Dear Binghamton University Students,
The recent events on our campus are a reflection of the struggles taking place in college campuses across this country. A group on campus accused a public official (in this case a student instead of a faculty member) of being racially insensitive and, without any public debate or judiciary procedure, forced him to resign from office. The Black Student Union and the other cultural groups on campus instigated a riotous uproar in response to our Student Association president, Dillon Schade, having a racial slur on his Tinder profile.
The story begins with the Black Student Union publishing an open letter, which expressed their outrage over the incident in question and racism on campus as a whole. In the letter, the BSU (with several other multicultural organizations) publicly demanded that Mr. Schade resign from office. He responded the next day, claiming that someone else had changed the profile description (as a prank or distasteful joke). Dismissing his defense as a weak excuse for a poor personal decision, the groups continued to demand his resignation.
They got their way.
Without any form of due process, the multicultural groups on campus imposed their version of the truth on the remainder of the student body. Bowing to the pressure, Dillon Schade resigned from office “with thanks,” humility, and a stern refusal to back down. While the BSU and other multicultural groups were able to get him to resign, they were not able to break him completely. In the penultimate paragraph of his resignation email, Mr. Schade hopes his struggle will serve as a “reminder to all students how a silly prank or anonymous comment on social media can personally scar one’s life.”
These are not the words of someone who has given up.
Binghamton Review will stand by Mr. Schade until someone unequivocally ties the offending post to him. The Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments (granting citizens due process and innocence until proven guilty) may not apply in the “court of public opinion,” but that does not make it any less important. Once Mr. Schade is proven guilty, we can discuss his punishment. We must keep in mind that an enraged portion of students may cry for their version of justice, but the so-called “silent majority” still has a voice. Last year’s social justice movement, Students for Change, used YikYak to divide public opinion on campus. So far, the majority of posts pertaining to these events have been in support of Mr. Schade, and we hope that he takes some consolation in the fact that public opinion is on his side. We urge students who feel that these groups have wronged Dillon Schade to express their opinions even if only through an anonymous forum like YikYak.
If you wish to publicly show your support, sign this open letter by writing “I support Dillon Schade” and sharing this on Facebook. We must show solidarity with Mr. Schade and not allow the BSU to bully and disgrace him.
–Binghamton Review Editorial Board
This article was written in extremely poor taste I almost hoped it was satire. This article is the exact reason students do not respect nor read the Binghamton Review on campus.
Due process means nothing to these racist blacks. They are the black equivalent to the KKK. They should be banned from campus.
Very similar to events in 1996 when I was editor. 20 years later and not much has changed. The positive is the Review is still there to be the voice of sanity. Keep up the legacy.
Lol at Amy Patino comparing the current SA President to the white supremacist dude from 1996. I guess it does share in common that someone said something racist and the Binghamton Review rushed to shame those who disagree with racism, but I think 1996 might have been a little worse lol
What people like you fail to realize is that policing language doesn’t get rid of racism. Congrats, a probably decent guy lost his job and reputation for using a making a mistake in using a word.
Yeah, different story from 1996. Amy is referring to the Memo incident, in which someone tried to frame the SA AVP with submitting a story with racist content to…me. The guy got a couple of death threats and we had a couple of pretty hairy days before he was exonerated. I try to not compare eras, so I don’t know which is worse.