I have a feeling that the real reason some students resent the continuation of the Carrie Chapman Catt debate is that it hits a little too close to home on ISU student attitudes and beliefs.

Whether you are aware of it or not, Iowa State tends to practice a non-violent “ethnic cleansing” of its campus which is no different from what occurred in the Baltic states of Europe.

I don’t say this lightly.

Consider that statistically, African-American students are the most likely to not return after their first year at ISU or to transfer to another school.

I’ll leave the actual numbers to the sociologists and scientists, but I’ve seen some of the data and I believe it reflects reality.

As a student who transferred from a school that was actually less racially tolerant than Iowa State, I consider it a very valid reason for your choice of education institution because your level of happiness can directly affect both your grades and your chances of graduating.

The “ethnic cleansing” is not limited to outbound students who don’t feel comfortable at ISU.

ISU’s student radio station used to have a solid six-hour block of urban contemporary (rap, R&B, and reggae) every afternoon; now you’d be hard pressed to find more than four hours of urban contemporary on any given night.

As a former urban music DJ, I am of course biased, but the program schedule is actual fact, regardless of my own opinion.

KURE is not to be faulted though; they’re just taking Jischke’s lead — the needs and opinions of the minority have no meaning for Iowa State.

Little wonder we had a GSB president who’s views reflected the same philosophy — he had been completely acculturated into ISU’s “ethnic cleansing.”

I could go on with more examples, but I think this goes far enough to show that the Catt issue digs into a vein of ISU culture that we’d rather hide than examine.

Steve Juon

Junior

journalism and mass communication