Post by **Nathan F** » 2003-11-19 05:59pm

Nathan F wrote:
Darth Wong wrote:What kind of "liberal" uses derogatory terms like "raghead?"
The same Issues Committee members who would let the previously mentioned Sukhmani Singh Kahlsa onto their board because he is too 'closed minded'.

*Wouldn't

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2003-11-19 06:28pm

Darth Wong wrote:What kind of "liberal" uses derogatory terms like "raghead?"

Idealogues really aren't that different from one side of the political spectrum to the other. A hardcore leftist might feel tolerance and respect for other cultures on a theoretical level, but a member of one of those cultures that gets in his way is a raghead just the same as a Sikh who gets in the way of a conservative idealogue is a raghead.

Nathan F · Post by **Nathan F** » 2003-11-20 06:49pm

Update:

We made the local TV news. Everybody seems to be missing the point, though, we're uncovering the rampant biases inside this organization, not simply the fact that one member is a blatant bigoted racist.

Link

An e-mail with a racial slur and death threat has some University of Tennessee students in an uproar.

Sukhmani Khalsa is the subject of an e-mail calling him a terrorist. The e-mail also told students that anyone who sees a "raghead" should "shoot" that person.

The e-mail came from a student on UT's Issues Committee, which spends $90,000 of students' money every year on bringing guest speakers to campus. "[This e-mail is] coming from members who have a lot of responsibility and whose intelligence is important because we give them $90,000 to bring [speakers] to our school," Khalsa said.

"This was not something representative of the entire committee's view," said Issues Committee member Daniel Klyce. "This was an individual's screw-up."

UT leaders have not returned our calls to tell us what action, if any, will be taken against the Issues Committee or the student who wrote the e-mail.

11/20/2003 17:48

Like I said, that guy needs to pay for his actions, but this is alot bigger than a simple remark.[/quote]

2000AD · Post by **2000AD** » 2003-11-20 07:59pm

Ha! Go prod buttock!

Nathan F · Post by **Nathan F** » 2003-11-20 10:21pm

Just obtained some copies of the emails in question. Here they are in their full, unedited glory.

Dear Committee,
I think that any decision to respond to Mr. Khalsa's Op-Ed should be a committee decision on Monday. And if that course of action is taken then we should all pen a letter that addresses not Khalsa's emotional appeal,put the loose "facts" that his Op-Ed piece affords him. After all how can an opinion be wrong?

But...I suggest we take the moral high road and not give a fuck to Mr. Khalsa's opinion, the free form opus that it is. What would be the point? He has not changed anyone's mind about anything. Most people at Carlson though we were a liberal committee to begin with, but they still came anyway. Its not like people are going to say, "Those damn Issues kids...I'll never attend another event...even if it is Coulter!" Hell, even Khalsa comes to all of our events(he and his posse). So what does that say? Perhaps he is a closet liberal afraid to confront his true nature, I often muse to myself. The WCC already had a run in with Mr. Khalsa and he just kept on going at them to no end (well until he switched to us). Even the people at the Beacon think he is not worth any time what so ever. We understand what goes on in he committee and we understand why it is liberal leaning. We have nothing to apologize for and did a wonderful job with our event. I think the last event's success will encourage more conservative speakers among future retreats.

But don't think that I am so calm. My first words this morning in my lab were: THAT SON OF A B*$%!! And don't think I don't want to smote him with my superior intellect and haughtiness. And I do know the different between Carlson and Coulter: the former has a penis, the latter has a vagina.

Thank you,
Warren D.

