Tom Wolfe wrote an essay called, "My Three Stooges", a response to three American authors who had criticized A Man in Full. With apologies to Wolfe, I introduce Duke's Three Stooges: Hubris, Misinformation and Inappropriateness - all were present at Wednesday's Duke Student Government meeting in the form of DSG president Joshua Jean-Baptiste, Spectrum president Polentzi Narvarte and student leader Yousuf Al-Bulushi.
Jean-Baptiste, who may go down as the toughest DSG president, has been charged with felony assault, for allegedly jointly pummeling a visiting student. Answering Duke students' two greatest concerns at Wednesday's meeting, Baptiste informed us:
"Hello, everyone. I'm fine...."
Phew! He's fine. We had heard you had been assaulted. Oh, wait...
"I've been in my room."
Thank goodness! We didn't want to get assaulted, too.
The first words from Jean-Baptiste, as with any political leader charged with a violent crime, should be "I'm sorry," followed immediately by, "I resign." Yes, Jean-Baptiste is innocent until proven guilty. Yes, he may have a host of affirmative defenses. But it's irrelevant.
The mere possibility of having a felon at the head of the student government of an elite university should drive DSG's vice presidents and legislators to call for resignation. Any leader with any dignity or any respect for the student body he fights for should beat them to the punch and step down. This is a black-eye for the organization when it should only be a black-eye for Jean-Baptiste, and the victim of the alleged assault.
Jean-Baptiste's Minister of Misinformation, Narvarte, should see the cause of defending the proud for what it is - a loser. Sounding like that picayune Iraqi spokesperson who insists that the Republican Guard is winning the war, Narvarte proclaimed that coverage of this incident was "ridiculous" and involved "blatant disregard for reporting the facts."
Playing ombudsman for a moment, let's look at those facts. In The Chronicle's March 31 story you find witness comments, a statement by DSG Executive Vice President Justin Ford and a write-up of the police report. That's about as boring as news story can get - all facts.
The only blatant disregard has come from Narvarte, who played the race card at the DSG meeting, complaining that the coverage was "as deplorable as it is irresponsible, especially on a predominantly white, racialized campus like Duke." That's cold-calculating misinformation and an attempt to play on stereotypes.
Narvarte's assertion that coverage has been racially and personally biased is unsubstantiated, especially given The Chronicle's endorsement of Jean-Baptiste's plan for restructuring DSG in a Feb. 14 editorial.
The reason The Chronicle or any newspaper would report on this is simple: Jean-Baptiste is a public figure and must be held accountable for his acts - good and bad. The only real complaint should be that The Chronicle does not cover all DSG doings with the same veracity as it has covered the assault issue.
Speaking of seeking coverage, Al-Bulushi is a convincing student leader who passionately believes in the causes he champions.
But it's idiotic to barge into meetings with a mob when the group doesn't affect the issue. DSG has a role in some larger debates that touch on campus issues - same-sex unions in Duke's Chapel or Duke students going to Myrtle Beach while the Confederate Flag was flying overhead. An anti-war resolution had 30 minutes; it did not deserve two.
Wednesday's display did nothing good for the anti-war movement at Duke, but it did make everyone involved look like the stereotypical clueless liberal who would rather rant than argue. Duke's conservatives do not even try to argue - they prefer stunt politics like when former Duke Conservative Union president Martin Green resigned from the Undergraduate Judicial Board because he felt that the black student joining the board was only there because of affirmative action. Does Al-Bulushi really want to be seen like the sideshow that campus conservatives have become?
For the sake of the University, the stooges' acts need to be cut short. You are embarrassing us alumni, and you will be embarrassing yourselves.
Martin Barna, Trinity '02, is a former editorial page editor of The Chronicle.
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