Black Power militant H. Rap Brown speaks to the media as he and Stokely Carmichael leave Hamilton Hall where Black students took part in a sit-in protest at Columbia University in New York City on April 26, 1968. The protest was against the war in Vietnam and issues concerning racism at the university. Photo: Wide World Photos

In December, the school’s marching band distributed flyers that asked, "Who needs ethnic studies?" On the flyers were pictures of Michael Jackson as a dark-skinned young man and then as a light-skinned man. This was followed by a Feb. 5 Affirmative Action Bake Sale, sponsored by the Columbia College Conservative Club. During the sale, which coincided with a conference to assist minority students in finding jobs, Blacks, other minorities and female students were charged lower prices for cookies and doughnuts than their White counterparts. The club’s president, Mark Xue, claimed that he did not know it would offend Blacks.

Not to be outdone, The Federalist, a campus-sponsored newspaper, "In Honor of Black History Month," published a cartoon on the anniversary of Malcolm X’s death. "Blacky Fun Whitey starring Kunta Kornelius and Steppin" depicts Blacks as a 1700s invention for the purpose of cheap labor. It goes on to show the characters evolving into basketball and entertainment stars. A disclaimer running along with the cartoon said that some editors of the paper didn’t want to print it because of their policy of not censoring and "cause it’s kinda offensive."

The St. Mary’s Church rally produced a multiethnic array of students from other schools as far away as Poughkeepsie, N.Y. who came to lend support to their Columbia counterparts. Freshman Ayana Dion Labossiere from Oklahoma voiced her dismay at the recent happenings at the school.

"The worst part of it all is that these people are offending me on my dime," she said. "It’s not enough that I have to deal with the core and class, but I have racist people using my money to offend me in my space."

There may be more than a gross display of racial insensitivity on display at the prestigious school, however. For Seton Hall University Professor Bill Sales, who spoke at the protest, there is an element more sinister. "You, students, must understand that this is more than just ignorance," he told the crowd.

"Some of the most brilliant minds in the country are orchestrating this thing. This is more than just about racist attitudes, but more of a well-planned action of gentrification by Columbia University," said Prof. Sales who, in 1968, as a Columbia graduate student, participated in the historic 1968 seizure of Hamilton Hall when students armed themselves and took control of the campus building to protest racial injustices on the campus.

Similar incidents, including the bake sales, have occurred on some of the country’s most prominent institutions of higher learning, including the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and University of Southern California-Berkley. (USC Berkley). Adding to this racially-charged climate, in a post-Sept. 11 wave of neo-conservatism, conservative groups across the country that believe Blacks and other minorities are getting a free ride, have launched a full attack on affirmative action policies in the workplace and in the schools.

Jim Haughton of Fightback, an organization of Black construction workers that gained its reputation in the 1960s by going to various sites and demanding work for Blacks, believes these incidents could also be diversionary tactics in Columbia University’s attempt to horde up more of the city’s land.

According to Mr. Haughton, who spoke exclusively with The Final Call, Columbia University is already one of the major developers in the city, owning about 17 percent of the land within the city’s borders. "In fact, Columbia University is more powerful as a developer than as an educator. Black students are not being educated, they are being cloned."

While Columbia’s president, Lee Bollinger, denounced the incidents in a message to the university community, student groups say they are concerned that not enough is being done. They sum up officials’ response to what has happened as "not much more than lip service."

Columbia University Concerned Students of Color say that, while Columbia proclaims to be the most diverse Ivy League institution, it is the only Ivy League school without a multicultural affairs office, does not have a policy on handling bias-related incidents nor does it have a diversity council like its counterparts Dartmouth and Cornell. Students have decided to build a network of various institutions on different campuses in order to connect and have a greater presence in the community-at-large.