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fortunately someone brought a beacon to work today, so i got to see our GLORIOUS front page coverage of carlson. i was disappointed to see that the issues committee wasn't mentioned anywhere in the article, but nevertheless it was great coverage. apparently the guy who wrote the article is aware of his mistake and he has apologized for not mentioning the small detail of HOW tucker came to the university
unfortunately my thirst to see the issues committee's name in print was satisfied on page five. like most of you, i spent much of my day drafting a letter to the editor in response to the piece. however, i probably spent more time thinking about what a little brat this guy is and what i would do to him given the chance--torture that would put the spanish inquisition to shame, etc--but ultimately i don't think it would do any good. he simply isn't worth any more of our time.

i think it goes without saying that we shouldn't be talking to him as much about what goes on within the committee. as he mentioned, he did apply to the committee and he was rejected (largely due to his closed-mindedness and attitude). during the interview he did ask questions about our budget and its source, which we revealed to him because it's public information that he wouldn't have to search hard for. however, it's obvious that he acquired this info (and other info) about us purely for his own interests in bashing us. as witnessed in his past bashings of campus committees, responses to his opines only warranted further insane and unfounded bashings. the WCC found that out the hard way. i think we can learn from their situation and instead not reply to the absolute bullshit that this guy writes.

to paraphrase, i make no allusions as to what this email is. this is not an attempt to change a single rejected applicant/op-ed writer's mind. this is a desperate plea to tell you that i think we're doing a fucking incredible job as a committee.

rock

--owen

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we shouldn't let those damn terrorists try to destroy our freedom. let's show the axis of evil that we will not be broken, that we will not shudder in fear or back down, that the values of our forefathers set forth for the issues committee of the university of tennessee will live on and continue to push us forward. if we allow ourselves to be angry or hesitate in any way, then the terrorists have won. instead, let's wave the banner of "the thinker" all over the city of knoxville. on the library, our our cars, on the humanities bridge, and on pieces of tp stuck to our shoes. and if you see one of those ragheads, shoot him right in the fucking face.
love,
your president - er - justin

Stuart Mackey · Post by **Stuart Mackey** » 2003-11-21 03:44am

This is seriously good stuff, Well Done!

Nathan F · Post by **Nathan F** » 2003-11-21 10:57am

And even more news outlets take up the story. This time, it's the ABC station, and they're calling it today's Top Story. This is really going good! I have an odd feeling that this is going to be the flashpoint of something big. Expect to see things like this happen in colleges across the country.

http://www.wate.com/Global/story.asp?S=1534784

UT Issues Committee Under Fire for E-mails

November 20, 2003

By TIM MILLER
6 News Reporter

KNOXVILLE (WATE) -- The University of Tennessee is investigating a series of e-mails sent by members of the Issues Committee.

That's a group of students who bring speakers to campus to discuss various topics.

Thursday night, the Issues Committee brought in Dr. Jean Kilbourne, to talk about advertising and addiction. And they usually have four or five speakers come in each semester.

But changes could be coming, after some eye-opening e-mails, November 14th.

The controversy started when second year UT student Sukhmani Singh Khalsa wrote one of his weekly editorials in the campus newspaper, The Daily Beacon, last week.

He claimed the Issues Committee was overwhelmingly liberal, and brought in too many liberal speakers, like Michael Moore.

"I don't think that a lot of parents would be happy if they knew they were paying this group $90,000 to have their country slandered and their values dragged through the mud," Sukhmani said.

A few of the 25 members of the Issues Committee responded, by sending e-mails to each other, criticizing Sukhmani who's an American Sikh.

One of the e-mails was sent by Justin Rubenstein, and said, "Let's wave the banner of "the Thinker" all over the city of Knoxville, on the library, on our cars, on the humanities bridge...and if you see one of those rag heads, shoot him right in the ----- face."

Sukhmani calls the e-mails nasty and a display of "seething hatred." But he's more upset about the makeup of the committee, than talk of harming him physically.

"Maybe because of my own biases here, I would never worry about a young, suburban liberal college student having much experience with guns, so," Sukhmani said.

But the director of student activities, who oversees the Issues Committee, is very concerned about the e-mails. He's referred the matter to the Office of Judicial Affairs and the dean of students.

He also hopes people don't hold the e-mails against the entire issues committee.

