The Rocket

Issue date: 2/5/10 Section: Opinion

Media Credit: Zack Tanner

SRU is planning to provide students with a unique opportunity this semester. After several controversies with diversity on campus over the past few years, departments around campus are putting money toward educating the students.

From March 16-April 20, there'll be a number of different seminars that should generate an open dialogue on the issue of race at the Rock.

The guest speakers will include Tony Norman, a columnist from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and Dr. Sharon Fries-Britt, an associate professor in the College of Education at the University of Maryland, College Park.

But there'll be another speaker as well.

Keith Knight, who draws the K Chronicles cartoon series.

He'll be speaking on April 20. On Sept. 25, The Rocket published Knight's controverial comic which showed a black man being hanged from a noose in its first frame.

Some people intrepreted the image as racist and people protested the decision to publish the comic. We feel that bringing Knight in is a testament to the dedication of faculty on campus to educate students on diversity.

When planning for these workshops started, there was resistance to bringing Knight to campus, fear that it would re-open old wounds.

This notion is kind of silly because students should have the opportunity to listen what he has to say.

This seminar should create a good forum for students to try and understand his message. Both sides should be able to learn from his speech.

When you're in a field and draw strong images to get your point across, you're going to take some criticism.

It'll be interesting to see Knight come to SRU and talk about what makes him think the way he does.

Some people agreed with his message, while others found it offensive.

Students should attend these workshops to try to develop sensitivity on issues of diversity, but they also need to be able to recognize and understand satire, which many media outlets-from newspapers to comedic television shows like Saturday Night Live-thrive on.

If students are unable to decipher these messages now, what'll happen when they head out into the real world? Instead of hoping that an incident will never happen again and letting things blow over, people took action.

SRU's administration deserves a lot of credit for allowing this to happen. Dr. Bruce Russell, dean of the College of Business, Information and Social Science, helped bring together funds to bring Knight to campus.

Continued...

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