Racist calls plague African Student Union

Racist calls plague African Student Union

By Nancy Hsu

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Members of the African Student Union called university police
Tuesday afternoon after receiving a number of racially offensive
phone calls, students said.

The campus group logged eight harassing calls between 2:40 p.m.
and 3:45 p.m. from one man who sounded like he was in his late 40s
to early 50s, members said.

"He kept calling and hanging up," said Kamille Maslon, a
third-year psychology student and public relations director for the
group. "The first time he called, he called me a ‘bell-curve
nigger.’ He hung up and called me back again and said his IQ was
higher than mine."

Since he kept repeatedly hanging up, Maslon said she was not
able to respond to the caller.

Shauna Robinson, a third-year Afro-American Studies student and
the group’s program coordinator, said she answered the last
call.

"He called me an ‘African asshole’," Robinson said. "I just
laughed."

Though the caller did not threaten to physically harm members of
the group, students said they decided to file a report with
university police.

University police received the call shortly after 4 p.m. and
sent an officer to the group’s Kerckhoff Hall office to take a
report.

"(The officer) said if he keeps calling, they can bug the
phone," Robinson said. "I don’t think it will come to that."

Members of the group said they believe the harassment stems from
their active involvement in the campaign to keep affirmative action
intact.

For the past few weeks, the African Student Union and members of
the undergraduate student government have been meeting to help
develop strategies on combating anti-affirmative action ideas,
Robinson said.

Tuesday afternoon was the first time Maslon received a harassing
phone call, she said. Though a little shaken, she said she will
take it in stride as a fact of life.

"It’s like my rite of passage," Maslon said. "It’s what I’ll
have to face when I graduate and get into the real world."