"We believe in the dignity of the individual, so I think that our committee has learned a big lesson. It's certainly something we're looking into and will continue to work with," said Ron Laffitte, student activities director.

Laffitte said the e-mails are an isolated incident and the issues committee does good work.

Still, Sukhmani wants the members who sent the insensitive e-mails to be removed from the committee.

And Justin Rubenstein, who wrote the most scathing e-mail didn't want to comment on camera. However, he said that he thinks his e-mail was taken out of context. He did indicate to 6 News that he's apologetic for what he wrote.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2003-11-21 12:25pm

Just don't stop, your goal is to get rid of them all and make sure you do. Then slash their tires the day there fired.

Spoonist · Post by **Spoonist** » 2003-11-21 12:30pm

I especially like this part:

I suggest we take the moral high road and not give a fuck to Mr. Khalsa's opinion, the free form opus that it is. ... ... And don't think I don't want to smote him with my superior intellect and haughtiness. And I do know the different between Carlson and Coulter: the former has a penis, the latter has a vagina.

To actually talk about taking the moral high ground and then just flame away is soo funny.

Nathan F · Post by **Nathan F** » 2003-11-21 03:38pm

We've also made the major east tennessee news paper, the Knoxville News-Sentinal:

Link
Slur-laced e-mails stir UT review
By JIM BALLOCH, balloch@knews.com
November 21, 2003

University of Tennessee officials said Thursday that they are reviewing a series of e-mails between members of the student organization that selects campus speakers following complaints that some of the e-mails contained racial slurs and threats against a conservative columnist for the student newspaper.

One of the e-mails referred to the columnist, Sukhmani Singh Khalsa, as a "raghead" and suggested, apparently in jest, he should be shot in the face.

In a Nov. 13 column, Khalsa said the Issues Committee has a massive bias in favor of leftist speakers, called for an audit of its $90,000 yearly budget and suggested that conservative and libertarian students may have to find ways to bring in speakers reflecting their viewpoints.

His comments produced a flurry of e-mails among Issues Committee members, including the following one:

"we shouldn't let those (expletive) terrorist try to destroy our freedom. let's show the axis of evil that we will not be broken, that we will not shudder in fear or back down, that the values of our forefathers set forth for the issues committeewill live on and continue to push us forward. If we allow ourselves to be angry or hesitate in any way, then the terrorists have won. instead, let's wave the banner of 'the thinker' all over the city of Knoxville. on the library, our cars, on the humanities bridge, and on pieces of tp stuck to our shoes. and if you see one of those ragheads, shoot him right in the (expletive) face."

"The university takes any kind of statement about a student seriously and will get to the bottom of this," said Ron Laffitte, UT director of student activities.

The entire batch of e-mails between a number of members of the Issues Committee will be reviewed to determine what, if any, action should be taken, Laffitte said.

Because the e-mails were sent between UT accounts and are stored on a UT server, much of their content is public record. UT released the e-mails late Thursday, minus the identity of the students and any other material that might violate privacy regulations.

In an e-mail to the Issues Committee, the author of the e-mail containing the racial slur said that "trying to make light of this drama was a mistake" and apologized "for all the trouble you've all had to go through."

And an e-mail to that person from someone else said, "I thought you were just cutting up, but keep in mind that fat white guys from the South are the ONLY people who aren't sacred cows any more when it comes to making fun."

Jim Balloch may be reached at 865-342-6315.

Copyright 2003, KnoxNews. All Rights Reserved.

Nathan F · Post by **Nathan F** » 2003-11-21 04:00pm

Thought I'd pick these apart:

Dear Committee,
I think that any decision to respond to Mr. Khalsa's Op-Ed should be a committee decision on Monday. And if that course of action is taken then we should all pen a letter that addresses not Khalsa's emotional appeal,put the loose "facts" that his Op-Ed piece affords him. After all how can an opinion be wrong?

How would we know if opinions are right or wrong? You have stated yourself that you wouldn't bring a speaker with a conservative slant.

But...I suggest we take the moral high road and not give a fuck to Mr. Khalsa's opinion, the free form opus that it is. What would be the point? He has not changed anyone's mind about anything.

No, but we're getting you in some deep sh*t and have had the story run in all the major regional news outlets.

Most people at Carlson though we were a liberal committee to begin with, but they still came anyway. Its not like people are going to say, "Those damn Issues kids...I'll never attend another event...even if it is Coulter!" Hell, even Khalsa comes to all of our events(he and his posse).
Yes, we did think you were a liberal committee to begin with. Were we wrong?

So what does that say? Perhaps he is a closet liberal afraid to confront his true nature, I often muse to myself.
I seriously doubt that.
The WCC [Women's Coordinating Council, a feminist organization] already had a run in with Mr. Khalsa and he just kept on going at them to no end (well until he switched to us).
Don't know what you're talking about here, he had a discussion with them, yes, but he never 'kept going on at them to no end.'
Even the people at the Beacon think he is not worth any time what so ever.
If he's not worth their time, then why does he have a weekly column and this story got a first page report?
We understand what goes on in he committee and we understand why it is liberal leaning. We have nothing to apologize for and did a wonderful job with our event. I think the last event's success will encourage more conservative speakers among future retreats.
Hopefully so. I find it funny that we packed the auditorium when you finally bring a conservative, but it is barely a third full when you bring typical liberal speakers.
But don't think that I am so calm. My first words this morning in my lab were: THAT SON OF A B*$%!! And don't think I don't want to smote him with my superior intellect and haughtiness. And I do know the different between Carlson and Coulter: the former has a penis, the latter has a vagina.
Thank you for signing your own warrant and making a fool of yourself in the face of the entire university. We appreciate you giving us reason to shut you down.
i spent much of my day drafting a letter to the editor in response to the piece. however, i probably spent more time thinking about what a little brat this guy is and what i would do to him given the chance--torture that would put the spanish inquisition to shame, etc--but ultimately i don't think it would do any good. he simply isn't worth any more of our time.
And the death threats begin. Don't we love how the supposed liberals want to committ the Spanish Inquisition on anyone who doesn't agree with them. How hypocritical... (by the way, I love his usage of capitalization, it makes him look very intelligent)
i think it goes without saying that we shouldn't be talking to him as much about what goes on within the committee. as he mentioned, he did apply to the committee and he was rejected (largely due to his closed-mindedness and attitude). during the interview he did ask questions about our budget and its source, which we revealed to him because it's public information that he wouldn't have to search hard for. however, it's obvious that he acquired this info (and other info) about us purely for his own interests in bashing us. as witnessed in his past bashings of campus committees, responses to his opines only warranted further insane and unfounded bashings. the WCC found that out the hard way. i think we can learn from their situation and instead not reply to the absolute bullshit that this guy writes.
Uhm, we got that material from public records of requisitions by the university, not from you. These bashings are far from unfounded. When your committee members admit that it is a liberal organization and bring liberal speakers with my money, then that's far from an unfounded accusation.
to paraphrase, i make no allusions as to what this email is. this is not an attempt to change a single rejected applicant/op-ed writer's mind. this is a desperate plea to tell you that i think we're doing a fucking incredible job as a committee.
Yes, an incredible job of doing away with your own precious organization.

we shouldn't let those damn terrorists try to destroy our freedom. let's show the axis of evil that we will not be broken, that we will not shudder in fear or back down, that the values of our forefathers set forth for the issues committee of the university of tennessee will live on and continue to push us forward. if we allow ourselves to be angry or hesitate in any way, then the terrorists have won. instead, let's wave the banner of "the thinker" all over the city of knoxville. on the library, our our cars, on the humanities bridge, and on pieces of tp stuck to our shoes. and if you see one of those ragheads, shoot him right in the fucking face.
love,
your president - er - justin

Very eloquent, and very stupid. Don't you realize that UT can read any email that is sent on their servers? Moron. And how, all the sudden, have we become terrorists? We want a balanced list of speakers, and an audit of your spending practices.

Nathan F · Post by **Nathan F** » 2003-11-21 07:48pm

OK, now we're getting big. We have hit the news in Memphis, TN. In case you aren't familiar with US geography, it's on the other side of the state from Knoxville, approximately 400 miles away.

http://www.wmcstations.com/Global/story.asp?S=1535867

Andrew J. · Post by **Andrew J.** » 2003-11-21 08:05pm

Nathan F wrote: we shouldn't let those damn terrorists try to destroy our freedom. let's show the axis of evil that we will not be broken, that we will not shudder in fear or back down, that the values of our forefathers set forth for the issues committee of the university of tennessee will live on and continue to push us forward. if we allow ourselves to be angry or hesitate in any way, then the terrorists have won. instead, let's wave the banner of "the thinker" all over the city of knoxville. on the library, our our cars, on the humanities bridge, and on pieces of tp stuck to our shoes. and if you see one of those ragheads, shoot him right in the fucking face.
love,
your president - er - justin

[/quote]

Sweet fuck! Even without all this racist/liberal corruption stuff, this guy should be fired just for being too stupid to know the difference between Sikhs and Arabs. What a stupid fucker.

Shiva Archon · Post by **Shiva Archon** » 2003-11-21 11:05pm

Situations like this remind me why it's a good idea to have a College Republicans, a College Democrats, a College Whatevers, and they all bring their own speakers and everyone's happy.

Good luck nailing these bastards, it seems more attention needs to be drawn to their supposed financial misconduct and bias than this one incident. They'll try to pass it off as an unusual blip if they can. You can bring a great conservative speaker for no more than $10K, so if they don't have enough money for that given their $90K budget, somethings....amiss.

Nathan F · Post by **Nathan F** » 2003-11-22 04:09pm

MAJOR UPDATE!

Today, we had set up a table on public property to get a petition signed to send to the school President so as to get something done about the Issues Committee deal. Someone reported us Asst. Dean Brown, who then called the police on us. After brief negotiation with the law enforcement officers, we came to the unanimous conclusion that we were perfectly in the bounds of our rights and lawful activity, and they vacated the premises, on good terms with us. They also told us how they supported our cause and wished us good luck.

So, now we have the police on our side, and proof that the administration is trying to silence us. Funny, they really must percieve us as a threat to call the police on us to try and silence us in our perfectly legal activity.

2000AD · Post by **2000AD** » 2003-11-23 10:20am

Given how fast it's growing how long till it hits internationjal news?

I'm also semi-expecting something in my uni's newspaper.

Nathan F · Post by **Nathan F** » 2003-11-23 03:29pm

Heh, I just found this, a photoshop of a Tennessee Alumni magazine:

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2003-11-23 04:54pm

That picture is beautiful. I'm enjoying this thread a lot.

Nathan F · Post by **Nathan F** » 2003-11-24 12:24am

MAJOR MAJOR UPDATE!!!

FOX NEWS HAS PICKED US UP!!!

We have now gone NATIONAL!

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,103889,00.html

Tolerance on Campus

A Sikh student at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville who complained that a student committee only brought liberal speakers to campus was derided as a "raghead" as a result, reports the Daily Beacon.

UT student Sukhmani Singh Khalsa complained in an editorial that the students’ Issues Committee, which brings speakers to campus, was devoid of ideological diversity. "I don't think that a lot of parents would be happy if they knew they were paying this group $90,000 to have their country slandered and their values dragged through the mud," he wrote.

Following the appearance of the article, Justin Rubenstein, a member of the Issues Committee, told fellow members of the panel in an e-mail that if they "see one of those ragheads, shoot him right in the [expletive] face."

Rubenstein said his comment was taken out of context.

Post by **fgalkin** » 2003-11-24 01:16am

Congratulations.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin